When you’re a Division I athlete, it’s pretty rare to have even a single teammate from your high-school club team on the same college roster. Having five of your teammates come from the same club team? It’s practically unheard of. Women’s swimmers Abby Jagdfeld, Rachel Johnson, Anna Meinholz, Molly Manchon and Madison Tew have been teammates for quite a bit longer than most—in fact, they all swam for coach Blaine Carlson at Waukesha Express since most of them were about nine or 10 years old until they came to college.
Carlson and his wife, Laurie, who also coaches Express, are former Badger swimmers themselves who swam in Madison in the early 1990s. These five, along with many others before them, have created a pipeline from Express to Madison. That pipeline has definitely never been this prolific before—there is no other team in NCAA Division I at this time that has five athletes from the same club team.
What’s also unique is the variety of backgrounds these five swimmers have. Not one of them shares the same strengths or personality, and they are all a great fit for the UW swim program, which was one major reason head coach Whitney Hite decided to recruit them all to swim for him. Hite brought in Meinholz, Johnson, Manchon and Tew out of high school, and Jagdfeld hopped on board when she transferred from Purdue this past summer.
Meinholz, Tew and Manchon gave a lot of credit to Carlson and his program when they sat down and explained how they got to where they are today.
“Blaine especially helped me prepare,” explained Manchon, who also swam for Carlson at Waukesha South High School. “Before I came, they gave me an idea of what practices would be like and I showed him, and he altered some practices for me to help me get ready to swim here.”
According to Tew, even though Carlson is a former Badger himself, there was never any pressure from him or any of the other club coaches to choose UW.
“I think he was just really proud that we were looking here,” Tew said.
Meinholz, a senior, agreed, explaining that “being from Wisconsin, your heart’s kind of in Wisconsin, and there’s so much Badger pride—when you look at the school it’s kind of hard to ignore it. I don’t think [Carlson] ever pushed [going to UW] on anyone, but he was really proud when we decided to look here.”
Hite thinks the connection between the five girls has forged immediate connections and bonded the team faster.
“[Having five girls on the team] is just a testament to Blaine and the kind of swimmers he’s producing. I have tremendous respect for him and his program,” Hite said.
Since Meinholz and Johnson have been on the team for a few years, the three younger girls have had a unique and much easier transition to college.
Having two older teammates they already knew to show them the ropes is definitely an advantage, especially at a school as large as UW. Tew and Manchon both agree; they had a unique transition and it was in no small part to Johnson and Meinholz.
“I 100 percent think they helped me,” Manchon said. “I texted Anna so many times before I came, asking for advice. Especially being on the team now, it’s nice having them to be there to guide us if we have any questions, to kind of show us the ropes.”
Tew had a bit of a different experience because she did not start swimming for Waukesha Express until 2014—two years after Meinholz and Johnson had left for college. Although she was competing for the New Berlin Swim Club when Meinholz and Johnson were in high school, the three still got to know each other through mutual friends and the older girls coming home during breaks.
“Definitely it was still easy to have someone I knew to go and talk to, and ask for advice,” Tew said.
Jagdfeld, who transferred from Purdue prior to the season, has been the younger teammate who has been impacted the most by having her club teammates around at school.
“Abby, she’s always been pretty quiet,” Meinholz said of the redshirt sophomore. “Coming to Wisconsin, I noticed that she’s blossomed. She’s much more talkative now and she’s in a happy place. She’s training out of her mind, racing out of her mind, I think she’s doing great.”
Manchon said Carlson had a huge impact on Jagdfeld’s transition to Wisconsin as well. “He did help [Abby] a lot with her transition from Purdue, she was obviously very nervous and didn’t know exactly what to do, and I know that he was a very big outlet for her, especially in terms of being comfortable with the team.”
The leadership by example from this tight-knit group is one reason Badger fans can get excited about championship season and the upcoming Olympic trials. All of the teammates except for Jagdfeld, who is redshirting this year due to NCAA transfer rules, will be solid contributors in both the individual and relay events. In addition, both Meinholz and Jagdfeld have qualified to swim at the Olympic trials—Meinholz in the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke and Jagdfeld in the 50, 100, 200 and 400-meter freestyle.
Hite, when asked to explain the enormous success the five Express alums have had, gave a glowing review.
“I know that Blaine and the Express team really value hard work, and they know what that is—that’s so important here,” Hite said.
