Anna Linkenauger has come a long way from the three-year-old girl who nearly drowned in a river near her house. The senior swimmer, who has been competing for more than 15 years, enters her final season with numerous school and pool records, a co-MVP award and aspirations of earning a spot in the NCAA meet.
“I have always had a mindset to achieve the highest achievement in collegiate swimming, which would be making the NCAAs,” Linkenauger said. “That’s been my long-term career goal and I’ve been making the steps – slowly but surely – necessary to reach that highest level. It’s what I have been looking forward to since I got here.”
However, throughout Linkenauger’s career, garnering individual honors and awards has never been her top priority. The friendships and camaraderie built through swimming have been more memorable than any record or trophy.
Senior teammate Patrice Dason agreed with Linkenauger saying the swim team, and the senior class in particular, is a very close-knit group.
“Every year, we’ve gotten closer and closer,” Dason said. “All of the senior girls, and most of the senior boys all live in the same development. So we’re always together; at practices and outside of practices, everyone is always hanging out with each other. It’s really great and it has brought us a lot closer.”
Linkenauger, Dason and the rest of the senior class entered a struggling program, and through hard work and, of course, having a little bit of fun, the program moved upwards from the bottom of the barrel. The large group of then-freshman made an immediate impact and bonded, cheering at meets, dancing while stretching, joking around, goofing off while training and competing as hard as possible.
“This group of seniors has had a huge impact on the program over the course of their four years here, in making it an extremely positive environment for the women on the team,” head coach Brooks Teal said. “I’ve always tried to stress and emphasize having a family environment within our team and for the women’s team these girls have really led the way in making this a great place to be. This whole group has led the way in changing the overall atmosphere here at N.C. State into a very positive one.”
Linkenauger, a self-proclaimed “swim nerd,” hopes this season is the best yet of her four years at State. Both Teal and Dason agree Linkenauger leads by example with great swims, motivating her teammates and always practicing hard.
This weekend the Pack will compete in the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta and Linkenauger and her teammates hope to have success to propel them into the ACC Championships.
“I think this year as a team we are stronger than ever. We have an extremely talented team,” Linkenauger said. “So, to see them perform this weekend at Georgia Tech Invitational is going to be really exciting. Once this weekend is done hopefully it will give us that confidence and that edge we need be successful at ACCs and for the rest of our dual-meet season. I can’t wait.”
This senior class is one that does not come around too often in coaches’ or athletes’ careers and will be remembered as the hard-working, fun-loving group of girls that changed the program for the better, while etching some members’ names in the N.C. State record books.
“All of these girls are going to be greatly missed when we come to the end of the year,” Teal said. “A lot of girls have done exceptional things for us along the way. This senior class is just an exceptional group of young ladies and they have really done awesome things for the team in the way they have matured and brought the team together.”
