New Diary Entry From Kelly Rose McCullough

4/6/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

By: UNI Athletics Communications

April 6, 2011

Hi my name is Kelly Rose McCullough and I am a senior and co-captain on the UNI Swim and Dive team. I am from Spencer, Iowa and I swim distance freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and IM.

Our season began back in August and after six grueling months of working hard and pushing ourselves to new limits, nothing was going to stop us from reaching for our goals once we reached the MVC Conference Championship in February. Each day, whether we were in the pool or in the weight room, we put in 100 percent effort and left nothing behind. We made sure to not only push ourselves, but to push our teammates as well. Even though we experienced some ups and downs as a team, we always came together as one in times of great need like during Christmas training, on Senior Night, and at the MVC Conference Championship. We bonded as a team and used each other as we reached our goals at the end of the season. We pushed through all the pain, upsets, and disappointments of the past to achieve the goals we had written within the first couple weeks of practice.

On Saturday we concluded our season at the end of the year banquet. All my teammates and their parents gathered for a luncheon followed by awards and a recap of the season. It was a huge success and congratulations to all of you that received awards. Kathleen Varner was named Most Improved, Bethany Olson and Stephanie Frederick were named MVP, Jaime Pearson and Caryn Knight received the Newcomers of the Year Award, and Chelsea Hartman and myself received the Panther Award. Being able to share this award with Chelsea was very exciting and I am so glad that I had the pleasure to work with her as co-captains this year. Chelsea will get to continue being a captain next year along with Stephanie Frederick and Jody Peterson. Each and every member on my team was a winner, because without each other we would not have been able to have as much success and achieve as much as we did!

As I think back at my own personal swimming career, I can take from it many great memories, great friends, and great lessons learned. Swimming has taught me many things in life and has given me many opportunities that others will never have the chance to experience. But the most important thing swimming ever taught me was to BELIEVE. Not only in myself, but in my teammates and those who support me as well. By believing in swimming, I was able to accomplish almost anything I set my mind to. If there is one lesson I can pass down to others, it is to believe. If you believe in yourself, then anything is possible. If you believe you can, then it can be done. And if you believe you deserve it, then fight for it because you will achieve success. For as long as I can remember I was inspired by this Eleanor Roosevelt quote, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". So keep believing as your reach for your goals!

The last thing I want to say is thank you. Thank you to all my teammates, the parents, the athletic department, our strength training coaches, and to Coach Stacey and Coach Lori, because without all of you and without your constant support and your push to better our team, we would not have accomplished all the goals we had set out to achieve. So thank you and please keep supporting the UNI Swim and Dive team over the years because they deserve it! Good luck to my senior classmates, April Mangrich, Ashley Mangrich, Josie Itzen, and Tori Ward! I know you are all going to do amazing things in life and I am so proud of everything you have already accomplished.

Putting an end to my swimming career will be hard and it will take time to adjust. However, a good friend told me a quote by Dr. Seuss saying, "Do not cry because it is over. Smile because it happened". I have acquired many great memories and have achieved many goals, so I need to remember all the good times and good lessons as I begin the next chapter in my life.

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