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Kelly Hecking

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Kelly Hecking
Personal information
Born1980 (age 43–44)
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke, freestyle
College teamUniversity of Notre Dame
CoachBailey Weathers

Kelly Hecking (born 1980) is an American former backstroke and freestyle competition swimmer. She is the most successful Notre Dame Fighting Irish athlete in any sport at the Big East Conference Championships with 19 event championships (seven individual and twelve relay) and four team championships.[2] Hecking set the Big East record for most career swimming championships.[3] She was the only Notre Dame swimmer to win an individual event four times (1999–2002) at the Big East Championship.[2] Hecking was an eight-time NCAA All-American honorable mention (twice in the 200 yard backstroke).[4] She was a two-time high school All-American and two-time New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) 100 yard backstroke champion (1997 & 1998).[5] She is also a 3-time YMCA Nationals backstroke champion (all in 1996).

Early life

Hecking's mother is named Diana.[6] Hecking grew up with a pool in her backyard, and her mother signed her up for swim lessons as a precaution.[1] Hecking was a standout swimmer by the age of six.[5] At age 10, she joined the Montclair, NJ YMCA swim team and remaind a member through high school.[7] In high school, she also ran track and cross country.[1]

In her 1994-95 Freshman season Hecking won the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic Swim League (NNJISL) 200 IM and 100 backstroke.[8] Then at the NJSIAA championship, she finished 2nd to Tashy Bohm in the 100 backstroke by over a second 58.34 vs. 59.36.[9] As a sophomore in 1996, Hecking won the NNJISL 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke and finished second in both at the NJSIAA championships (to Kate Slonaker and Bohm, respecitvely).[10][11] She swept the 50-, 100- and 200-yard backstrokes at the 1996 National YMCA Long Course Swimming & Diving Championships in Buffalo, New York.[12][13] As a junior in 1997, she first made her mark in late January when she posted a 1:03.10 three weeks after in-state rival Jennelle Ritchie posted a national record 1:04.86 100 meter backstroke time, but her time was deemed unofficial because it was hand timed.[14] Hecking won the 100 and 200 yard freestyle events at the NNJISL.[15] In the 1997 NJSIAA meet she eclipsed 3-time defending champion Bohm's 56.99 state record with a 55.94 in the prelims and then beat her with a 55.64 in the finals.[16] Later, Bohm's second 200 yard backstroke NCAA All-american honorable mention overlapped with Hecking's first in 2001.[17] Hecking also finished second in the March 1998 NJSIAA Meet of Champions (to Slonaker)[18] in the 50 yard freestyle, and she won the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly in the 1998 NNJISL league championship meet.[19] Hecking won in the NJSIAA 100 backstroke again as a senior in 1998 without bettering her record time.[7] Whereas Hecking was a 3-time YMCA Nationals long course champion, she fell short repeatedly on the YMCA Nationals short course stage in the backstroke events: 1996 2nd 100 & 200,[20] 1997 3rd 100 & 200,[21] and 1998 2nd 100 & 200.[22][23] Hecking did not return to the YMCA Long Course Championship in 1997,[24] and Montclair was represented by Lisa Dolansky in the backstroke events in 1998.[25]

During her high school career, she went undefeated in the 100 backstroke for Rutherford High School in NNJISL dual meet or league championship competition.[26] Her 1997 state record time of 55.64 stood until Lauren English posted a 55.57 in 2005.[27] She was a two-time high school All-American and two-time New Jersey state champion who chose University of Notre Dame over University of Arizona, Ohio State University and Penn State University because Notre Dame needed a backstroker.[5] She accepted her nearly full scholarship from Notre Dame in March 1998 for the following fall.[7] Hecking also set a NNJISL record in the 200 yard individual medley that was broken in 2000 by Erin Vanderberg.[28]

College career

As a sophomore she went undefeated in the 100 and 200 backstroke in dual meets and swept them at the 2000 Big East championships.[19] Hecking sometimes competed in individual freestyle events.[29]

She became the eighth woman in the history of the Big East conference swimming and diving championship to win the same event four years in a row in 2002.[30] Hecking was the only Notre Dame swimmer to win an individual event four times at the Big East Championship (3-meter diver Jenny Chiang '13 also achieved the feet).[2] She is the most successful Notre Dame Fighting Irish athlete in any sport at the Big East Championships (Notre Dame swimming & diving competed in the original Big East Conference from 1996–2013 before leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference). She earned 19 Big East Championships during her career (1999–2002): seven individual championships (4x-100 backstroke and 3x-200 backstroke) as well as a dozen relay championships (3x-200 free, 1x-400 free, 4x-200 medley, 4x-400 medley) as a member of 4 Big East Championship teams.[2] She became the winningest swimmer in Big East Conference history after accumulating 14 career Big East Championships during her junior year.[3] Hecking's 2001 100 yard backstroke time of 54.98 established a Big East Championships record.[31]

Hecking posted her career best time of 1:57.45 in the 200 yard backstroke at the 2002 National Collegiate Championships earning her a 12th place finish and All-American honorable mention. It stood as a Notre Dame 200 yard record until 2010 it was surpassed by Kim Holden in the 2010 Big East Championships.[2] She also held the 100 yard Notre Dame record from 2001 until 2003 when Danielle Hulick surpassed it in the 2003 Big East Championships also breaking Hecking's Big East Championship record in the process.[4] She qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke as well as several relays all four years of eligibility and was an 8-time NCAA All-American honorable mention: twice as an individual (200 backstroke—2001 & 2002) and six times as a relay participant (1x-400 free, 2x-200 medley, 3x-400 medley).[4] She was named a Big East Academic All-star in both 2001 and 2002.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Fox, Ron (August 9, 2000). "FROM MODEST BEGINNINGS RISE OLYMPIC HOPES" (subscription required). The Record. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "2013 Notre Dame Women's Swimming & Diving Media Guide". University of Notre Dame. December 9, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "SWIMMING'S KELLY HECKING, TURNING UP THE HEAT". University of Notre Dame. March 15, 2001. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "2011 Notre Dame Women's Swimming & Diving Media Guide". University of Notre Dame. 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Zagoria, Adam (April 9, 1998). "Winning a Way of Life for Rutherford's Hecking". The Herald-News. p. D1. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  6. ^ Sullivan, Tara (March 21, 2022). "ND's Hecking Wants To Go Out With A Splash". The Record. ProQuest 425422622. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Mayer, John (March 25, 1998). "Hecking to Swim for Notre Dame". The Record. p. 52. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  8. ^ Davidoff, Ken (February 13, 1995). "NO. HIGHLANDS MAKES A SPLASH" (subscription required). The Record. p. S10. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  9. ^ Lambert, Jim (March 5, 1995). "ZAMMITTI WINS FLY AGAIN; SLAWINSKI WINS 200, 500" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  10. ^ Davidoff, Ken (March 20, 1996). "IHA STANDOUTS, HECKING DOMINATE ALL-STAR TEAM" (subscription required). The Record. p. S10. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  11. ^ Battaglia, Joe (March 3, 1996). "Slawinski, Slonaker, Russell, Elko, Bohm sparkle in M of C" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  12. ^ "National YMCA Long Course Swimming & Diving Championships" (PDF). YMCA. 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  13. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. August 2, 1996. pp. 18, 45 & 118. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  14. ^ Battaglia, Joe (February 28, 1997). "Bohm, Ritchie, Hecking finally meet for 100-yard backstroke supremacy" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. p. 62. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  15. ^ "NH BOYS WIN TITLE, GIRLS FINISH SECOND" (subscription required). The Record. February 12, 1997. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  16. ^ Battaglia, Joe (March 18, 1997). "Hecking, DeHainaut, Hodgson finish with a flourish" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. p. 62. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  17. ^ "2018-19 Northwestern Swimming and Diving Media Guide" (PDF). Northwestern Athletics. 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  18. ^ "Rutherford Girl Wins Backstroke" (subscription required). The Record. March 9, 1998. ProQuest 424980307. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  19. ^ a b Bob Kurland; Joe Chessari; Ron Fox; Greg Mattura; Paul Schwartz; John Mayer (July 23, 2000). "All-Decade/Winter Sports: 1990s Bergen County" (subscription required). The Record. ProQuest 425147527. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  20. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Short Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. April 12, 1996. pp. 36 & 78. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  21. ^ "YMCA Nationals Swimming & Diving Championship Short Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. April 11, 1997. pp. 36 & 83. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  22. ^ "YMCA Swimming & Diving Nationals 1998" (PDF). YMCA. April 11, 1998. pp. 50 & 116. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  23. ^ Denis, Phil (April 16, 1998). "BABICZ MAKES BIG SPLASH". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 8C. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  24. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. August 1, 1997. pp. 15, 38 & 99. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  25. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. August 7, 1998. pp. 14, 42 & 100. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  26. ^ Zagoria, Adam (April 9, 1998). "Winning a Way of Life for Rutherford's Hecking". The Herald-News. p. D3. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  27. ^ Usher, Nikki (March 7, 2005). "Vineland girls swim to wins in relays - They won three events at the Meet of Champions. Mainland's Joanna Thomas took the 500 freestyle" (subscription required). Philadelphia Inquirer. p. C08. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  28. ^ Mayer, John (March 21, 2022). "HIGHLANDS SOARS IN POSTING SWEEP". The Record. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  29. ^ "Briefs / Area" (subscription required). South Bend Tribune. October 20, 2001. ProQuest 417097737. Retrieved June 8, 2022. Kelly Hecking won the 100-yard freestyle (56.46) and 200 freestyle (2:20.73), and was part of the winning 200 IM relay
  30. ^ "Hecking Makes History At Big East Meet" (subscription required). The Record. February 24, 2002. ProQuest 425405242. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  31. ^ "NCAA Div. I: Pitt Men, Notre Dame Women Take Big East Titles". Swimming World. February 19, 2001. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
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