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Kelly Hecking

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Kelly Hecking
Personal information
BornMarch 1980 (age 44)[1]
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke, freestyle
College teamUniversity of Notre Dame
CoachBailey Weathers

Kelly Hecking (born March 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 conference championships (seven individual and twelve relay) and four team conference championships.[3] Hecking set the Big East record for most career swimming conference championships.[4] She was the only Notre Dame swimmer to win an individual event four times (1999–2002) at the Big East Championship.[3] Hecking was an eight-time NCAA All-American honorable mention (twice in the 200 yard backstroke as well as various relays).[5] 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).[6] She is also a 3-time YMCA Nationals backstroke champion (all in 1996) and 9-time YMCA Nationals backstroke medalist.[7]

Early life

[edit]

Hecking's mother is named Diana.[8] Hecking grew up with a pool in her backyard, and her mother signed her up for swim lessons as a precaution.[2] Hecking was a standout swimmer by the age of six.[6] At age 10, she joined the Montclair, NJ YMCA swim team and remained a member through high school.[9] In high school, she also ran track and cross country.[2]

In her 1994-95 Freshman season Hecking won the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic Swim League (NNJISL) 200 IM and 100 backstroke.[10] Then at the NJSIAA championship, she finished 2nd to Tashy Bohm in the 100 backstroke by over a second 58.34 vs. 59.36.[11] 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, respectively).[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] This national public school short course record would later be surpassed by New Jersians Bohm and Lauren English in times slower than Hecking's disputed time.[15] Prior to Ritchie, New Jersian Lisa Iori had held the record since 1980.[16]

Hecking won the 100 and 200 yard freestyle events at the 1997 NNJISL.[17] 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.[18] Hecking also finished second in the March 1998 NJSIAA Meet of Champions (to Slonaker)[19] in the 50 yard freestyle, and she won the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly in the 1998 NNJISL league championship meet.[20] Hecking won in the NJSIAA 100 backstroke again as a senior in 1998 without bettering her record time.[9]

During her high school career, she went undefeated in the 100 backstroke for Rutherford High School in NNJISL dual meet or league championship competition.[21] Her 1997 state record time of 55.64 stood until English posted a 55.57 in 2005.[22] 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.[6] She accepted her nearly full scholarship from Notre Dame in March 1998 for the following fall.[9] Hecking also set a NNJISL record in the 200 yard individual medley that was broken in 2000 by Erin Vanderberg.[23]

Beyond scholastic competition, Hecking swept the 50-, 100- and 200-meter backstrokes at the 1996 National YMCA Long Course Swimming & Diving Championships in Buffalo, New York,[24][7] but at the YMCA Short Course Nationals she placed without winning in the backstroke events: 1996 2nd 100 & 200,[25] 1997 3rd 100 & 200,[26] and 1998 2nd 100 & 200.[27][28] Hecking had placed 4th, 12th and 11th, respectively, in the 50-, 100- and 200-meter backstrokes in the 1995 National YMCA Long course championship.[29] Hecking had placed 14th and 19th at the 1995 short course YMCA Nationals.[30] Hecking did not return to the YMCA Long Course Championship in 1997 in backstroke events,[31] and Montclair was represented by Lisa Dolansky in the backstroke events in 1998.[32]

As a junior, she was a 1997 All-American selection by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) in the 100 backstroke.[33] As a senior, she repeated this NISCA All-American recognition with the fastest public high school time in the nation.[34]

College career

[edit]

As a sophomore she went undefeated in the 100 and 200 backstroke in dual meets and swept them at the 2000 Big East championships.[20] Hecking sometimes competed in individual freestyle events.[35]

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.[36] 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 feat).[3] 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.[3] She became the winningest swimmer in Big East Conference history after accumulating 14 career Big East Championships during her junior year.[4] Hecking's 2001 100 yard backstroke time of 54.98 established a Big East Championships record.[37]

Bohm's second 200 yard backstroke NCAA All-american honorable mention overlapped with Hecking's first,[38] as Bohm finished 12th and Hecking 13th at the 2001 NCAA Championships.[39] 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 her second individual 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.[3] 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.[5] 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).[5] She was named a Big East Academic All-star in both 2001 and 2002.[3]

Notes

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  1. ^ Mayer, John (March 25, 1998). "HECKING TO SWIM FOR NOTRE DAME" (subscription required). The Record. p. s10. ProQuest 424978068. Retrieved June 30, 2022. Kelly Hecking celebrated her 18th birthday last week with a cake with her family, a visit with her boyfriend, and a very special call _ the one in which she accepted a near full athletic scholarship to continue her swimming and scholastic career this fall at Notre Dame.
  2. ^ a b c Fox, Ron (August 9, 2000). "FROM MODEST BEGINNINGS RISE OLYMPIC HOPES" (subscription required). The Record. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ a b "SWIMMING'S KELLY HECKING, TURNING UP THE HEAT". University of Notre Dame. March 15, 2001. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c "2011 Notre Dame Women's Swimming & Diving Media Guide". University of Notre Dame. 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b "Final Results: YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. August 2, 1996. pp. 18, 45 & 118. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  8. ^ Sullivan, Tara (March 21, 2022). "ND's Hecking Wants To Go Out With A Splash". The Record. ProQuest 425422622. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Mayer, John (March 25, 1998). "Hecking to Swim for Notre Dame". The Record. p. 52. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  10. ^ Davidoff, Ken (February 13, 1995). "NO. HIGHLANDS MAKES A SPLASH" (subscription required). The Record. p. S10. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  11. ^ Lambert, Jim (March 5, 1995). "ZAMMITTI WINS FLY AGAIN; SLAWINSKI WINS 200, 500" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  12. ^ Davidoff, Ken (March 20, 1996). "IHA STANDOUTS, HECKING DOMINATE ALL-STAR TEAM" (subscription required). The Record. p. S10. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  13. ^ Battaglia, Joe (March 3, 1996). "Slawinski, Slonaker, Russell, Elko, Bohm sparkle in M of C" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. Retrieved June 13, 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. ^ "No swim team, no problem for fiesty Villa Walsh girls" (subscription required). Daily Record. February 11, 2004. ProQuest 439131585. Retrieved July 4, 2022. Lauren English shattered more than just another Morris County record at Saturday's championships. The Montville freshman won the backstroke in 1:04.23, .39 faster than Tashy Bohm's mark from Feb. 8, 1997. Bohm's time of 1:04.62 had also stood as the national public school short-course meters record, according to the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.
  16. ^ Battaglia, Joe (February 14, 1997). "SPORTS" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. p. 54. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  17. ^ "NH BOYS WIN TITLE, GIRLS FINISH SECOND" (subscription required). The Record. February 12, 1997. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  18. ^ Battaglia, Joe (March 18, 1997). "Hecking, DeHainaut, Hodgson finish with a flourish" (subscription required). The Star-Ledger. p. 62. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  19. ^ "Rutherford Girl Wins Backstroke" (subscription required). The Record. March 9, 1998. ProQuest 424980307. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ Zagoria, Adam (April 9, 1998). "Winning a Way of Life for Rutherford's Hecking". The Herald-News. p. D3. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ Mayer, John (March 21, 2022). "HIGHLANDS SOARS IN POSTING SWEEP". The Record. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  24. ^ "National YMCA Long Course Swimming & Diving Championships" (PDF). YMCA. 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  25. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Short Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. April 12, 1996. pp. 36 & 78. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  26. ^ "YMCA Nationals Swimming & Diving Championship Short Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. April 11, 1997. pp. 36 & 83. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  27. ^ "YMCA Swimming & Diving Nationals 1998" (PDF). YMCA. April 11, 1998. pp. 50 & 116. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  28. ^ Denis, Phil (April 16, 1998). "BABICZ MAKES BIG SPLASH". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 8C. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  29. ^ "1995 National YMCA Swimming Championship (long course)" (PDF). YMCA. August 4, 1995. pp. 40, 60, & 110. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  30. ^ "1995 YMCA Nationals (short course)" (PDF). YMCA. April 7, 1995. pp. 38 & 78. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  31. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. August 1, 1997. pp. 15, 38 & 99. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  32. ^ "Final Results: YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championship" (PDF). YMCA. August 7, 1998. pp. 14, 42 & 100. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  33. ^ NICSA (1997). "HISCA All-America" (PDF). Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  34. ^ "1997-98 Girls Public High School: 100 Yard Backstroke All-America". NICSA. 1998. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  35. ^ "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
  36. ^ "Hecking Makes History At Big East Meet" (subscription required). The Record. February 24, 2002. ProQuest 425405242. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  37. ^ "NCAA Div. I: Pitt Men, Notre Dame Women Take Big East Titles". Swimming World. February 19, 2001. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  38. ^ "2018-19 Northwestern Swimming and Diving Media Guide" (PDF). Northwestern Athletics. 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  39. ^ "2001 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships". USC Trojans. March 17, 2001. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
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