Haebig earns All-American honorable mention

Grafton alumna Autumn Haebig tied her career-best time at the biggest swim meet of the year last week.

Well, perhaps the second biggest. The Nebraska University senior took ninth in the 200-yard freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C., last Friday, earning All-American honorable mention recognition.

Her time of 1 minute 44.39 seconds matched her best — a Nebraska school record that she set in winning the event at the Big Ten Championships last month. But Haebig was unaware she tied her record until hours later.

Her teammate Audrey Coffey, who set a school record in the 1,650 freestyle at the meet, told Haebig of her accomplishment that night.

“It was pretty cool. I didn’t even realize I tied it,” she said. “I’ll take it.”

During the preliminary swim in the morning, Haebig finished 15th, putting her in the second group of eight swimmers and automatically earning All-American honorable mention.

“The goal is always to try to make it back for a finals. During freshman year. I didn’t do that. It’s a big honor,” she said.

Haebig also qualified for the All-American honorable mention group in the 500 freestyle, surprising herself. She took 12th in the preliminary races on Thursday and finished 14th in 4:42.32, a second faster than her fifth-place Big Ten time.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to make it back for finals. I was seeded 30th coming in. I dropped quite a few places, which was a little bit of a shock. I thought it was a good race overall,” she said.

Haebig also swam the 100 freestyle but didn’t qualify.

Just competing in the meet this season was a bonus. Haebig qualified last season as well, but the meet was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It was a good atmosphere to be around,” Haebig said.

Restrictions were more stringent than at the Big Ten meet. Athletes got tested for Covid-19 every other day, were limited to certain places in the facility for training and were only allowed on the pool deck when they were competing. No fans were allowed, but the meet was livestreamed on ESPN3, Haebig said.

She talked to her friend, Cedarburg High alumna Lillie Hosack, who swam in the 100 and 200 freestyle at the NCAA Championships for the University of Wisconsin, about the difference in training from last year when classes were all online and most pools were closed.

“We were together with (Ozaukee Aquatics) just training tethered to a wall. There’s just a lot that happened in one year,” Haebig said.

Haebig’s college season is finished but she is far from done for the year.

“We got back in the water this morning and we’re swimming for the Olympic Trials, which is the beginning of June,” she said on Monday.

Haebig will swim in the 400 and 200-meter freestyle and 100 backstroke  after qualifying at Winter Nationals two years ago.

Coffey, who qualified in the mile, is training with her, along with a teammate who is on the border to make the cut for trials. Nebraska coaches Pablo Morales and Patrick Rowan are guiding them.

“We’ll get right back into our yardage training. It will be like we never took a little rest for our meet training,” Haebig said.

At Grafton High School, the 2016 graduate won 14 state titles and was named Wisconsin Swimming Coaches Association Division 2 Swimmer of the Year. With Ozaukee Aquatics, she helped the team win one

Junior Nationals event and take second twice.