St. Peter, Minn. – Senior swimmer Alissa Tinklenberg (Willmar, Minn.) solidified her place amongst the immortals of Gustavus athletics this February with a record-breaking performance at the final MIAC Championship meet of her standout career. For her efforts in leading the Gustavus Adolphus women’s swimming and diving team to a fifth straight MIAC title, Alissa Tinklenberg has been named the Gustavus Female Athlete-of-the-Month for February.
Earning February Athlete-of-the-Month honors as a junior as well, Tinklenberg didn’t settle and continued to turn heads her senior year. She went into the 2014 MIAC Championships with nothing but gold in her sights and returned to St. Peter with nothing but gold around her neck. Tink’s resume from the meet includes individual event wins in the 100 backstroke (55.26), 200 backstroke (1:59.59), and 50 freestyle (23.18). Her backstroke times broke the MIAC, meet, and school record, while her time in the 50 free set a new school record.
The Willmar product also swam on the first place 200-free relay (1:33.83), 200-medley relay (1:43.79), 400-free relay (3:26.77), and 400-medley relay (3:47.09) teams. She assisted in setting new MIAC, meet, and school record standards 200-medley, 400-medley, and 400-free relays.
Following the three-day competition, Tinklenberg was named the MIAC Women’s Swimmer-of-the-Year for the second straight season, becoming the first Gustie to ever achieve such a feat. She was responsible for 60 points after winning every race she competed in for the second year in a row. She is now the owner of 19 MIAC gold medals and holds the program record for conference points with 229 – surpassing former record-holder Carrie Gundersen’s point total of 207.
Tinklenberg and six of her teammates were recently selected to compete in the 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Diving Championships. The championships will be held March 19-22 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.