By JOSHUA NATOLI
Sports Editor
The academic challenge of college is enough to make any person crack. Throw in being an athlete in NCAA Division II competition and it seems nearly impossible. Caitlin Brauer of the Golden Knights Women’s Swim team would tell you otherwise. Brauer has been honored by the Northeast-10 conference with a Scholar-Athlete Sports Excellence Award for the 2012-2013 winter sports season. To be eligible for the Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award, Brauer had to complete at least two consecutive semesters of full-time enrollment at Saint Rose and at least two years of athletic eligibility. More importantly, Brauer must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30.
If you ask Brauer how she could accomplish such a balancing act she would tell you it was all with support, “I had a lot of support from my friends, parents and coaches,” said Brauer. “Even though some days were hard to get through everything always worked out.”
The books are not the only things Brauer hits. She has quite the successful track record in the water as well. Brauer is currently the most decorated female swimmer The College of Saint Rose has ever put in competitive waters. A comptetive swimmer since the age of five, Brauer owns seven individual school records and is part of four record-setting relay teams. Brauer has qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of her four years as a Golden Knight, and was also the first female to do so for Saint Rose. She has also been recognized by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as a Scholar All-American in each of the past three years.
Swimming in the NCAA Championships is a moment that Brauer cherishes as her most memorable at The College of Saint Rose, “My most memorable moment at St. Rose was the first time I made it back top 8 in the 400 IM at Nationals,” said Brauer. “It was incredible being marched out in finals with some of the greatest athletes in Division II.”
Brauer attributes her success to her swimming coach Keith Murray, “I don’t think I could have swam for any other school and be as successful as I was. Not only did (Murray) make swimming fun for me again, but he challenged me to work harder and achieve my goals.”
Brauer has also served as the senior representative for USA Swimming, “I was the senior representative for USA Swimming in the Adirondack Region for my last year of high school and my first year of college. As the senior representative, I was required to vote on new rules and regulations for USA swimming. After two years, new representatives are voted in by the athletes in the region. It was a great experience.”
Brauer, an Accounting major, will soon be able to use her academic skill in the workplace. After graduating this May with her MBA in just four years’ time Brauer will be heading to work for UHY International in downtown Albany, “I will be working as a staff accountant in their auditing department, “said Brauer. “I’m very excited to have finished school with two degrees, and have a job immediately after graduation.”
Certainly not a bad way to close out the greatest female swimming career in Golden Knights history.
