Aemisegger already leaving mark on PU swimming
By: Justin Feil
Alicia Aemisegger’s goals set her apart from most swimmers who have come to Princeton University.
"I would like to and hope to win NCAAs in the 400 IM and final in a couple other events," said the Tiger freshman matter-of-factly.
Princeton has hung around the Top 25 for years, but has never had a national champion swimmer. Aemisegger would be the first, something certain to set her apart. Fitting in, however, was almost as important when she chose Princeton.
"I think when I came in, I think I was nervous how I would interact with the team," Aemisegger said. "My intentions aren’t to be cocky. I really want to be part of this team. I really want to help everyone. I want to fit in. I wanted them to know I have this goal to eventually make an Olympic team. I’ll do whatever I could to get to that. I have good intentions.
"They have been great. It’s perfect. The girls’ team is so understanding."
After winning the Ivy League championship last year, the Princeton women’s team is happy to welcome a standout that should help ensure the title stays at Old Nassau. Making sure it was a happy union, though, was a concern. Aemisegger was a talent they had never dealt with before.
"That’s one of the things I was most concerned with," said PU head coach Susan Teeter, whose team hosts the Big Al Invitational today through Sunday at DeNunzio Pool. "I remembering calling Cal-Berkeley coach Teri McKeever about Natalie Coughlin (the Swimming World 2002 Female World Swimmer of the Year). She’s such a great talent. Even though Cal-Berkeley is a good team, Natalie Coughlin was far and away the best swimmer on their team. I called Teri to say, how did it go, what do I need to do, just to understand what I’m recruiting. What do we expect of her? Is that something (Aemisegger) wants? Not every great athlete wants to be part of a team. I’d say it’s gone better than I imagined."
The Tigers have had some good ones who became vital cogs to their best teams. Cathy Corcione swam in the 1968 Olympics before coming to Princeton and setting two national records on the Tigers’ first official team in 1972. Betsy Lind was All-America in four events and anchored the Tigers’ national champion 800-yard freestyle team in 1982. Charlotte Tiedemann Petersen was a 10-time All-American. Aemisegger has the potential to be better than any of them were.
"She’s the best recruit I’ve had in 23 years," Teeter said. "I didn’t coach Cathy Corcione. One of the amazing things is Alicia’s versatility. When you compare her talent-wise, Betsy Lind, who took a year off to train for the ’84 Olympics, went 1:47 in the 200 free. Alicia just missed the record by .2 and it’s not her main event. When I look at Betsy Lind, going 1:47 20 years ago, she was a great talent. But that was her event. Alicia is right there. She can swim everything. It’s pretty phenomenal."
Pretty phenomenal is the only way to describe the start to Aemisegger’s collegiate career. She arrived from Germantown Academy Aquatic Club in Pennsylvania, where she first qualified for nationals as a freshman. She has swum for legendary GAAC coach Dick Shoulberg since she was in fifth grade.
Aemisegger competed in her first international Short Course World Championships in Shanghai, China, in April while a senior at Germantown Academy. She was slowed by Lyme disease in the summer that likely cost her a spot on the U.S. national team, but qualified to represent the U.S. in the 200 and 400 IM at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand, in August, 2007.
In under a month, Aemisegger has adjusted well to a lot of changes, from swimming dual meets early in the season to new training regimens with the Tigers. She already has broken four Princeton records. In her first weekend, she won six events. She has broken the 200 butterfly, 200 and 400 IM, the 1000 meter freestyle records. She just missed the 200 free and 200 breaststroke records, both by approximately two-tenths of a second.
In Saturday’s sweep of Cornell and Penn, Aemisegger led the Tigers to a 1-4 sweep in the 400 IM in 4:11.52, the third time she’s broken that record this season. She finished more than 18 seconds, more than a pool length, ahead of the second-place finisher for the record-setting win.
"My team knows I want to have good times," Aemisegger said. "They know my normal times and that I want to keep improving those. They cheer for me based off of the clock. When other teammates finish, they base them off the clock. Instead of worrying about first place, they worry about what my times are going to be."
Not everyone is watching the clock.
"I’m watching what she’s doing so we can make her faster," Teeter said. "But she’s obviously one of the biggest talents that’s been on the East Coast in a while."
Aemisegger is the swimmer every Ivy coach dreams of drawing to their program. It was a happy day when Aemisegger decided to stay close to home, rather than attend Southern California.
"I think having Alicia here at Princeton is amazing for the Ivy League in general," Teeter said. "Any time an elite National Team swimmer steps away from a ‘scholarship swimming school’ and says to the rest of the world, ‘I want my education too.’ she becomes the poster child for the words ‘student-athlete.’
"Year after year great athletes in all sports, at all Ivies say this, only some are able to get the media to pay attention so having Alicia pick Princeton is great for everyone. It’s great for Princeton because she is also saying, ‘I know I can swim fast here.’"
Princeton did not enter the picture for Aemisegger until her senior year at Germantown Academy. Going to Princeton allows her to stay within a 40-minute drive of her longtime coach, Shoulberg, whom she still trains with on weekends.
"Once my coach was like, you could stay close and get an education, I thought about it," Aemisegger said. "All the other schools were really great. I wanted to challenge myself as much as I could. You can only swim for so long."
Princeton is hoping to get the most out of Aemisegger. She is so versatile that the Tigers think they could count on her to contend for victories in her off events at the Ivy championships. The Tigers are already one of the deepest IM teams in the conference. Aemisegger is looking forward to contributing however she can.
"I want to help our team definitely," she said. "I hope we win Ivies again. I love the relays the best. It’s the closest thing you get to a team event. Just hopefully we can all come together and win and be the best in the Ivy League."
Added Teeter: "She’s the kind of athlete that doesn’t have to prepare for the Ivy championships. She’ll swim right through to prepare to be national champion. She should easily win her three events."
It’s not something that Teeter could frequently say about her athletes. Aemisegger is different, but it hasn’t stopped her from fitting in neatly with the Tigers.
"I have been really pleased with how much I have witnessed Alicia and her teammates have truly caring relationships so early in the year," Teeter said. "It would be easy for this team to be intimidated by her talent and I think they have stepped up to it. I also think we have given her a new family in which to grow and be proud of the pride and tradition associated with the ‘Princeton Experience.’"
Alicia Aemisegger figures to make Princeton pretty proud in return, especially if she reaches her national title goal.

