North Central College Athletics

Career Highlights: 1999 NCAA III National Champion in the 200 butterfly; 16-time NCAA III All-American; 17-time CCIW Champion (12 individual titles and five as part of relays); four-time winner of the CCIW’s Most Valuable Swimmer award; holds seven CCIW records (five individual, two as part of relays); holds 13 North Central varsity records (eight individual, five as part of relays); four-time CSCAA All-Academic Individual; Illinois Swimming Association Swimmer of the Year in 1999.

Maureen Szweda ’02, a standout swimmer at Glenbard East High School, started her collegiate career at Michigan State University. Disenchanted with the big-school atmosphere, she returned home and was shopping with her mom in Naperville.

One of the most decorated swimmers in the history of North Central and the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) might have never been a Cardinal if not for that random holiday shopping stop.

“I decided I wanted to go to a smaller school close to home,” said Szweda. “My mom and I passed by the College and the rest is pretty much history. I called Coach [Dennis] Ryan the next day, told him I was a swimmer and I was enrolled and attending classes two weeks later.”

The swimmer won a CCIW-record 17 championships during her career (12 as an individual and five as part of relays). She still holds seven conference records (five individual, two as part of relays) in addition to 13 North Central varsity records (eight individual, five as part of relays). Szweda is the only four-time winner of the CCIW’s Most Valuable Swimmer award.

Perhaps her most impressive year was 1999. She won the 200-yard butterfly at the 1999 NCAA III National Championships and was named the Illinois Swimming Association Swimmer of the Year after setting Division III state records in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley.

Szweda graduated in 2002 with a degree in psychology and a minor in speech communication and English writing. She worked as an admission recruiter for a year at Benedictine University before returning to the College as head swimming coach for the 2004-05 season. Szweda returned to Benedictine as the director of admission before taking a position with Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Schaumburg, Ill. “I’m loving every minute of it. It’s so rewarding,” she said about working in oncology.