The Washington State swim team just competed in their last regular season meet of the 2022-2023 season and are gearing up for the Pac-12 tournament at the end of the month. There were several strong performances all year, but one freshman has already made a splash in the program.
 
Emily Lundgren was born and raised in San Diego. She was the No. 12 recruit coming out of California and an athlete that wanted to continue to swim at a higher level. When Emily talked about her passion for swimming, she said growing up with competitive siblings and a sister that also swam factored into her decision to continue her career at a collegiate level.
 
"I always look up to my sister," Emily said. "She swam in college. She still swims at UC Santa Cruz right now, so when it came time for me to decide if I wanted to swim in college or not, I was like 'she's doing it so I want to do it too',".
 
In her first year as a Cougar, Emily posted the fastest 100 M and 200 M breaststroke times in program history. In the last home meet against Idaho, Emily also broke two Gibb Pool records. Head Coach Matt Leach says Emily's able to pull off such strong times because of her persistence and willingness to learn.
 
"I think everytime you see her walk on the pool deck, you see somebody bubbly, somebody happy to be here, somebody willing to learn, somebody that wants to grow and wants to compete at the highest level,". Coach Leach said.
 
But Emily also credits so much of her success to her teammates, and says their support means a lot.
 
"They make waking up at 5 AM, ten times easier and I want to keep coming to practice because of them and going to meets and having that energy," Emily said. "So coming here and having a whole team that's at the end of my lane cheering for me makes it so much easier to go best times,".
 
On top of practice, meets, and maintaining her 4.0 GPA, Emily spends her free time working as an intern with WSU Sports Video. As an intern, she has attended several home football and basketball games while filming athletes and supporting other teams. She has also worked media days with tennis, baseball, and basketball.
 
"Just getting to film and edit those [videos] and get to see them posted on social [media] is really cool," Emily said.
Emily said she loves being busy and taking on new projects or challenges. She said this work ethic is nothing new to her, as she has always been eager to get involved in new things. Coach Leach said he's excited to continue to watch Emily's growth during her time at WSU.
 
"It's been great working with her and we want to continue to see her grow as she's only a freshman," Coach Leach said. " She does a lot within our program but also just within athletics,".