Pullman, Wash. – Emily Lundgren finished the 2024-25 Swim season with 10 new titles including All-American honors in two events and Academic All-American accolades. Lundgren also broke four individual school records and helped break three relay school records. After spending her summer competing against some of the world's best swimmers at the U.S. Nationals, Lundgren enters her final season as a Coug full of experience and knowledge.
 
We recently sat down with Lundgren ahead of her senior season.
 
How was swimming at the U.S. Nationals?
It was cool, a little bit of a step down. Lower stakes from last summer at the US Olympic team trials. It was in a much smaller venue; it was more relaxed and less pressure. But it was fun, not only swimming but getting to see the fastest people in the world and in the US swimming. [All] trying to get a spot on that worlds team was super inspiring and pushed me to work harder.
 
You were at the NCAA qualifier this past year, how was it different from U.S. Nationals?
NCAA was faster, they are two different yardages. NCAA is short course yards, and this meet was long course meters. It was a little bit more of uncharted territory, I feel comfortable competing at the NCAA level but once we get to that meet there were a lot more pros. I saw Olympians warming up, like Katie Ledecky. I swam in the same lane as her a couple times. Besides Olympic trials that's the first real U.S. nationals that I've been to. I've competed at that NCAA level but, getting out there and racing against more professional swimmers is new to me.
 
What were some of the different challenges you faced at the meets over the summer?
Dealing with tiny injuries and having to get through those, and some sickness that was challenging. And missing home, a lot of my friends and teammates got to go home or went home and trained. So, staying over summer was difficult. But we had a good chunk of people here so that made training a lot more fun. Especially being able to train with Darcy [Levitt] at the Olympic training center before nationals was a really big help. I was able to get some long course and altitude training there, I think I would've gone crazy if she wasn't there. It was a lot; it was fun having someone else go through the hard practices I had to go through before nationals.
 
You were Named All-American in 200 Breast and NCAA All-America Honorable Mention in 100 Breast, what do those titles mean to you?
It became real over the summer, being able to take a step back from everything that happened towards the end of the school year. I think that was my lifelong dream to be an All-American, after my freshman year I got dead last at NCs. I was like 'okay next year I'm going to do even better, I'm going to make the second team'. I was so hungry for that, so being named first team All-American was surreal to me. I put in all the work, so I knew that I worked for it, but it was still crazy having that official title. The hall of fame board going up and seeing both those years in crimson, meaning I was an All-American twice in a row was super cool.
 
How do those titles motivate you for this upcoming season?
I know I have big goals for this year, my biggest goal in swimming was to become an All-American after getting that I had to reevaluate my goals. So now I have some bigger goals that are going to force me to work even harder in that pool. Last year I was looking up there and I wanted to be in that A-Final and be a first team. Now that I have that I just keep trying to remember that feeling. And honestly just keep working twice as hard. I'm not going to take anything for granted. I know how much work it takes; I'm prepared for the work that it's going to take. It's going to be a long journey, but it's only seven months of hard work. Which is nothing to the legacy that I'll leave behind.
 
You were the Mountain West Conference swimmer of the year, winning individual titles in both the 200 IM and the 200 breast. As well as helping your team win two relay titles. Looking back on those, what stood out to you when earning those titles?
Individually I knew what I had to do to get those titles, that last 200 breast title was super surreal. I had been seeded second or third going into finals, I was hungry for the title. Luckily my dad was there to watch and seeing him so excited for me winning was cool. I think my favorite title I won at that meet was our 200-medley relay, it was the very first relay of the meet, and the very first time competing in the Mountain West. All of us were super calm, we just knew it was going to line up perfectly and we were going to do what we wanted to do. And I just honestly go back and watch that video so much because we all felt like superhuman and absolutely crushed it.
 
What has been your favorite memory of WSU so far?
There's two that come to mind, winning my sixth place trophy at NCAA this past year. Just seeing my teammates that were there and the coaches, seeing everyone's hard work pay off because it wasn't just me. Honestly every conference meet, the first two years was at PAC-12 and last year was at Mountain West, those were where all our hard work comes ahead, and we all just pour everything into that meet. I always see us come together and just whatever challenges we're faced with, we keep overcoming them. So, honestly every single conference meet I've had has been such a good memory for me.
 
What's your best piece of advice for young swimmers?
It might sound a little cheesy, but don't give up. There are times where I feel like I want to give up, whether it's in practice or just when I was going through high school swimming. It's always worth it, finding a way to stay motivated and keep going even if you hit a wall or plateau.  You get past those, and you'll eventually see success come out of your hard work.
 
What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
The best piece of advice I've been given was from Russ [Russell Whitaker] this past year, which was "enjoy it, take in the moment. Don't walk out of the tunnel too fast or get ahead." I earned that, and to really soak in the moment. I have trouble giving myself grace or celebrating myself for things. So that advice was to be proud of myself, and I take that to heart. I'm really going to try and work on that this year too.  
 
When did you realize that you wanted to continue swimming in college?
My older sister swam in college; she's four years older than me. Just past her halfway mark when I started getting recruited. The recruitment process is stressful; it was right in the middle of covid. I went back and forth if it was even something that I wanted to do. But as soon as soon as I started talking to Washington State, and exploring more of what college swimming was, I heard so many good things. No one is forced, everyone chooses to be here. It's so much like a family, and it's automatically like I have 28 best friends on the team. I get to see them every day and do what I love. During that recruiting process was really when I wanted to swim in college because of my older sister and seeing the success she had and the memories she made for sure.
 
What are you most excited for this season?
Just taking in the last of everything, I don't know where my swimming journey is going to take me after this but I'm excited to be a leader on the team. I want to pass on things that I've learned or struggles that I've had to make their career at WSU easier and more successful, just help push everyone to be the best version of themselves. I want to be that person that hopefully people look up to and leave a positive impression on everyone. But really enjoying that time, I can't even believe it's been four years and taking in everything. I am excited and I think we're going to have a big group go to NCAAs this year, I'm excited to practice and compete, and be one big family.