Washington State University Athletics
Emily Lundgren’s Battle of Rising to Expectations
March 12, 2026 | Swimming
In just her first season with Washington State, Emily Lundgren broke two school records, placed third at the Pac-12 Championships in the 200 yard and alongside her teammate Dori Hathazi, became the first freshman in program history to compete in the NCAA Championships. The next year, during a winter practice in her sophomore season two months before conference championships, Lundgren felt the pressure that freshman year set.
Standing on the box that overlooked Gibb pool inside Bohler Gym, Lundgren dove into the water and thought to herself, "I do not want to be here."
Doubt swirled throughout her mind, and she remembered asking herself, "How am I going to top that? How am I going to keep improving?"
Lundgren got out of the water and found her teammate at the time, Alexandra Vartiainen. Lundgren told her she felt nervous, and Vartiainen gave her a simple but strong message.
"She was like, 'Just take it one thing at a time,' and I ended up having a great practice and I think that really took off a lot of pressure from me," Lundgren said. "Definitely opening up to my teammates and relying on them is a huge thing I've learned. They're a resource and I hope I am a resource to them too."
Two months later, Lundgren finished second at the Pac-12 Championships in the 100-yard breaststroke and qualified for the NCAA Championships for a second year in a row.
"I feel like that race I really swam for myself and for my teammates," Lundgren said. "I was having so much fun with it and then the outcome came better than I ever expected."
The pressure Lundgren felt prior to her sophomore season is something that is always in the back of her mind. But now, as a senior, Lundgren is preparing for her fourth trip to the NCAA Championships, the first Cougar to ever do so. Throughout her career, she has learned how to deal with the pressure that comes with her love for competition.
"That doubt is always part of the process, but it's about how I kind of overcame it. I have a whole season, like I'm only improving," Lundgren said. "So, I think I definitely panicked a little bit, but I brought it back."
Competition has been a part of Lundgren's since she joined the swim team at seven years old. She followed closely in the footsteps of her sister, who is four years older and swam competitively.
Lundgren remembers winning her first meet when she was about eight years old. When you won a heat in that age group, the organizers gave you a toy duck. Lundgren said she wanted to swim just for the ducks, collecting them throughout the years. She still remembers her favorite duck, it had water inside and hung from a lanyard on her backpack throughout primary school.
But as she got older, Lundgren found her own motivation. Lundgren knew she could swim at a division-one level; her coaches told her that ever since middle school. Watching her older sister compete at the University of Santa Cruz naturally, Lundgren followed a similar route but instead took her talents out of the state.
She left her hometown of Chula Vista, California and came to the Palouse. By the end of Lundgren's freshman season, she surprised even herself by qualifying for the NCAA Championships. The NCAA Championship is any division-one swimmer's goal, but once she got to the pool and saw the best collegiate athletes and even Olympians, it hit her where she was. Lundgren jokes that she thinks she got last place but still acknowledged the weight of her accomplishment.
"It really taught me like, I qualified for that meet based on time so I belong here," Lundgren said. "That was a huge thing for me, reminding myself that I could compete there."
Lundgren knew she belonged, and by her junior year, a March trip to the NCAA Championships became the norm. In her third straight postseason, she finished sixth place in the 200 breaststroke, the best finish by a Coug in program history.
"I'm very proud doing that because I set my goal last year was to make it to that final and so actually being able to accomplish that I think was huge also for my teammates because they all knew what I wanted to do so kind of setting that example that you can actually do whatever you want to do as long as you put a lot of effort and work into it," Lundgren said.
Lundgren has stepped into the role of leading by example. Part of that comes with being one of the most decorated swimmers in program history, but also because it was only when Lundgren reached out to her upperclassman teammate at the time, Vartiainen, that she got clarity. Now a senior, Lundgren has felt that same dynamic with her teammates.
"I've had a couple of freshmen come up to me this year and they're like, 'do you even get nervous before races,' and I'm like, 'let me tell you, I definitely do,'" Lundgren said.
One of the underclassmen that has felt the impact of Lundgren's leadership is sophomore Darcy Revitt. Last season both Lundgren and Revitt qualified for the NCAA Championships. The Championships were held the week after spring break, and the two stayed in Pullman. Revitt said that she thinks they were the only two students on campus. Revitt, a freshman at the time, said that week felt daunting. She had so much free time and so much on her mind, but Lundgren helped ease her nerves.
The two started a tradition, they would go to Starbucks and get a brown sugar shaken expresso. After they would go home and bake a batch of monkey bread. These activities helped keep Revitt's mind off of swim, but even when she needed to talk about swim, the two were able to bounce off each other.
"It's a lot harder to see something in your own eyes, but if you have someone else whose experienced it with you and knows what you're capable of and believes in you, then its so much easier to just kind of have that little switch of like, 'I help you, you help me,' and that was really nice to have, especially that week," Revitt said.
This season, both qualified for a postseason trip to Atlanta for the NCAA Championships. As Lundgren is set for her fourth postseason trip, the senior gets to wrap up her career alongside her teammate Revitt.
"No matter what happens, it's like I've gotten to go four times and helping Darcy get there another time is so cool," Lundgren said. "It means a lot that I get to compete one last time."
Players Mentioned
