Danish swimmer excels

When junior Tina Gretlund came to IU, she had already established herself as a premier swimmer. Gretlund, a native of Kastrup, Denmark, was a member of the Danish National Team, was ranked in the top 100 swimmers in the world for the individual medley and had been named the 1998 New Young Swimmer. \nShe was also a four-time long-course-meter Danish Champion and a six-time short-course-meter Danish Champion. All of these accomplishments drew attention from Hoosier head coach Dorsey Tierney, who at the time was an assistant at Southern Methodist University. Gretlund said she first met Tierney in 1996 in Denmark and they kept in touch, leading Tierney to land Gretlund as a recruit when she came to IU.\nGretlund said the chance to swim at IU gave her opportunities she wouldn't have had if she had stayed in her homeland.\n"It was a good opportunity to combine college swimming and education at the same time," Gretlund said. "You can't do that where I am from, we don't have those systems at all."\nGretlund's experience and international background have already helped her garner two school records. She is the current record holder in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.92, more than two seconds ahead of the next fastest time. \nGretlund also has the fastest time in IU history in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:02.91. But Gretlund has her sights set on a higher mark this year as the Hoosiers train for the Big Ten and NCAA Championships in February and March.\n"My goal is to win the 200-fly at Big Ten's, that is what I would really like to do," she said.\nWith Gretlund having posted wins in the 200-butterfly in each of IU's last two dual meets, including a team season best of 2:02.43 against Northwestern, Tierney said she is pleased to see Gretlund gain confidence and provide the Hoosiers with reliability.\n"Tina is doing a great job," Tierney said. "Her consistency is a key. She was real good at Northwestern and was just as good if not better in some events against Iowa. That is real important for her confidence."\nTierney said Gretlund has excelled in the 200-butterfly because she has tactically improved her stroke and performance.\n"(Tina) has strategically gotten the 200-butterfly down," Tierney said. "She is very comfortable and confident in how she is swimming it. Her performances in the meets have been consistent with her training everyday and it is good to see the correlation there."\nGretlund's training partner, freshman Erin Smith, has also noticed Gretlund's consistency and says she looks to Gretlund as a role model for what to do.\n"We swim similar events and we train very similarly," Smith said. "I look to her to see what I should be doing and her consistency really helps to push me."\nJunior Kristy Martin swims with Gretlund in both the 200-butterfly and 200-individual medley. Martin has the second fastest times in IU history in each of the events which Gretlund holds the records. While she admits they are in the back of her mind, Martin says that the duo pushes each other in practice and she wouldn't want anyone but Gretlund to get the records.\n"In workouts we push each other and encourage each other," Martin said. "We never really talk about the records, but I know it is in the back of my mind. If anyone was going to get them I would want Tina to get them, because I know she works just as hard"