Haeger Named StarHawk

Dec. 5, 2003

Swimmer Katie Haeger, a junior from Hales Corners, Wisconsin, has been added to the McLeodUSA StarHawk team.

Haeger competes mostly in the free and breast stroke events. During the 2002-03 season, she recorded 16 top-five finishes and swam on four winning relays. Haeger swam her collegiate best times in the 100 free (51.55) and the 100 breast (1:05.79) at the Big Ten Championships last year, continuing the standard she set during her freshman year.

“Our team has benefited greatly by having Katie as a Hawkeye,” said UI Head Swimming Coach Garland O’Keeffe. “She’s a consistently reliable competitor in the sprint freestyle and breaststroke events, and there is no one else I’d rather have anchor our freestyle relays than Katie because she always finds a way to get the job done.”

An academic all-Big Ten student, Haeger is majoring in biology/pre-chiropractic. She also represents her team on the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group of student-athletes from each of the UI’s varsity sports who help to shape departmental policies and procedures and to initiate department-wide outreach programs.

“Katie is an excellent student, swimmer and person,” O’Keeffe said. “She is a strong leader in and out of the pool. She is an excellent choice for the StarHawks team.”

The StarHawks program is an initiative funded in part by McLeodUSA, a leading telecommunications company with corporate headquarters in Cedar Rapids and a long-time member of the UI’s Partners in Excellence corporate sponsorship program. The StarHawks team is a collection of student-athletes at the University of Iowa who truly represent the very best the intercollegiate athletics program at the UI has to offer. StarHawks typically excel athletically and academically, and also are active in community or leadership activities.