๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to Old Unionite Andrew Fischer (Class of 2011) who will be inducted into the Olivet Nazarene Universityโs Athletic ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ in February this year.
After having joined the Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) in Bourbonnais, Illinois after matriculating, Andrew became a member of the universityโs inaugural swim team, and, almost immediately, helped launch the ONU Tigers – as theyโre known – into national relevancy.
After a third-place team finish at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championships in their first-ever season and runner-up finishes the following two years, Fischer took the Tigers to the top in his senior season, capturing the programme’s first-ever national title in 2016.
๐ฟ๐ช๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฃ 2013, ๐๐๐จ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐ก๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ 200 ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ก๐, ๐ฉ๐๐ 500 ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ก๐, ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ 1650 ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ก๐. ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ค ๐จ๐๐ฉ ๐จ๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ ๐จ๐๐๐ค๐ค๐ก ๐ง๐๐๐ค๐ง๐๐จ ๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ ๐จ๐๐๐จ๐ค๐ฃ. ๐๐๐จ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ ๐ 14-๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐ก๐ก-๐ผ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ.
While at Union, Andrew started training seriously at the age of 16, which is regarded as late in swimming circles. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
โMrs Beagley, Mrs Venter and Mrs Drummond put hours of their time into my life, for which I am very grateful. I forget how many hundreds of kilometres I swam in training in the Union High School pool, little knowing that because it was a 25 yard pool, it was preparing me for Collegiate swimming in the USA.โ (๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ-๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ 25 ๐บ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด.)