Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's Mike Nicholson Jumps Towards More Records
11/5/2012 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 5, 2012
By Becky Hart, Bucknell Athletic Communications
You know that moment when you jump in a chilly pool and experience the sudden rush of cold hit your body? Not many people enjoy that initial feeling when their body is submerged in the water. Given that Division I swimmers have made that jump hundreds of thousands of times in their lives, it would seem natural that they don't give it a second thought. Mike Nicholson, one of Bucknell's most decorated swimmers, is not one of them.
"From the time I was six, every time I look into a pool, I think about how cold it's going to be," says Nicholson.
After that initial leap, though, he is at home in the water and it shows in his impressive results since becoming a Bison in the fall of 2010 - three school records, a couple of All-Patriot League and Mid-Major Honorable Mention All-America citations and a drive to be at the top of the podium come February when the conference championships return to Kinney Natatorium.
Nicholson wasted little time before making a name for himself at Bucknell. The native of Chappaqua, N.Y., came to Lewisburg and won the 400 individual medley and 200 butterfly six times each during his freshman campaign. He also swam the season's top five times in seven events, including the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM where he was faster than any other Bison in 2011-12.
With performances like that, people had no choice but to take notice. Nicholson made his biggest splash, however, at the Patriot League Championships where he claimed his first league title in the 400 IM and set school records in both the 400 (3:52.09) and 200 (1:49.75) IMs. His No. 1 mark in the 200 IM topped that of Hall of Famer Jim Harvey who had held the record since 1988, four years before Nicholson was born.
A third school record came the following season when he swam 1:48.57 in the 200 fly at the Bucknell Invitational. As a sophomore, Nicholson never placed below second in that event and, by the end of the year, he had 29 first-place finishes across all races. He also became the first Bison since 1993 to win two events at the ECAC Championships, taking gold in the 200 breast and 400 IM, but a lack of victories at the Patriot League meet earlier in the month caused Nicholson to write off the season as a letdown.
"Last year was kind of disappointing for me. I kind of took a step back from where I was freshman year, which is always something you don't want to do," laments Nicholson.
Now as a junior, Nicholson is planning his return to the top of the league's podium and eyeing a few more records both in the Bucknell and Patriot League history books. Achieving both is a bit of a balancing act in his case, though.
"I want to get back to where I was and obviously even further. Time-wise the Patriot League record in the 400 IM is right there. It's half a second off, so that's something I'm definitely trying to get.
"Records don't matter as much as places do, but as far as setting goals, you have to worry about yourself," Nicholson explains. "You have to worry about your own time. No one knows what Navy's going to be doing. No one knows what Army's going to be doing. Generally with swimming, I've found it's best to set a goal time and just see where that takes you. If you win Patriots with that, it's awesome. If you end up second and you hit your goal time, obviously it's disappointing, but you can't be too upset at the end of the day."
Nicholson's tone when he says this last sentence is less than convincing, though. It's hard to believe that anything less than gold, regardless of time, will truly be acceptable in his eyes.
Nicholson prepared for the championship season last summer when he made the trip to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials and ultimately ended up 75th in a field of 109 swimmers in the 400 IM. On a personal level, he can now joke that swimming in front of a crowd in Pennsylvania can no longer be nerve-wracking after competing in front of 10,000 fans in Omaha, Neb. The bigger take-away from the trials, however, is the effect Nicholson thinks it will have on the Bucknell swimming and diving program.
"In 2008 we had no guys from our team make the meet. We had three guys this year, so that was huge for our program," says Nicholson, who was joined at the Olympic Trials by fellow Bison Eric Heinemann and Matthew Segar. "It was really great to see. You look at the teams that are out there and you see Texas, you see USC, you see UNC, UVA, all the big teams. To see Bucknell up there too, it was really awesome and it really shows that we're taking steps in the right direction."
As focused as he is on improvement, both the team's and his own, there was a time not too long ago that that might not have been possible. Nicholson was diagnosed with a heart condition during his rookie season, taking him out of the pool and away from many other activities for three months. Many of his doctors told him that those three months were just the beginning, that the arrhythmia would knock him out of the sport for good. But that didn't stop Nicholson.
"Eventually I found a doctor who was kind of on the fence and decided that we'd go ahead and try to operate on it," said Nicholson. "He did and it worked perfectly. It's been great ever since. That's behind me. It's awesome to say that.
"I found it to be something actually pretty positive," Nicholson says of the health scare. "Every day that I'm swimming, every day that I complain about something, I can just think that I could be sitting on my couch not doing anything with my life. When it happened, it couldn't have been worse. But moving away from it, I think it's something that really helped me."
Now back in the pool, although apparently still not enjoying that initial plunge into the cool water, Nicholson is able to think about what he still hopes to accomplish in the second half of his Bucknell career. He says he's honored by the records and awards he has collected, but his fellow Bison are at the top of his wish list this time.
"I really just want to see this team get better and better. We graduated a huge class last year. We have 10 freshmen guys this year, which is huge. Obviously, it's going to take some time to develop. As we keep getting each recruiting class faster and faster, I just want to see by the time I graduate how much better we are than when I came in.
"It's unbelievable how much progress we've made from the time Coach Dan (Schinnerer) came in 2006 to where we are now. I want to see that keep progressing. I think it's really accelerated over the past couple of years."
Bucknell will compete at Kinney Natatorium seven times this winter, but no event at home will be bigger than the Patriot League Championships Feb. 21-23. With a handful of races already under his belt in 2012, Nicholson is remaining cautiously optimistic leading up to the league meet.
"I think I'm happy with the way things are going, but there's really no way to know," he says. "It's October. The big meets are in February, so as of now, everything's on track. It's looking good."
Note: This story appeared in a recent edition of the Bucknell Football Gameday Program.
