Becoming a national champion in any sport is not an easy task. Many sports require a team to work together to achieve such an honor, but swimming is one of the few sports that individual performances can be rewarded as well. This year, the Ouachita Tigersharks sent four participants to Birmingham, Alabama to compete in the NCAA Division II National Championships. Of all the performances at the championships though, one Ouachita competitor stood out above the rest.

 Marcus Schlesinger has been swimming since his freshman year of high school. He has not only achieved great things as an Ouachita Tigershark, but has also competed on an international scale, as he competed for the U.S. national team at the Maccabi Games. All of his hard work and determination built up to this year's NCAA Championships in Birmingham though.

 In Birmingham, Marcus was one of only two Tigersharks to compete in individual events. He competed in the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard backstroke, 100 yard freestyle and 100 yard butterfly as an individual, while joining his teammates, Kody Moffat, Kenton Scott and Jacob McLain in the 400 yard freestyle relay, 200 yard freestyle relay and 200 yard medley relay.

Schlesinger's most notable performance came in the 100 yard butterfly. Schlesinger finished the preliminaries for the event with the best time, posting a 47.77 and pushing him through to the championship final.

Little did everyone know, but Marcus was just getting started. In the championship final, Marcus sailed to a national championship, putting up a time of 47.54 and placing his name in a conversation with the all-time greats that have come through the Ouachita swimming program.

Schlesinger commented on his victory by saying, “It felt awesome.  I was so excited when I saw that number one next to my name, I've wanted a national title for so long.”

Although his first place finish in the 100 yard butterfly is the one that will be remembered, Marcus finished just shy of national titles in the 100 yard freestyle and the 50 yard freestyle.

In the championship final of the 100 yard freestyle, Marcus put together a time of 43.56, putting him just five tenths of a second behind the first place finisher, who posted a time of 43.16.

In the 50 yard freestyle, Marcus finished even closer to a national championship. He finished the championship final with a time of 19.84, while the eventual national champion finished with a time of 19.81.

Marcus's other finish was a 13^th place performance in the 100 yard backstroke.

Ryan Killackey, head coach of the Tigersharks, praised Marcus's career at Ouachita, saying, “Marcus has stepped forward and is classified as, by far, our most decorated student-athlete at Ouachita.”

Along with Schlesinger's performances as an individual, he helped Moffatt, Scott and McLain to an 11^th place performance in the 400 yard freestyle relay, as well as an 11^th place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay and a 13^th place finish in the 200 yard medley relay.
Moffatt, who was the only other TIgershark to qualify in individual events, notched a 38^th place finish in the 200 yard individual medley and a 52^nd place finish in the 100 yard freestyle.

The Tigersharks finished the championships ranked 16^th among all men's teams that participated in Birmingham.

Killackey is proud of his athletes, saying, “The nationals have become a lot different than in previous years. The quality of this meet is, I would say, about five-fold, from three years ago. Our main focus was getting guys to nationals and our guys did what they needed to do to make that happen.”

Although the NCAA Championships signaled the end of Schlesinger's career at Ouachita, he isn't done yet. Marcus plans to continue training for the 19^th World Maccabiah Games, which are going to be held in Israel in July. Following the World Maccabiah Games, he will be looking ahead to the 2016 Olympic Trials, where he will try to qualify for the Olympic Games.

As Marcus looks at what swimming has done for him, he notes physical and mental growth, but none of which would be possible without his biggest fan. “I would definitely not be here without this sport and the support from my friends and family, especially my mom.”

-Josh Fink, Sports Information Director