Inductees

It’s almost as if a Hollywood writer penned the script for a box-office smash. In fact, you can almost envision the movie trailer hyping it this way:

Michelle Langsford Dickemann wasn’t your average swimmer. She soared in the pool, becoming the first girl from Springfield to win a high school state championship and eventually told the guys on the Drury University men’s swim team to scoot aside.

Yes. There she was, as the only woman on the men’s team. And not just any woman. She became a star.

It seemed too good to be true, right? Well, it wasn’t. In other words, what a history-making career she enjoyed, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Dickemann with the Class of 2018.

Having evenly split her collegiate career at College of the Ozarks and then Drury, Dickemann earned 21 NAIA All-American honors, capturing 14 national championships and setting records in each of her winning events.

Along the way, she earned NAIA Most Valuable Swimmer in 1984 and 1985, when Dickemann scored enough points at the national meets that – get this – Drury finished eighth and 10^th, respectively, as a team of one.

Which helps explain why Dickemann also is an inductee of the NAIA Swimming Hall of Fame as well as the Drury and Springfield Area Sports halls of fame.

“I wanted to swim and this was the avenue I was given,” Dickemann said. “There wasn’t a girls’ team, but it didn’t matter. I figured I would put my head down and swim.”

Years before, she was Springfield’s first girl to win a high school swim state championship, as she captured the individual medley and 100 breaststroke as a Central High School sophomore in 1979. It was part of a prep career in which she never finished lower than fourth in eight individual events at the state meet.

“All of my siblings, they swam but didn’t have the same addiction,” said Dickemann, who for years held eight Central swim records and seven of the eight all-city high school records. “My mom (Carol) and dad (Les) were always supportive, especially my mom. She took me to the swimming pool at 6 a.m. every morning until I was 16 and could drive myself.”

She began taking swim lessons at age 9 and, “From day one, it just became all I ever wanted to do,” Dickemann said.

In time, she joined the Springfield Swim Club, then run by Jack Steck and Ernie Brueggeman. Mike Metz and his dad, Leonard, became key mentors, too, who fine-tuned her strokes and, as she put it, “That took me to a different level.”

Dickemann years later drew interest from swim coaches at the University of Arkansas, the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska.

However, because she wanted to play volleyball as well, she chose C of O. As a freshman in 1982, she led the swim team to a fourth-place finish in NAIA.

Yet, seeking to train year-round, Dickemann transferred to Drury, putting her under the direct supervision of coach Brian Reynolds.

The only caveat? She would have to practice with the guys and, in regular-season meets, likely compete in the men’s events.

Dickemann knew it wasn’t a gimmick.

“Brian wouldn’t let me train with them if I couldn’t hang with (the guys),” Dickemann said. “They had real talented swimmers, but there were middle-of-the-road guys I could beat.”

Soon, Dickemann was “just one of the guys.”

“You can’t feel any more confident on the block than when you’re on a team full of guys and they all are cheering for you,” Dickemann said. “That was such a psychological boost.”

How good was she? Put it this way, Dickemann capped her collegiate career by winning her final national title in the 200 breaststroke, an event she loathed the most.

However, years later, Dickemann hasn’t considered herself as a trailblazer, a title she says is more befitting of those who created women’s athletics decades ago.

But as the years have gone by — as she and husband Barry raised Kara, Mason and Rokey, and as she ran MD Publications, which publishes automotive trade journals – Dickemann figures she showed how to find success despite any circumstance.

“I was able to practice as part of a men’s team and be competitive. That was a big undertaking,” Dickemann said. “Anyone can work hard and be successful. But in what environment can you be successful?”

Dickemann proved it over and over and over again.