Marie Marsman's hard work has paid off.

The Carleton College senior is one of the most successful swimmers in Division III history, and has a long list of achievements to prove it. Most recently, she set a new Division III record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.78 seconds to win the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in the event.

Marsman already owns the Division III records in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle, and will enter the NCAA Championships as the top seed in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. She has the third-best time in the 200-yard freestyle this year.

A five-time NCAA champion, Marsman's 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle times are among the best in collegiate swimming, regardless of division. In fact, she would have placed second at the Big 10 Championships and fourth at the Pac-10 Championships in the 50-yard freestyle with her record time.

Despite the talent and ability to compete at the Division I level, the native of Mountain View, Calif., decided on a small school in Northfield, Minn., as her college of choice.

"I was never completely interested in a Division I school," said Marsman. "I've gotten a lot faster than I was my senior year in high school. I really wanted a smaller school that had really good academics and that had great people, and I just kind of stumbled upon Carleton. When I went and visited, I absolutely loved it. My priority when going to college wasn't swimming, it was the whole experience, especially academics, and Carleton was the right place for me."

Marsman had stopped training year-round during high school, but picked it up again during her senior year. With her emphasis on training, Marsman's times started dropping.

"That's why I feel I improved so much in college – all those years of year-round training have really helped me to go faster," said Marsman.

Marsman's times were good enough to be named to the 2003 World University Games team, and to be invited to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. She even decided to take a year's sabbatical from college to concentrate on training to make the 2004 Olympic team.

"I felt since I did make the Trials, and I did have a shot -- however long it was -- at the Olympics, I felt had to give it my all and put everything I could into to try to make the Olympic team," Marsman said. "I felt as much as I love Carleton and the team, it's just a much more stressful environment with academics and so much else going on. I felt it would be better for me swimming-wise to go home and focus completely on swimming."

Now entering her last meet as a collegiate swimmer, Marsman is excited about the upcoming NCAA Championships on March 10-12 at the Holland Community Aquatic Center in Holland, Mich.

"We're bringing seven people with the Carleton team and I'm really excited about the whole experience – hanging out with everyone family's and going out to dinner with them," said Marsman. "Swimming-wise, I'd really like to go best times -- that's obviously the goal of every swimmer. I just want to have a really good time and enjoy this last college meet."

As she attempts to add more accolades to her resume, the two-time NCAA "Swimmer of the Meet" has learned a lot about herself through swimming.

"It's made me know that I can give my all and push myself to achieve really anything I want to achieve," said Marsman. "I never thought that any of the stuff that I've done since coming to college was possible at all."