Brie Marhenke doesn’t generate a very big splash when she hits the water at the start of a race, but she has certainly made a significantly large splash into the national collegiate swimming scene this season.

The sprint freestyle specialist has made enormous competitive strides in this, her first season in the San Jose State University women’s swimming and diving program. She is currently getting ready to become the first Spartan representative at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in six years.

Marhenke, a junior from Sacramento, Calif., who attended Del Campo High School, transferred to San Jose State from Oregon State following the 2004-05 season. Though she came with high credentials, seemingly nobody could have guessed exactly how far she would come in such a short time in her new setting.

“Brie came into the program being a fairly good swimmer,” says Spartan interim head coach Sage Hopkins. “She is already now a legitimate world-class athlete who is looking to make the U.S. national team. With a good two years, she should have her sights set on the Olympic Trials in 2008.”

Olympics? No San Jose State swimmer has made it to the quadrennial event since Angie Wester-Krieg in 1992. Only two, Wester-Krieg and Lynn Vidali, have ever competed in an Olympic Games.

“I’ve always had a goal of making it to the Olympics, ever since I was little,” says Marhenke. “My idol growing up was (former Stanford star) Summer Sanders. I was really watching the (Olympic) trials in 2004, and I realized it would be such a good experience just to go and compete in them.”

For now, the health science major is solely focused on the upcoming NCAA Championships, to be held March 16-18, in Athens, Ga. Marhenke is entered in the 50 freestyle on day one as the 10th seed out of 80 swimmers, with a school-record entry time of 22.54, and in the 100 freestyle on the third and final day, as the 52nd seed out of 77 total competitors. Her 100 freestyle seed time is 50.48, also a school record. She achieved both marks at the recent Western Athletic Conference Championship in San Antonio, Texas, garnering a pair of gold medals for individual first-place finishes.

Having entered the program with lifetime-best times of 23.81 in the 50 freestyle and 51.86 in the 100 freestyle, Marhenke has dropped more than 1.25 seconds in each event in putting together a nearly-flawless season to date. She went undefeated at a perfect 12-0 in the 50 in dual meets, and 9-1 in the 100, sweeping the two sprint freestyle events a total of nine times ahead of the WAC meet, including at third-ranked perennial power Stanford to open the season, on October 14.

“That is pretty unheard of,” says Hopkins, of the drop in Marhenke’s 50 time in particular. “It is a remarkable amount of time in an event that is only 20 seconds long.

“The goal now is to develop her 100 free over the next eight months, to make that a real strong event for her next year, too. There are three times as many slots on the Olympic Team in the 100, as there are for the 50.”

Hopkins goes on to say about his swimmer’s presence in the NCAA field, “It’s great for this program that she was able to qualify. The NCAA Championships is the fastest meet in the world.”

Adds Marhenke about her expectations in the coming week, “I’m really excited for the meet to start. My general goal is to drop my best times. I’d really like to swim 49 seconds in the 100, and go below 23 seconds in the 50. (A time of) 22.3 seconds would be ideal. I’m going to fight to be in the top eight, but want to at least be in the top 16 for sure.”

No Spartan swimmer has scored points at the event since Wester-Krieg accumulated 16 points as a senior at the 1986 event in Fayetteville, Ark. Charlotte Pierce was the last San Jose State swimmer to have participated at the NCAA Championships, as a freshman in the 100 and 200 butterfly in Indianapolis, Ind., in 2000.

Whether she races her way into a top-eight spot and earns All-America status or not, Marhenke has had a great first year in San Jose.

“I’m so glad to be a Spartan,” she says. “The team has been so awesome. The team spirit made everybody so determined all year to do their best. Nobody ever got overly down about a particular race, even if they didn’t perform at their best. We all help each other.”