Ellie (Rudy) van Swearingen
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
BOBCAT ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME: Ellie (Rudy) van Swearingen Saved All of her Championship Performances for MSU
2/21/2020 3:17:00 PM | General, Women's Track and Field
Montana State's all-time great female student-athlete was also a great teammate
BOZEMAN, Montana – Ellie (Rudy) van Swearingen came to Montana State in the fall of 2005 as a freshman pole vaulter with many strong attributes. Long-time Bobcat jumps and vaults coach said she brought good speed, toughness, and fearlessness to the MSU program. And she brought strong determination, rooted in something that happened during her high school career.
Or rather, something that hadn't happened. "She never won a high school (state) championship," said Tom Eitel, Montana State's long-time jumps and vaults coach, "so when she came (to MSU) she said, 'I want to win a championship.'"
A high school teammate regularly topped her performances in championship meets during their high school careers in Woodland Park, Colorado, and that hole in her resume fueled van Swearingen's desire to perform in college. "She'd never go home," Eitel said. "Her run got a lot better, and we were able to move her back farther (on the runway). The faster you are the farther back you should be (when beginning) your run, so she was able to use her speed more."
Buttressing her work ethic with fearlessness and toughness, van Swearingen's mental fortitude was tested early in her Bobcat career. "She was the toughest girl I had, by far," Eitel said. "Right before her first indoor meet, she broke a pole and split her hand open all the way across," Eitel said. "So in her first meet she was bandaged up and I was upstairs filming and I said, 'How are you doing Ellie?' and she (gave a thumbs-up) and said, 'Great!' with a smile. That's how she was. She never really got down, and she really believed in what she could do."
Although the beginning of her Bobcat career was stymied by that injury, van Swearingen's belief in her ability soon proved well-founded. In the spring of 2005 she won her first Big Sky championship, also won Big Sky outdoor titles in 2006, 2007, and 2009, and claimed every indoor championship from 2006 to 2009. She competed in eight Big Sky Championship meets in the pole vault. She won every one of them.
Every. Single. One.
But in March of 2007 she transitioned from legend to Bobcat immortal. Van Swearingen became the first Bobcat woman to earn a track and field national championship in dramatic fashion by winning a jumpoff against Natalie Moser of Florida and Kate Sultanova of Kansas. "She was clean all the way through," Eitel said, "she didn't have any misses, and that's something we'd been practicing a lot. If you get five bar clearances chances are you're going to win something our you're going to be right there, I don't care what championship it is."
Her background in gymnastics at the youth level helped van Swearingen develop physical attributes that, although they didn't fully emerge until her time at MSU, served her well as a collegian. "She was tall and she was fast," Eitel said. "She was not strong, she was probably our weakest girl in the jumps group, but she was really good with her body weight in gymnastics, so maybe the bench press doesn't mean that much. She had super speed on the runway, and she could grip high."
While van Swearingen improved and increased her production as a vaulter, piling up awards and honors, Bobcat head coach Dale Kennedy was always amazed by something else entirely. "She was a great teammate," Kennedy said. "Just a really great teammate. She could have been completely full of herself, but it was always about everybody else on the team and not her. I always preached 'we' and 'us' over 'me', and she personified that. She was humble and grateful. She had a strong Christian background and ethic and that really helped her in that regard."
Van Swearingen won a second National Championship in 2008, and Eitel will always remember that as an emblem of her resilience. "Something a lot of people don't know is that I'm sure she had a broken wrist the next year at nationals," he said. "Her last jump she made, she (said), 'That's probably it, I don't think I can hang onto the pole any more.'"
Finishing her career as a two-time National Champion, a four-time All-America, and eight-time Big Sky Champion, Eitel said, brought van Swearingen full circle. "She'd never won a championship when she got here because her teammate (Kelley DiVesta) always beat her. That girl ended up being an All-America at Washington, but she never beat Ellie in college."
Now a physical therapist and married to former Bobcat javelin thrower Dan van Swearingen with three beautiful and amazing daughters, Ellie enters the Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, February 21 – and the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame as an inaugural inductee – as the greatest female athlete in Montana State history.
Or rather, something that hadn't happened. "She never won a high school (state) championship," said Tom Eitel, Montana State's long-time jumps and vaults coach, "so when she came (to MSU) she said, 'I want to win a championship.'"
A high school teammate regularly topped her performances in championship meets during their high school careers in Woodland Park, Colorado, and that hole in her resume fueled van Swearingen's desire to perform in college. "She'd never go home," Eitel said. "Her run got a lot better, and we were able to move her back farther (on the runway). The faster you are the farther back you should be (when beginning) your run, so she was able to use her speed more."
Buttressing her work ethic with fearlessness and toughness, van Swearingen's mental fortitude was tested early in her Bobcat career. "She was the toughest girl I had, by far," Eitel said. "Right before her first indoor meet, she broke a pole and split her hand open all the way across," Eitel said. "So in her first meet she was bandaged up and I was upstairs filming and I said, 'How are you doing Ellie?' and she (gave a thumbs-up) and said, 'Great!' with a smile. That's how she was. She never really got down, and she really believed in what she could do."
Although the beginning of her Bobcat career was stymied by that injury, van Swearingen's belief in her ability soon proved well-founded. In the spring of 2005 she won her first Big Sky championship, also won Big Sky outdoor titles in 2006, 2007, and 2009, and claimed every indoor championship from 2006 to 2009. She competed in eight Big Sky Championship meets in the pole vault. She won every one of them.
Every. Single. One.
But in March of 2007 she transitioned from legend to Bobcat immortal. Van Swearingen became the first Bobcat woman to earn a track and field national championship in dramatic fashion by winning a jumpoff against Natalie Moser of Florida and Kate Sultanova of Kansas. "She was clean all the way through," Eitel said, "she didn't have any misses, and that's something we'd been practicing a lot. If you get five bar clearances chances are you're going to win something our you're going to be right there, I don't care what championship it is."
Her background in gymnastics at the youth level helped van Swearingen develop physical attributes that, although they didn't fully emerge until her time at MSU, served her well as a collegian. "She was tall and she was fast," Eitel said. "She was not strong, she was probably our weakest girl in the jumps group, but she was really good with her body weight in gymnastics, so maybe the bench press doesn't mean that much. She had super speed on the runway, and she could grip high."
While van Swearingen improved and increased her production as a vaulter, piling up awards and honors, Bobcat head coach Dale Kennedy was always amazed by something else entirely. "She was a great teammate," Kennedy said. "Just a really great teammate. She could have been completely full of herself, but it was always about everybody else on the team and not her. I always preached 'we' and 'us' over 'me', and she personified that. She was humble and grateful. She had a strong Christian background and ethic and that really helped her in that regard."
Van Swearingen won a second National Championship in 2008, and Eitel will always remember that as an emblem of her resilience. "Something a lot of people don't know is that I'm sure she had a broken wrist the next year at nationals," he said. "Her last jump she made, she (said), 'That's probably it, I don't think I can hang onto the pole any more.'"
Finishing her career as a two-time National Champion, a four-time All-America, and eight-time Big Sky Champion, Eitel said, brought van Swearingen full circle. "She'd never won a championship when she got here because her teammate (Kelley DiVesta) always beat her. That girl ended up being an All-America at Washington, but she never beat Ellie in college."
Now a physical therapist and married to former Bobcat javelin thrower Dan van Swearingen with three beautiful and amazing daughters, Ellie enters the Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, February 21 – and the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame as an inaugural inductee – as the greatest female athlete in Montana State history.
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