Featured Senior: Jacob Hulti

What was your most memorable moment throughout your career at Willamette?

I really enjoyed essentially the entire last season. Getting to know and mentor the new swimmers as well as making good memories with everyone. Our last meet, the Northwest Conference, was awesome and I'm just really happy I was able to be a part of it.

Describe your feelings when you found out the athletic events were cancelled for the remainder of the year.

Pretty bummed. I wanted to watch lacrosse and tennis.

How have you been handling life in quarantine? Are you home or on campus? What's it like learning online and not being around your teammates?

It's fine I guess. I'm still living in Salem and I'm pretty bored. I only have two classes in total so it's pretty relaxing but again, boring. I would prefer being in class around people.

What has your experience as a Bearcat taught you?

Perhaps the idea of perseverance. I'm not familiar with other sports and how they deal with their respective seasons, but swimming is extremely grating and can be exceptionally hard to bear through in the middle of the season.

If you could leave one piece of advice for future Bearcats, what would it be?

Stick with it. It's only for a limited amount of time and when looking back you'll have an such a cool experience and something to flaunt. I'm pretty glad I can say I was a collegiate athlete, more impressively, I'm a walk-on.

What are your future plans following graduation?

Work, work, work.

From their teammates

What was your most memorable moment of Jacob?

Olivia Frenkel: I think it's more of a series of moments, rather than just one. Jacob is my lane buddy and hates when I do butterfly kick because it creates too many waves, so I make sure to do it as often as I can. He shares my love for kombucha. He yells "HI-YAH" all the time. At conference, he created a timeline in which the WU swim team dominates all the other teams via political moves and very unlikely events.

Benji Troutman: Jacob was never shy to tell you how it is and I remember having some very meaningful talks with him at our team retreat.

How has Jacob impacted you in your sport or in life?

Olivia Frenkel: Jacob made me like swimming again. He pushed me during practice and he's pushed me to become a better and more involved teammate.

Benji Troutman: He has helped me figure out who I am as a person and kept me going in the water. He was in a similar position as I was as a freshman and it helped to be able to relate to him.

What makes Jacob special?

Olivia Frenkel: Jacob loves to watch his teammates. He'll look back and forth between the clock and whoever's swimming and he'll jump up and down, waving his hands while cheering louder than anyone else. Watching Jacob watch his teammates break records and get best times is the most entertaining thing in the world.

Is there anything Jacob brought to the program that will have a lasting impact?

Olivia Frenkel: Jacob's passion for swimming, his willingness to debate anything and everything, and his passion for Hawaiian Pong (a game we play in Kaneko during dry season) will be missed greatly.

Benji Troutman: Jacob can handle every situation, and with him gone the team won't be the same