During the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s the Augustana women’s swimming program was consistently at the top of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin and was also one of the top teams in the nation. From 1988 until 1997, the Vikings won six conference titles, but it was a three year stretch from 1988 through 1990 where the dominance was total. Augustana won the CCIW in 1988, 1989 and again in 1990 and one of the central figures in that stretch was Julie Konchan.
Her career started in the fall of 1986 and when it ended in the late winter of 1990, her accomplishments became the standard upon which all future Viking swimmers would be measured. Even today, 18 years after she last swam a stroke in the Carver Pool, Konchan still holds five individual and one school record. She has the top marks in the 50 (:24.16) and 100 (:53.04) freestyles, the 50 (:31.78) and 100 (1:08.14) breaststrokes and the 100 individual medley (1:03.74). She swam anchor on the 400 medley relay team in 1990 that still holds the school record of 4:09.12.
In addition to all her school records, she is second in the 200 freestyle (1:59.24) and second in the 200 breaststroke (2:34.96).
Her crowning achievement, however, came in 1990 when she became the first (and only) swimmer in Augustana history to claim an individual national title when she won the 50 freestyle in :24.16 at the NCAA Division III national meet. She was also fifth in the 100 freestyle (:53.04), eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.01) and also earned All-American honors in the 400 medley relay in that same meet. Konchan was an 11 time NCAA Division III All-American during her Viking career. As a freshman in 1987, she placed in the national meet in the 50 and 100 freestyles and the 100 breaststroke. During her sophomore season of 1988, she earned All-American honors in the 50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
She won a total of 10 CCIW titles (five individual and five relays) and was the league’s Most Valuable Performer in the 1987 championship meet as a freshman.
Her career totals would have undoubtedly been higher except for a bout with mononucleosis that sidelined her for the conference and national meets during her junior year of 1989. Three times Konchan was the Augustana team MVP and during her career she helped the Vikings to a 27-7 dual meet record, including a perfect 9-0 mark in 1989-90.
Konchan, a native of Zion, Illinois, credits Dave Thomas, the Augustana coach at the time with a lot of her success. “Dave Thomas was an amazing coach,” she said. “He went above and beyond any coach I ever had. He researched training techniques and incorporated them in our team training.”
She graduated from Augustana in 1990 with a degree in elementary education and she also has a Master’s degree in reading. She has been a second grade teacher at Beulah Park School for the past 15 years. Julie and her husband Roger have two children, Collin (12) and Kendall (10).
Konchan has not let the competitive juices die as she took up competitive bodybuilding and in 2003 she was the Midwest Body Building overall women’s champion and in 2004 won the Mid-Illinois master’s division.
