Marquette University Athletics
Latest Blue & Gold Status Honorees Announced
2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM | Academics and Student Programs
Each year at Marquette University, hundreds of student-athletes compete at the highest level for their respective sport. While the majority of people will notice their on-field accomplishments, often the individuals' efforts off the field remain un-publicized.
One of the many groups at Marquette University that is dedicated to assist and honor Marquette student-athletes is the Academic Support Staff. Continuing throughout the rest of the 2016-2017 school year, the Academic Support Staff will pick four student-athletes that consistently excelled academically, athletically and in the community.
The fourth group of four members of the Blue & Gold Status Award, and the first group for the 2017 year, are Joel Swanberg (men's track and field), Madison Dunker (women's soccer), Logan Dobratz (women's lacrosse), and Kristiyan Trukov (men's tennis).
Swanberg is a senior on the men's track and field team, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. In his career thus far, he has won Big East Championships in the Heptathlon, hurdles and pole vault, and placed second in the Decathlon. He is also active off the field, taking a leadership role in Athletes In Action. The goal of AIA is to help sports-minded people think and live biblically at the intersection of sport and Christianity. They work at building a solid community of Christian athletes at Marquette and provide an avenue for support and fellowship within that community. Swanberg's role in AIA has been to reach out to Christian leaders, whether it be local Milwaukee pastors, Theology professors, student athletes and AIA leaders from other universities, and schedule them to come to one of the weekly meetings at Marquette to speak on a particular topic relating to members' personal faith journey and their lives in sport. He has also helped put together service opportunities for those who attend AIA meetings, and events where groups of student-athletes support their peers by cheering them on at home games.
Swanberg is a six-time BIG EAST individual champion and the school-record holder in the pole vault. He also holds three additional top-10 marks at Marquette and his freshman record in the indoor heptathlon still stands. In his first three seasons as a Golden Eagle, Swanberg has proven to be a leader on and off the field of competition, which was evident last spring when he helped lead MU to its first BIG EAST outdoor team title.
Dunker, majoring in Public Relations, truly stands out as a leader in the athletics department. She has taken every opportunity to develop herself as a leader and has used this to give back to her student athlete peers. Being a Junior on the women's soccer team, she has been a tremendous asset in launching the second phase of Marquette's student athlete leadership program. Dunker first participated in STAR (a leadership program for first year students) her freshman year and the following year led the freshman through the curriculum. This year, she took on a new challenge by helping to create the newly established sophomore program. Dunker has helped facilitate challenging conversations and seeks to help her peers unpack what it means to really lead within the athletics department. In addition, Dunker was recently selected and took part in the Leadershape Institute, where she spent a week over winter break with fellow Marquette students from the College of Business, Engineering and Communications honing their skills and crafting their visions. Also, Dunker volunteers with the Love Your Melon effort on campus and has participated in Relay for Life. Dunker's energy and dedication for living out the value of being men and women for others, is what makes her an excellent example for others.
Dunker is a three-year letterwinner for Marquette who was named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team in 2015-16. She netted her first career goal against Providence in 2016 and started all of the team's matches as a sophomore in 2015.
Dobratz is a natural leader within her team of women's lacrosse as only a sophomore, but she also goes above and beyond outside of her team. Dobratz participated in the freshman STAR program and is currently participating in the sophomore leadership program. She eagerly took the reins this year in leading the first year program. She has been an outstanding addition to the sessions. While some may find it challenging to lead students only a year younger than her, Dobratz does so with grace and poise. Her passion for the conversations is evident in the way she lights up talking about each session. Dobratz selects her Service Learning sites to be able to use conversational Spanish in grade-school classrooms, building her own fluency while participating in service learning. She's volunteered at El Puente school, Escuela Vieau, and Carmen High School. She is also active in CRU, and volunteered at Race for the Cure and the PanCan race events. Dobratz is majoring in Secondary Education and Spanish.
Dobratz redshirted during her freshman season as a Golden Eagle, but her energetic presence and positivity was still felt throughout the program. In her first season with the program, Marquette set a program record for wins and recorded its highest-ever finish in the BIG EAST Conference, tying for third place.
Trukov is a senior on the men's tennis team, majoring in both Business Economics and Finance. He has taken part in helping to lead the freshmen STAR program, as a junior, as well as currently holding the role of a MAGIS Mentor within the MAGIS Mentor Program where he helps lead and shape a freshmen student-athlete in their transition into their first year of college. A MAGIS Mentor have a key emphasis on being dependable, empathetic, trustworthy, understanding and passionate about the work they do, all traits that Trukov possess. Trukov is in the AIM program, which is a program that allows a select group of finance majors to get hands-on academic and financial analysis experiences, including an opportunity to actively manage domestic and international equity and fixed-income portfolios.
Trukov owns nearly 100 total victories with the Golden Eagles and was an All-BIG EAST Conference selection as a sophomore in 2014-15. He shared Team MVP honors that campaign and finished the year with a team-high 23 singles victories. Trukov was a BIG EAST All-Academic Team honoree as a junior and earned Most Improved Player following his freshman season.
Continue to check GoMarquette.com as the Academic Support Staff honors four new student-athletes into the Blue & Gold Status Award this upcoming March and April.
