Brandi Kossub came to Drury in the fall of 1994 from Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa, California after graduating from Katella High in Anaheim. She was a standout for the Anaheim Aquatics Swim Club. Named the MVP of the 1992 California state swimming and diving meet, she set numerous records at the prep and junior college level. It was the hope of Drury head swimming coach, Brian Reynolds, that this sort of success would continue with Brandi as a member of the Drury women’s swimming/diving team. She did not disappoint as Brandi helped the Drury women’s swimming/diving team make a successful transition from the NAIA to the NCAA-II by her being the dominant backstroke specialist in the nation.
Brandi was part of the 1994-95 Drury women’s swimming/diving team that competed for the first time at the NCAA-II level. She played an integral role in maintaining the national prominence that Drury enjoyed as she helped the “upstart” Panthers to back-to-back third place finishes at the NCAA-II swimming/diving championships in 1995 and 1996.
In 1995 she set the Drury record in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events with respective times of 57.55 and 2:01.22. At that year’s NCAA-II national championships, held in Canton, Ohio, she finished second in the 100 backstroke but won the 200 backstroke, securing the first of three NCAA-II individual national championships in the backstroke events. The next year, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Brandi won the 100 and successfully defended her national title in the 200 backstroke. In 1996 she also finished fourteenth in the 500 free and was part of the second-place 400 medley relay team and third place 200 medley team. In her two years at Drury, Brandi was the dominant backstroker in the nation, winning three NCAA-II national championships and earning NCAA-II All-America honors a total of seven times.
At the time of her graduation from Drury, on August 17, 1996, with a degree in biology, Brandi held the Drury records in both events: 56.23 in the 100 backstroke and 2:01.22 in the 200 backstroke. For the next 10 years the name Brandi Kossub was attached to the records in both events. Simply put, Brandi Kossub was the best backstroke specialist in the history of the Drury women’s swimming/diving program for over a decade.
Brandi’s contribution to the Drury swimming/diving program did not stop upon graduation. This national champion, All-American and honor student continued to serve the program as its graduate assistant coach. It is no coincidence that the Drury women’s team, in 1997, won its first of four straight NCAA-II national swimming/diving team championships. Her competitive fire and work ethic served her well as an athlete, as a coach and in her successful transition in her career pursuits after leaving the Drury campus.
Brandi and Jesper Pietsch, also an All-America swimmer at Drury, married after graduating from Drury and the couple soon settled in San Diego, California. While in San Diego Brandi worked as a sales executive for Eli Lilly and Company. In 2008 they moved to Orebro, Sweden where they and their two daughters currently reside. Brandi is a communications professional in the marketing department for Atlas Copco.
Brandi (Kossub) Pietsch was a “California Girl” before stepping on the Drury campus and while she has travelled the world, today she comes home to a place where she will be forever remembered. Today the Drury athletic program salutes Brandi (Kossub) Pietsch and recognizes her for being one of the top swimmers in Drury University women’s swimming/diving history. For on this date, November 24, 2012 Brandi (Kossub) Pietsch, is forever enshrined as a member of the Drury Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2012.
