The Drury swimming and diving program was established in 1968 and over the first 18 years of its existence the Panthers won the NAIA national championship twice: in 1981 under Drury Hall of Fame head coach, Jack Steck; and again in 1984 under current Panther head coach Brian Reynolds. To think that any one athlete could propel a program into becoming the consistently dominant program in the nation is ludicrous, but the Panther swimming/diving was certainly enhanced when Jonas Westerholm decided to follow his older brother, Toni, to Drury in the fall of 1986. Jonas, along with a host of other talented athletes, helped Drury to national titles three times in his four-year career: 1988, 1989 and 1990. In fact, Jonas was a large part of the success and dominance enjoyed by Drury in its last years as a member of the NAIA...winning seven consecutive NAIA national titles from 1988 to 1994...before joining the NCAA-II in 1994-95.
It became immediately obvious that Drury had secured the services of a special swimmer. Jonas, a slender 6’5”, 175-pounder from Landskrona, Sweden broke the Drury record in the 100 yard freestyle early in his freshman season of 1986-87 and he was on his way. In just a few months the NAIA swimming world became aware of a special talent now wearing the Drury colors. That freshman season Jonas was a six-time NAIA All-American finishing third in the 50-free, sixth in the 100-free, third in the 200-free and he was an integral part of three relay teams. At that 1987 national meet, Jonas set the stage for a three-year run of domination in the NAIA freestyle sprint events.
In 1987-88, the last year the Panthers competed in Atha Pool, their long-time home, Jonas was part of three national championship relay teams that dominated the 1988 national meet: the 400 free, the 400 medley and the 800 free relay. Personally, he finished second in the nation in the 50 free and 100 free, trailing only Drury team MVP Cliff Cox, in both events. He was the national runnerup in those two events and also earned All-America honors in the 200 free. Drury won the 1988 NAIA team title, its first of seven straight, and even more spectacular accomplishments were on the horizon.
The next year, the Panthers’ first in their new Breech Pool, Jonas was the Panthers’ 1989 team MVP winning seven NAIA national titles. He won three individual national titles by beating all comers in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events, thus making a solid claim that he was the fastest swimmer in the nation that year. Also, in winning three individual national titles that year, Jonas became only the fourth Drury swimmer in the history of the NAIA to accomplish such a feat. He added to this trio of individual titles four national championships in the relay events. Jonas, the dominant sprinter in the nation in 1989, led the Panthers to their second straight NAIA team title.
His senior season, 1990, Jonas again laid claim to be the NAIA’s fastest swimmer by defending his national title in the 50 and 200 yard freestyle events. And he again added more national titles to his resume as he was part of five national championship relay teams. More importantly, Drury won its third straight NAIA National Championship team title.
In all, Jonas earned NAIA All-America honors 26 times in his four years at Drury and he was a 17-time NAIA National Champion. He was the Panther team MVP his junior season and was recognized as the fastest swimmer in the nation his junior and senior seasons.
A studio art major, Jonas and his wife, Annette currently live in Rostanga, Sweden, where he is a Technical Export Manager for Nibe Energy Systems.
The Drury men’s swimming and diving program is over 40 years old and 11 Panther swimmers have been enshrined into the Sports Hall of Fame to date. That elite group has now grown to a dozen as Jonas Westerholm, one of the fastest and dominant freestyle specialists in Drury history, is enshrined as a member of the Class of 2010 on this date: December 4, 2010.
