2018-19 marks the 50th year that Drury has fielded a swimming/diving team. It all started in 1968-69 and since then only 20 swimmers/divers have been inducted into the Drury Sports Hall of Fame. Vladimir Sidorkin, a native of Estonia, becomes only the 21st to be so honored.
Vladimir came to Drury after competing for Estonia in national/international competitions, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The one-time Estonian national champion and record holder in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, Vladimir came to Drury in the fall of 2010 with three years of NCAA-II eligibility. He definitely made the most of those three years earning multiple national champion honors and being a 20-time NCAA-II All-American. He also was a major reason the Panthers won the NCAA-II team titles all three years: 2011, 2012 and 2013.
In March of 2011, at the Palo Alto Natatorium in San Antonio, the Drury men captured their seventh consecutive national D-II title. Vladimir had three individual top five finishes at that meet: a second place finish in the 100 Free, a third in the 200 Free and a fourth in the 50 Free. In addition he was on two national champion relay teams, the 400 Free Relay team that broke the national record (2:56.46) and the 800 Free Relay team. Finally, he was on the third place 200 Free Relay team (1:20.28) and the fourth place 200 Medley Relay team (1:29.12), both of which set new Drury team records.
He was the Panthers’ MVP at the 2012 NCAA-II national meet in Mansfield, Texas. That year he was on both the 200 Free and 400 Free Relay teams that claimed national titles, was on the second place 800 Free Relay team and the sixth place 400 Medley Relay team. Individually, Vladimir was the national runner-up in the 100 Free, placed third in the 50 Free and was fourth in the 200 Free.
In 2013 Vladimir, once again, was the team’s MVP leading the way at that year’s national meet. Held in Birmingham, Ala., the 2013 Drury men ran away with the meet for their ninth consecutive title, a record for consecutive titles by a NCAA-II program. That broke the tie with Cal-State Bakersfield who won eight straight (1986-93). As stated in the Drury post championship meet release: “The DU men rode the incredible efforts of senior Vladimir Sidorkin for one final time at nationals.”
Vladimir was a part of five national championship events that year. Individually he won the 100 Free (43.16) and the 200 Free (1:35.76) and was fifth in the 50 free. He was also on the third place 400 Medley Relay team. But most impressive was his role in helping claim three more national championships. He was on the winning 200 Free Relay (1:19.31) and 800 Free Relay teams (6:29.82). In the championship's final event, the 400 relay, Vladimir chased down an opponent to lead the Panthers to a record-setting 400 Free Relay title (2:55.26). He did virtually the same thing in the 800 Free Relay the night before. At the conclusion of his illustrious career he commented, "It's always been the priority for me to perform on the relays, but getting a couple of individual titles to go along with those as a senior is the icing on the cake."
“We were really fortunate to get Vlad to come to Drury,” stated Panther head coach Brian Reynolds. “He was an extremely experienced athlete having already been to the Olympic games. He possessed so much talent and had the desire to be the very best that he could. The one thing that will always stand out in my mind was that he probably laid down the single fastest performance by anybody who has ever swam at Drury. And that is a pretty remarkable feat considering some of the swims that we have had.” Reynolds was talking about the last event of the 2013 national swimming/diving championships. “Vlad swam the anchor leg of the 400 free relay. He was down several body lengths when he entered the water. He threw down one of the single most amazing 100 freestyles and come from behind to win. His time was one of the fastest recorded in that country that year.” Reynolds concluded, “That race really spotlighted Vlad’s true ability. It was the complete measure of him as an athlete.”
Another measure of Vlad as an student-athlete comes today. Vladimir, who graduated from Drury on May 18, 2013 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, is forever enshrined as a member of the Drury Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2018) on this day, Saturday, December 1, 2018. The Drury Community congratulates one of the greatest swimmers in Drury swimming/diving history.
