Hall of Fame
Anna Martens ’89CC burst onto campus in the fall of 1985 ready to make waves for the Lions. And after breaking five individual records as a first year alone, it was obvious that she would leave a significant mark as one of the greatest swimmers to come through the Columbia women’s swimming and diving program.
Already coming in with impressive prep credentials including multiple finals appearances at the U.S. Junior National Championships, Martens brought impressive versatility and a fiery drive to compete that helped her post impressive marks as a first-year student-athlete. The Rochester, New York, native lost only two races in her first season with the Lions.
Her will to win and help her team also propelled her to fantastic finishes at the Eastern League Championships, scoring in all of her individual events and downing a slew of records along the way.
Recruited to swim backstroke for the Lions, Martens developed her skills across multiple events over her four-year career, including adding freestyle and distance events to her repertoire. In fact, her highest-ranking swim among Columbia laurels is in the 500-yard freestyle, in which her time of 4:57.76 still stands today as the 16th-best performance in school history.
Upon graduation, Martens held individual program records in seven – yes, seven – different events, as well as Columbia records in all five relays. In a sport that’s continually getting faster and faster each year, Martens still ranks in the top 30 of five events in the Lions’ record books.
Cited as “arguably the greatest swimmer in Columbia history” at the end of her storied career, Martens was recognized by her peers by being named the Spectator’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1989.
