It turns out that swimmers can end up being some of the best Marines. At least, that is the story for Colorado Mesa University redshirt senior Nate Sawer, who is set to graduate this May. After graduation, Sawer is going to be commissioned by the United States Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant.
 
Not many upcoming college graduates can say they have had the experienced military training while still attending their public university. For Sawer, he attended the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School this last summer at Base Quantico in Triangle, Virginia.
 
Before officer candidate school (OCS), Sawer lived both in the United States and Canada where he attended Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia before transferring to Colorado Mesa back in 2018. Throughout his swimming career, Sawer had the itch to serve in the United State military but didn't find out which branch until he applied to the Marine Corps OCS.
 
"I've always wanted to be in the military. It's kind of something I've always just dreamed of doing" Sawer said. "So even while in college [swimming] that itch to serve never really went away."
 
Being from Canada, Sawer couldn't attend OCS without being a citizen. The day after he officially became a U.S. citizen in September of 2019, he joined the program.
 
At Base Quantico, Sawer went through an intensive ten-week program, which trains officer candidates to obtain Marine Corps knowledge and skills within a controlled and challenging environment in order to evaluate and screen individuals for the leadership, moral, mental, and physical qualities required for commissioning as a Marine Corps officer.
 
Throughout the program, candidates complete different training from combat conditioning, daily platoon staff evaluations and various academic courses. All of this is to prepare potential officers to become second lieutenants when they get commissioned.
 
After Sawer completed his training, he was able to return to Colorado Mesa to finish out his degree in criminal justice, as well as his swimming career. In the shortened 2019-20 COVID season, Sawer competed in only a couple meets for CMU before heading off to Virginia. When he returned, Sawer had a plethora of new skills and work ethic that can only be earned at OCS, and it carried over to his athletic career.
 
"The discipline that I was instilled this summer… to be a swimmer you have to be gritty," Sawer said. "It's a long season and by the end of it, I know personally, you have all kinds of aches and pains all over. So just being able to push through all that stuff."
 
Sawer explained some of the physical training officer candidates go through, such as waking up at 2:30 a.m. and running five miles with a 30-pound ruck on their backs. All of this occurs after sleeping for a couple of hours in a quarter-inch foam mat in the middle of the forest.
 
"I would say, 'let's just hit it." Sawer said. "Let's just hit it and take it in stride…but I would just say that giddiness and discipline really helped me a ton coming back to swimming."
 
Maverick Head Swimming & Diving Coach Mickey Wender, knows how parallel swimming and military training can be. He spent 13 years as the head coach of Army West Point where he was around military cadets every day and where he racked up a portion of his 400 dual-meet wins prior to coming to CMU.
 
"I would say swimming not just prepares you for military training, but for life," Wender said. "To be involved in a very stressful and competitive endeavor, it's a zero-sum outcome. Either you are successful or you're not. We use swimming as a vehicle to help teach young people the skills they need to be successful at life."
 
When asked if swimming and military training go hand in hand, Wender emphasized that there is nothing better nor more parallel.
 
"It's not about pounding your chest and being a loud and obnoxious leader. It's about first and foremost, learning how to lead yourself, and learning to develop life skills that will translate to success in whatever you do," Wender said.
 
This season, Sawer is serving as a captain for the Mavericks and will look to help lead CMU to a fourth consecutive RMAC Championship starting on Feb. 9. After he finishes up in Grand Junction, Sawer will be officially commissioned as a second lieutenant on June 3.