COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – The Queens University of Charlotte Department of Athletics is honored to join the Olympians Made Here campaign developed by Team USA and the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council. Olympians Made Here serves to elevate national engagement and support of Olympic sport opportunities on campus.
 
Queens is a part of both the Olympians Made Here and Paralympians Made Here campaigns which celebrate the connection between schools, conferences, National Governing Bodies and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to support student-athletes.
 
The campaign, launched in conjunction with year-long preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, will showcase how colleges and universities across the country celebrate their Olympians and Olympic Programs. This celebration includes Olympians who are university alums as well as current and former student-athletes who are competing for spots to represent their respective countries on the world stage.
 
With commitments from more than 100 American universities and representation from 24 conferences across NCAA DI, DII and DIII levels – including participation from all Power Five institutions, West Coast Conference universities and the NCAA – the campaigns are the first of their kind to focus on elevating the profile of collegiate Olympic and adaptive sport programs, and their impact on the Olympic and Paralympic movements at the national level.
 
The campaigns will manifest on participating college campuses in four phases throughout the 2019-20 academic year – including honoring collegiate historical contributions to Team USA in the fall of 2019; tracking the Olympic and Paralympic qualification and team selection process in the spring of 2020; celebrating athletes' inspiring performances during the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer; and concluding with recognition of student-athletes' Olympic and Paralympic achievements in the fall of 2020.
 
"It's an incredible honor to be recognized for the efforts and resources that our institution has invested in these student-athletes," said Queens Director of Athletics Cherie Swarthout. "Our University understands the concept 'it takes a village', this is what makes us an ideal institution to embrace the Yes/And promise."
 
The Queens swimming program has in-depth ties to the Olympic as several Royals have competed on the world stage.
 
Patricia Castro-Ortega ('17), a six-time NCAA Division II National Champion in the pool, attended both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and swam for her native country of Spain, while Dion Dreesens ('18), an eight-time National Champion, also attended both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games swimming for his native country of Netherlands.
 
Current Queens sophomore Hannah Aspden ('22) competed at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, earning two bronze medals for Team USA.
 
For more information, visit TeamUSA.org/OlympiansMadeHere and TeamUSA.org/ParalympiansMadeHere.