Hall of Fame
To say that Marne Schmid Brooks made a splash when she first tried swimming for the first time would be an understatement. Marne was just seven years old when entered, and won every event she competed in that day at the St. Cloud Country Club. Her successes and wins did not stop there.
A graduate of Cathedral High School in St. Cloud, Marne came to the College of Saint Benedict to join the swimming and diving team in 1987 where she then competed for the next four years.
“My fondest recollection of CSB sports? I loved the closeness with the teammates,” Marne said. “I met women with whom I had little in common with, but somehow our love of competition and swimming bonded us together.”
Her athletic career at CSB showed just how outstanding she was. Marne was named All-MIAC in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. She also qualified for NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships each year … a mark that has not been equaled. Marne was voted most valuable on her team in 1989.
Her achievements were not limited to just the swimming pool. Marne was named Academic All-MIAC in both 1988 and 1989 and was an Academic All-American in 1990. She graduated from CSB with a bachelor of arts degree in business and went on to graduate from Law School at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. She passed the bar in 1995.
As of 2004, Marne was involved in many fund-raising projects She chaired a pair of silent auctions, including one for the Grace Neighborhood Nursery School which grants scholarships for the school for underprivileged children, and another auction for the Nash Avery-Wicka Foundation called Bash-for-Nash, which raised over $350,000 for muscular dystrophy research.
“Athletics at Saint Ben’s helped me for the real world,” she said. “I knew how to balance my time when I entered graduate school.”
Marne is now currently living in Minneapolis, Minn., with her husband, Dan, and their two daughters, Grace Elizabeth, and Lucie Rose.
