College of Saint Benedict

After taking second at the MIAC Championships for four straight seasons, the College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team won the team’s only MIAC title in 1997-98. It is likely no coincidence that happened to be the same year that Noelle Peterson Varecka joined the team.

At the 1998 MIAC Championships alone, Peterson Varecka had a hand in six of the team’s 11 conference titles. She won three individual conference titles and swam a leg in three MIAC Championship relays to help her team score 787 points and win the conference title.

That same season, Peterson Varecka qualified for nationals in the 100 backstroke and as part of the 400 freestyle relay and 200 and 400 medley relays and helped Saint Benedict score 38 points to finish 20th – the best finish at nationals in program history.

Peterson Varecka earned All-American honors as part of the seventh-place 200 medley relay and also earned All-American Honorable Mention as an individual after taking 13th in the 100 backstroke.

As a sophomore in 1998-99, Peterson Varecka added another MIAC title to her resume and finished in the top three in two other events to bring her list of All-MIAC accolades to nine. She also qualified for nationals in the 100 and 200 backstroke and finished in the top 30 in Division III in both events.

Peterson Varecka is still in the top 10 in school history in two individual events and with three relays. She has the third-best 100 backstroke time and fourth-best 200 backstroke time in CSB history, and she her times remain in the top 10 200 and 400 medley relays and 400 freestyle relay.

Following graduation from Saint Benedict, Peterson Varecka – a communications major – worked at Glamour Magazine. She and her husband, Pat Varecka, live in Edina with their four children.