St. Cloud State Team Captain Marena Kouba Rescues 3 Swimmers in Lake Superior

KSTP Eyewitness News is reporting that Marena Kouba, a rising senior at St. Cloud State University who hails from Sartell, Minnesota, rescued three swimmers in distress on Sunday. A captain of the SCSU women’s swimming and diving team, Kouba was vacationing with her boyfriend at Little Presque Isle in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula when she noticed three swimmers -one adult and two children- struggling. When they called for help, she responded right away. “I couldn’t just stand around and wait to see what happened, immediately I dove into the water and started swimming out to them, they were all separated about 10 to 20 feet apart from each other,” Kouba described.

While her boyfriend stayed on shore and called 911, Kouba performed the daring rescue. “I got them all together, I had them all hold hands and then I went in the middle and linked up with them, and I paddled with one arm and kicked with both of my legs,” she said. It took about 15 minutes to paddle the trio 200 yards back to shore. The Coast Guard arrived just as they did.

In her interview with KSTP, Kouba credited head coach Jeff Hegle with instilling in her the values that contributed to the rescue. For his part, Hegle said, “She didn’t think about herself, she didn’t hesitate, she didn’t think what was best for her, she just knew that she had to help somebody else and somebody else was in need and she did that, and I think that’s the true sign of a leader and a captain.”

Kouba placed 4th in the 100 back (57.18) and 9th in the 200 back (2:07.68) and led off the conference-champion 200 medley relay at 2020 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships, contributing to SCSU’s team title. She then swam at 2020 NCAA Division II Championships in March, leading off the 14th-place 200 medley relay and earning All-American Honorable Mention honors. Kouba was named to the Academic All-NSIC Team in 2019 and 2020.

Kouba is studying communication studies with a marketing minor at SCSU and is a University Ambassador.