Bartlett's Josh Hasenberg Fox Valley Male Athlete of the Year

Bartlett's Josh Hasenberg thought he was in top physical condition. Then he jumped back into the pool of humility.

After he used his accurate throwing arm to quarterback the Bartlett football team to the best record in school history (12-1) and a Class 8A state semifinal appearance last November, one of the top swimmers in his age group nationally returned to competitive IHSA swimming and was shocked by more than just the chlorine.

"I thought I was in the best shape of my life," the 18-year-old Bartlett resident said. "Then I get into the water a week after the football season ends and I can hardly breathe as I'm trying to swim.

"I think there's on-land shape and then there's in-the-water shape. They are two different things. Swimming is a full-body workout and total aerobic exercise. It's hard."

Josh Hasenberg and twin sister Stephanie, who accepted a swimming scholarship from the University of Nevada, have spent enough time in the water to develop gills. Josh has competed in the pool since the age of five, thus the 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior was able to regain enough speed by Feb. 21 to compete in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races at the St. Charles East sectional.

Though he said he wasn't quite ready to compete in his specialty, the breaststroke, Hasenberg qualified for the state meet in both freestyle races.

"Josh is a true competitor and he hates losing, which is why it was easier for him to switch over than it might have been for other people," fourth-year Bartlett swimming and diving coach Carl Metzke said. "It's not an easy thing to do.

"The biggest difference is you can't breathe whenever you want to. Unless you're training and preparing your lungs to do that, you're going to be weaker until you get your lungs back. That's what makes swimming so hard and why it's hard to jump in regardless if you're in good condition or not. You're not in swimming condition unless you're actually swimming.

"He's one of those athletes that you really respect because it is so hard to be so good in three different sports. It's a dime a dozen for kids to be good at one sport, but to be really successful in three different sports really says something."

Hasenberg returned to dry land this spring and used his improved lungpower to set Bartlett track records. In their final races together at the Class 3A St. Charles North sectional, he and his teammates posted new school marks in the 800-meter relay (1:30.40) and 1600-meter relay (3:25), narrowly missing state qualification in the 1,600-meter relay in a race marred by lane interference. He also cleared six feet in the high jump this season.

For his accomplishments this school year by air, by land and in the water - and for graduating with a 4.1 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale - Hasenberg has been selected the 2008-09 Daily Herald Male Athlete of the Year.

He becomes the first male athlete from Bartlett to earn the award since its inception in 1998. Bartlett's Kim Ebbesen was named 2005-06 Female Athlete of the Year.

Unlike athletes who specialize in one sport and train for it year round, Bartlett's quarterback said nothing prepared him for his primary sport better than in-season competition in others. Training to race against live competition in the pool and on the track as a junior made him work harder and get in better shape for his senior season on the gridiron than he would have achieved otherwise.

"From a physical aspect it definitely makes you better at your other sports even if it's not one of your main focuses," Hasenberg said of cross training. "If you're in the off-season and not in a sport, you could go to the community center and lift weights and work out and you think you're getting better. But something about training for a sport that is in season makes you work harder.

"If you think you have time (to train) because your football season doesn't start for six months, well, it doesn't really work like that. You have to work hard the whole time. That's the main thing."

Hasenberg's school year began in storybook fashion. The football team's second-year starting quarterback broke all the passing records he set as a junior by completing 146-of-252 attempts (57.9 percent) for 2,121 yards and 21 touchdowns.

He also carried the ball 97 times for 165 yards and 10 touchdowns. Many of those rushing touchdowns were scored via the quarterback sneak, when he would kick his legs like a swimmer until he pushed through the pile and crossed the goal line.

"Josh was a leader in football just like he's a leader in all the sports he participates in," Bartlett football coach Tom Meaney said. "He's a pleasure to have. He's a fun kid to coach, a great competitor and a winner. He succeeds in anything he tries."

Hasenberg was named the second-most valuable offensive player in the Upstate Eight Conference for a team that went undefeated in winning the UEC title. The Hawks went on to win three playoff games against Notre Dame, Fremd and Schaumburg before they bowed out in a 23-6 semifinal loss to eventual state champion Maine South.

"The first couple of games in the playoffs I would reflect on my four years there," Hasenberg said. "Me and my teammates would talk about it and say, 'This is really happening. All the hard would we put in because our coaches said we would get something out of it - it's finally happening.' We just missed getting down to the state championship game, but I think the season was one big success. It was unbelievable. Awesome.

"I see people walking on the street and they'll still say, 'Hey, great season! I watched you on TV!'"

A three-time state qualifier in swimming (he took his junior year off from IHSA competition to train for junior nationals), Hasenberg narrowly missed state finals in the 50 free (14th, 21.36) and the 100 free (13th, 47.10). However, he didn't leap out of the water once the IHSA season concluded.

Hasenberg kept training with his club team of five years, the Wheaton Swim Club, and went on to compete in the 18-U junior nationals in Orlando, Fla. in mid-March. Having regained enough speed to swim the breaststroke, he finished the 50 in 25.94 and the 100 in 56.85, finishing eighth in the country in each race. His 100 breaststroke time would have placed him third at the Illinois state meet.

When it came time to choose a college Hasenberg had to pick not only a school but a sport. Big Ten universities were offering partial swimming scholarships. Ivy League and other east-coast schools were courting him to play football. Both questions were settled after a late-January visit to the campus of Colgate University.

The son of Fred and Nikki Hasenberg and older brother of Jake and Jason was immediately impressed by the academic offerings and atmosphere of the Hamilton, NY campus. He accepted a full scholarship to play football for the Division I-AA Raiders.

"I liked everything about it, so I just knew that was where I wanted to go and the whole discussion ended there," said Hasenberg, who intends to study law or business. "My favorite sport is football. I like the whole team aspect of it. It's just a fun sport, everything about it. But I'm definitely going to miss swimming."

Said Metzke: "I know he's going to do great in football at the next level, but he'll always have a place in his heart for swimming, whether it's competitive or recreational somehow. I know he won't forget about swimming because it's a great workout he'll always have with him."

Hasenberg confirmed what Metzke said. Though he is working out with Bartlett quarterbacks coach Eric Ilich this summer, lifting weights and throwing the football, he admits the pool still beckons.

"Once or twice a week I go to my club team's swim practice, just to stay in shape so I'm not dying when I get to football camp," he said.

If a player gets humbled by showing up out-of-shape to Colgate's football training camp later this summer, it certainly won't be Hasenberg, a competitive three-sport athlete who always swam with the current.