The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2019 THE WOLVERINE 69 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? in the mile (1,650-yard freestyle), where she rose to the pinnacle of her sport in the collegiate ranks. Her national championship race remains burned onto her mem- ory, in what she calls "an amaz- ing year." "I remember the feeling be- fore I stepped up on the block, just listening to the crowd," she said. "Swim meets at Big Tens and the NCAAs get very, very loud, with the crowd support- ing their teams. "The mile, in the very last session on the very last day of NCAAs, was the first event. That's typically when every- body is the loudest, trying to get everybody really excited. I remember standing behind the blocks, listening to everybody cheering — not necessarily for me, but for their teams. "I had goose bumps at that moment, and I knew something good was going to happen." She made it happen. Dead- locked with North Carolina's Whitney Sprague with roughly 500 yards remaining in the race, Klueh knew it was time. "I decided to push the pace a little, and I started to pull ahead," she said. "I never looked back. It was so excit- ing. I just remember raising my hand up over my head, looking up at my parents." Klueh went from that incred- ible high to the low point of her career in a matter of months. She made a mistake that cost her a year of competition. "At the beginning of the year, I had actually taken the wrong medication and failed a drug test," she said. "It was for a di- uretic. My whole arbitration is online, and they even say in the arbitration there was nothing else in my system. "I wasn't trying to hide any- thing, I just accidentally took the wrong medication and got a six- month suspension from USADA [U.S. Anti-Doping Agency]." In this case, the name of the arbiter is a misnomer. "I knew I put the wrong substance in my body, but I didn't do anything particu- larly wrong — I wasn't dop- ing," she said. "That was clear in my arbitration." It was still a tough year, away from competition and team- mates. She remained support- ive and returned for a fifth year, finishing fifth in the 1,650 free at the NCAA Championships and picking up her fifth All- America designation. Graduating in 2010, she moved to California to train in a post-grad professional group coached by former Michigan men's coach Jon Urbanchek. She'd met her now husband — 13-time All-American swimmer Michael Klueh from the Univer- sity of Texas — at the 2008 Olym- pic Trials. He'd continued swim- ming professionally and was also training under Urbanchek. At the 2012 Olympic Trials, Michael Klueh finished third in the 400 free by two-tenths of a second, and seventh in the 200 free by two-tenths of a second. He missed making the Olympic team in each event by one spot, and Emily also barely missed out in the 10K. They opted for Ann Arbor next, where Michael is in medi- cal school, and Emily began as- sisting with the women's swim squad. She also began a Mas- ter 's program in social work, and landed an internship that led to her present position. "I had no idea when I gradu- ated that they would actually end up hiring me," she said. "That was really exciting." She provides one-on-one counseling in all sports, dealing primarily with sports perfor- mance. In some cases, she helps with eating disorders, depres- sion and suicidal ideation. "I work with those who aren't really struggling with their mental health, but maybe struggling with performance anxiety or with trying to get to that next level their sport," she said. "Their mentality is hold- ing them back. It's the full spec- trum of care." Klueh experienced a full spec- trum of highs and lows at Michi- gan. She now lends her expertise toward making the lives of cur- rent Wolverines a little easier. ❏ Michigan Accomplishments: National champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle as a junior in 2008 … Five-time All-American … Became Big Ten and Michigan school- record-holder in the 500-yard freestyle (4:39.60), 1,000- yard freestyle (9:36.67) and the 1,650-yard freestyle (15:51.29) … Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in 2008. Professional Accomplishments: Finished first in the U.S. National Championships in the 10K and fifth in the 5K in 2009 … Finished ninth in the 5K at the World Championships and 24th in the 10K … Earned a bronze in 2010 in the 10K Pan Pac Championships … Became the first American woman to win the overall women's title in the eight-race FINA World Cup in 2013 … Finished fourth in the 10K at the U.S. National Championships in 2015 … Works at the University of Michigan as an athletic counselor and program coordinator for Athletes Connected. Michigan Memory: "I remember walking to the pool one day," she said. "There was this line at the old indoor track, going all the way out past the railroad tracks and wrapped almost all the way over to Crisler. It was the spring cleaning, from all the different sports. They were getting rid of a lot of their equipment. "It just made me realize what was afforded to me as a student-athlete here at Michigan. Something I get for free as a student-athlete, all of these people in Ann Arbor wanted to have. Seeing that line really showed me the camaraderie in Ann Arbor, and what the Michigan name has. It was really humbling." Education: Bachelor's in psychology, 2010; Master's in social work, 2016. Family: Klueh and husband Michael are expecting their first child, a girl, in May. The Emily Klueh File Klueh (second from the left) currently serves as an athletic counselor at U-M. She provides one-on-one counseling in all sports, dealing primarily with sports performance. PHOTO COURTESY EMILY KLUEH