University of Dayton Athletics

BERNADETTE MARTEN TEELEY - Rowing 2000

Every school in every sport has someone who is the best who ever competed in their respective sport. Some are fortunate enough to have a transcendent athlete who makes an impact far beyond their own campus. But the story of rower Bernadette Marten Teeley is rarer still, because she was the best in school history before her sport had a history (a varsity history, anyway) at the University of Dayton.

Marten rowed four years at UD, but because her first three seasons with the Dayton rowing team that was a club sport, she competed as a varsity athlete for just one season as a Flyer. Since it was an emerging sport, the Flyer rowers were able to represent UD at the conference and national level. A two-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-American, Marten led UD to a third-place finish in the Atlantic 10 in 2000.

After graduation from UD, the Fortville, Ind. native went to graduate school at the University of Michigan and rowed her final varsity season there. While at Michigan, she helped the Wolverines to a third-place team finish at the NCAA championships. She completed her graduate degree in only one year and joined the U.S. National Team. Marten was a member of the U.S. Women's Eight boat that won the gold medal at the 2002 FISA World Rowing Championships in Spain.

Not only a leader in her sport, Marten was the first of 11 University of Dayton student-athletes named an Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year in their respective sport, and she was named the overall A-10 Student-Athlete of the Year in 2000.