Keely Lacina
Episode 359
22 DEC 2025
She is an assistant coach for women’s swimming and diving at Northern State University, plus she does triathlons and trains for ultra-runs. Her coaching career ranges from high school and the club team to Dakota Sports and Fitness to a USA swim coach with a team in North Dakota and another, later, in South Dakota. She has also provided private coaching for collegiate athletes. During her master’s program she completed an internship at the University of Texas, coaching their youth Longhorns swim camp all summer, and at the University of Kansas camp. As a student-athlete she competed for three seasons at the University of Mary after having been a varsity swimmer all four years of high school, when she was a regional and state qualifier.
Notable guest quotes:
“We were obviously born and raised Catholic, and it was just, that was our lifestyle. I would say more so than anything else was – didn’t matter what you did or anything – it was that you are Catholic.”
“We obviously did our daily going to Mass, going to Adoration and everything, but it was very present. We always had a nighttime prayer, and we said our prayers before meals and things and then we do family devotions. We have a family prayer as well.”
“I really did enjoy ballet, but there was just this little bit inside of me that wanted more of a competitive drive. Ballet, you have that while competing for positions like different dance spots, but it wasn’t the same as going out and getting sweaty in sports. And so, I did make a swap over to tennis.”
“The University of Mary, they are very good about tying your Catholic identity into your athletics. And that you can’t have one without the other in that when you are an athlete, you’re doing that to glorify God. You’re using your talent to showcase God’s gifts to you.”
“When you find a deeper meaning and a deeper purpose behind why you are waking up at five in the morning, why you are jumping into a freezing cold pool, it just helps you. And it helps keep your faith in tune to your sport.”
“What drew me to going to the University of Mary… knowing that I’m not going to be looked down upon for talking about my faith or implementing my faith into my sports and my education. Because I think that was what I needed to carry me throughout the rest of my life.”
“I was taught through a lot of different faith camps that I went to, you need to have your identity in Christ first. And so, my identity is always and always will be (that) I’m a child of God. So, everything I do is for God and for my salvation.”
“My dad had taught me, ‘Say the rosary (in the pool). You’re going back and forth, back and forth – throw the rosary in there’.”
“My vocation is I’m taking whatever skills and gifts God gave me to glorify him. It’s the same as being an athlete except for now my vocation is to coach and so it’s about service. It’s not about me, it’s about doing something for someone else and so that’s big in my world of coaching.”
“My faith is everything and it’s who I am. I have no identity without God, without my faith.”
Related link:
Keely on Northern State University athletics website