Herrera, the school-record holder in the 100-yard butterfly for the Bobcats, said she chose to join the Norse for more than just the opportunities in the water.

“Their academic program is really good, I plan on majoring in nursing and their nursing program is fantastic,” Herrera said after her signing. “I visited a few times and every time there was something else that amazed me. Their swimming program is pretty good, their swimmers were really connected like a family and I really enjoyed that.”

Luther College, an NCAA Division III college in Decorah, has one of the top ranked nursing programs in Iowa according to multiple studies. The Norse womens swimming team finished third in the American Rivers Conference this past season and it is led by head coach Nicole Kaupp, who is currently in her third year with the program.

Herrera said Kaupp already has big plans for her when she starts next fall.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown senior Shakira Herrera, seated middle, signs her National Letter of Intent to join the Luther College women’s swimming program on Wednesday in the team room of the Roundhouse. Joining Herrera at the table are her mother Patricia, left, and father Marco, right, while behind are Bobcat girls head coach Angie Nelson, right, and girls assistant and boys head coach Mike Loupee.

“I’ll definitely be swimming the fly and wherever else she needs me,” Herrera said. “She said that there’s a few girls that she’d like me to work with and I would be one of the top swimmers in the fly.”

Marshalltown girls swimming head coach Angie Nelson said no matter where Herrera ends up contributing, Luther is getting a great athlete and leader.

“She’s a girl that works really hard. She doesn’t just work hard in swimming, she works hard in academics and she’s got some real life goals for herself,” Nelson said. “I look at swimming as a great opportunity for her to continue that success. She will work hard for anybody, and when she sets a goal she works hard to achieve it.”

After years of trying, Herrera finally cemented her name in the Bobcat record books by swimming a time of 1 minute, 0.29 seconds, during the regional meet last fall. Nelson said the way Herrera goes about her work and what she has achieved in her career is an inspiration for the younger swimmers coming up in the program.

“She has always been a great legacy here, she has always worked hard,” Nelson said. “She has obviously been one of the top performers on our team for years, not just in high school but in those years prior to high school, so it’s pretty awesome to be able to point to her, watch her get started in college and watch her success there, and point to her as a pretty model student-athlete.”

While there will be opportunities to grow as an athlete, Herrera said Luther did more than just fill her desire to continue on as a swimmer.

“I’ve always known that I wanted to go to a private school just because private schools are smaller and their classes are smaller,” she said. “I would want to interact with teachers while in college, I wouldn’t want it to be a big classroom with about 150 students, I like interacting with the teachers and students and being able to go to that kind of school and swim is ideal for me.”

As for what led her to having the opportunity to sign with a college swimming team, Herrera said the influence of Nelson as well as girls assistant and boys head coach Mike Loupee have been great for her development.

“I have to give a lot of credit to the coaches, Angie and coach Loupee, they are some of the best coaches I have been coached by,” she said. “They balance each other out, they just share ideas with each other and we are able to experience that balance in practices and communicate with both coaches.”

Nelson said a lot of the credit for Herrera’s development actually goes to the swimming community around her.

“We have a really, really awesome swimming community here in Marshalltown and the surrounding areas,” she said. “Both coach Loupee and I have been blessed with fantastic families that come through the program who are not just supporting the program while their children are in the program, but the years prior and the years beyond. We are so very fortunate we have had so much community support for the great things that have been happening in our swimming pools here in this town.”

Herrera is actually the latest in a line of Bobcat swimmers to move on to Luther, a line that includes Loupee and Leah Barkema, who was an assistant coach for both the girls and boys teams this season and won the 100 freestyle in the Liberal Arts Championships for the Norse in 2015. Raymond Dulaney and Hunter Barnard are also Bobcat swimmers who committed to Luther.

“I think there’s been five or six former swimmers I’ve coached, boys and girls, that have gone on and swam at Luther,” Loupee said. “It’s kind of nice to see them go to my alma mater, but most importantly it’s a good fit for Shakira. She wants to go on and study the sciences and Luther’s science facilities are some of the best in the midwest in the private college arena. The fact that she will be able to swim and compete and doing something she loves is definitely and added bonus.”

Herrera said Loupee and Barkema didn’t necessarily influence her college decision, but she does like that she’s not the first Bobcat to make that choice.

“It feels more like a tradition continuing on,” she said. “I am really happy to be a part of that tradition and legacy.”