Written by Student Assistant Christian Bond
TACOMA, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran University has been around for 126 years. For many of those years, a member of the Ericksen family has been on campus. Lute women's tennis student-athlete Ingrid Ericksen is the 23rd member of her family to attend PLU. The Montana native initially wasn't interested in becoming a Lute, because of her extensive family history at the University. Now in her senior year, Ingrid couldn't be happier with her decision.
Deep family ties didn't bind Ericksen to PLU. Despite the ties, Ericksen was never pressured to attend the University and attributes a few different factors in attending PLU, none of which having to do with her family members.
"It was not expected for me to go to PLU," Ericksen said. "When I was first thinking and talking about where I was interested in going to college, PLU was on the list of places I was not interested in because of all the family history."
However a family member played a crucial role in Ingrid becoming a Lute.
"My mom and I took a trip to the Seattle area to visit colleges and she thought I should at least look at PLU to see what I thought," Ericksen said.
"After my visit there, my perspective totally changed and I knew that this was where I wanted to go to college. The first being where it was located," Ericksen said. "The second was the size of the school and classes. Being from a small town, a big campus was very overwhelming when I visited other colleges. When I visited PLU it just felt right and I loved my day there. Another reason for attending PLU was the opportunity to be a part of the tennis team and to continue to play a sport that I love."
Ericksen has been successful on the court. She won a singles match against Willamette University, and a pair of doubles matches against Willamette University and the University of Puget Sound in the spring of 2016.
"Being part of the tennis team has impacted my time as a Lute by giving me another outlet and support system at college," Ericksen said. "Tennis is what I use as my stress reliever. The couple hours spent at practice each day provided an outlet to not think about the big test coming up or the paper I need to write. I am very glad I decided to play tennis. I have made some of my closest friends through tennis. I am very excited to see how this year, as a senior, tennis continues to impact my life."
The Ericksen family is an athletic group. David (1982-1986) and Robert Ericksen (1963-1967) played baseball for PLU. Mike McDonald (1960-1964) played football, as well as track & field. Her grandpa on her father's side was the official announcer at football and basketball games from 1955-1959, had a leading role in the annual presentation of the Christmas Carol, and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1983. Her grandma on her father's side was equally involved with campus life at PLU, serving as a leader on the PLU Team Program from 1956-1959, and won several awards and trophies from winning intercollegiate speech competitions.
The Ericksen clan extends beyond PLU, and into the Northwest Conference. "My brother is going to be at Whitworth this year playing football so there is a little sibling rivalry there," Ericksen said.
"My cousin plays baseball at Lewis & Clark. It is fun to have family members in the same conference as me. My sister is going to be a sophomore in high school so there is still hope that she will decide to become a Lute."
The Ericksen family has been at PLU for decades. The history inside the family creates an interesting, and entertaining talking point at family gatherings.
"It is very fun at family gatherings to talk about our experiences at PLU and compare them," Ericksen said. "My parents met at PLU and it is fun to talk about PLU with them. We all lived in Tstad (Tinglestad) during our first two years of college. The buildings are still the same as when they were there. It is fun to hear their stories from college and compare them to mine."
