University of Missouri Athletics

She was a butterfly specialist who was a five-time all-American and an Olympic hopeful prior to the USA boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She claimed all-America honors in the 100 butterfly (1978, 1979) and the 200 butterfly (1978, 1979, 1981) at the NCAA Championships. Effinger won 10 Big Eight Conference championships, including six individual events and four relays. She set numerous MU and Big Eight records during her time in the pool, including MU records in 1979 in both the 100 butterfly (56.83) and 200 butterfly (2:01.65) – records that stood until 2000 and 2003, respectively. She was a member of MU’s 800 medley relay team that ranked 4th in the world during the 1979 season. She became the first MU swimmer to win all-America honors in two events when she took 4th in the 200 butterfly and 14th in the 100 butterfly at the 1979 championships, helping MU place 19th as a team at nationals that year. She was a native of Belleville, Illinois and earned a journalism degree at MU.