Preseason Q&A With Head Swimming & Diving Coach Matt Anderson

The team had a huge conference meet last year, breaking two school records setting all of those personal-best times and finishing fifth. How big was that heading into the off-season and as a building point for this year?

It was definitely big. To use it as a recruiting tool to bring in the freshman class. To be able to walk away from the season going “there were our accomplishments” was really great. So that helps out not only boosting the confidence of your own team but also your ability to bring good swimmers in. It motivated everyone for spring and summer training on their own, and it motivates them to get themselves prepared for the season. I think it has carried over into this year, and we’re approaching the season with an attitude of how we can move up next.

Does it look like everyone put in a good off-season?

I think we had a good group of people who really came into the season prepared and ready to go. I think we’ll see that it will pay off very quickly. We’ve already started to see that in practice where our times are way ahead of last year at this time. It’s exciting to see what we can do with the upcoming meets.

When you came here you had a plan of how you wanted the program to progress. How satisfying is it for you and the team to see some of those items being accomplished?

Anytime you accomplish a goal it’s exciting, and you can use that as a motivation tool for the upcoming seasons. Immediately, coming in and being able to cross the big one off of not finishing last in the conference in the first year was a big part of that. Finally, being able to cross off beating Cleveland State was a big part. Last year that was a big team goal for us, and we accomplished that in both dual meets against them and at the conference championship. Being able to say that we are moving up and we have done these things is very important not only for the confidence the kids have in themselves, but also the confidence they carry with me and the team. It also helps in the recruiting process to say, “This is all the things we’ve done.”

What do you think the biggest difference has been between year one and now year five for you?

The mentality of the team is probably the biggest thing. It’s not just about placing and beating teams. It’s about how seriously (the members of the team) take themselves and their training. What we’ve seen a lot of is that kids are taking responsibility for their own success. They come into the season saying, “I’m going to be the one to make sure I eat with proper nutrition. I’m going to be the one to make sure I manage my time well so I don’t have to miss practice or class.” We didn’t always see that before. I think the confidence of where we are is a big part as well. For them to be able to look at their teammates and go, “Look how many people there are on the team that are going to score for us at the championship meet.” Before they looked at each other and hoped we could get some points. They genuinely look at themselves as being competitive at the top level of the conference where before it was just a struggle to keep up.

Talk about how this recruiting class ranks with years past and what we can expect from the individuals coming in.

I think it’s probably one of our better classes, maybe even the best class. Obviously Ashley Williamson fills a huge void for us because we were so lacking in backstroke before. We went from one extreme to the other with her from being not real deep to someone who could potentially be in the top three at the championship meet in the 100 and 200 back. She’s very versatile and I think she has a lot of potential to where I think she can continue get better. We may be looking at bigger things for her down the road. Caitlin Cook will also have a big impact for us because she swims some backstroke as well and can add some depth. She’s also coming in as our best 200 flyer right from the start. Her times coming in are just about a second off our school record. We have a whole crew of breaststrokers now that Laura Hanley and Kari Tridle will join Julia Darling and Jennifer Johnstone. That’s going to be a great area for us with a lot of depth. Kari’s times coming in are competitive with Julia’s times for the breaststroke records. Alana Kane will add depth in the sprints, and she’s going to be someone that will help our relays a lot. Having a strong diving corps again will be huge for us. Everyone that has come in will help us in some way or another, and that’s really one of the big differences from the past. We’ve had people that will help us, but this year everyone will help us. We also have two or three that will be our top people in a couple different events.

What will the three seniors bring to the table as team captains?
 

I think that they will be a good balance of personalities. Amanda is someone who is a really hard worker and isn’t afraid to speak up when she’s thinking about something. She leads verbally, and Julia and Brittany are obviously big impact people for us. They’ll lead a lot through their actions. Julia is a great organizer, Amanda has the ear of the team and Brittany has a lot of good ideas about what we can do. The three of them together will do a great job of leading the program and giving us an opportunity to get the younger swimmers on the same track of what we’re looking for. They’re my first recruiting class, too, so it’s definitely exciting to see them mature over the four years and be the people who I thought they could be and still believe they can be. It will be nice that the first class really paid off and that they set the foundation for the rest of the program.