TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

Last weekend, your team swam at the Pittsburgh Invitational. What was it like to square off against schools like Pittsburgh and Texas A&M – both of which are ranked in the top 25 of the College Swim Coaches Association of America Poll?
It was a great experience to see the fast swimming. I really enjoyed watching some of the races. There were quite a few races where people went below the NCAA B-cut, and to see that so early in the season was a nice change.

Do you prefer competitions involving just one other team or do you enjoy the tournament and invitational formats?
I like the invitational formats better because there are prelims and finals and there is a more diverse competition. Also at invitationals, we get to see other people swim that are not in the Mid-American Conference.

You will be heading to the U.S. Open in Minneapolis on December 5th through the 7th. What type of experience do you expect that to be?
The U.S. Open will be an awesome learning experience. Some of the top swimmers in the world will be there and it will be fun to watch how they swim the races and what their strategies are.

On a team level, there aren’t any more competitions until January 10th at the Islamorada Invitational. How does a layoff such as that affect your team?
The upcoming break from competition is a good thing because we can focus on hard training and not worry about having to race. It is a welcomed break and by the time the next competition comes around, we will be eager to race.

Last season, you earned first team All-MAC honors. What did that recognition mean to you?
Earning All-MAC honors last year was a great accomplishment and a nice way to end my freshman year. It would be awesome if I could do it again this year.

At the MAC Championships last season, you placed second in one event and third in two others. How much would it mean for you to win an event at this season’s MAC Championships?
I would really like to win an event at the MACs, but my biggest goal right now is to quality for the NCAA championship meet. So if I come second or third but still qualify, I will be happy.

Which event do you personally enjoy the most?
I love racing the 200 Individual Medley. In that event you get to switch up the strokes, which makes it go by faster. It is a race that keeps you in suspense because you don’t know what your competitions’ specialty strokes are.

What type of benefit did your time at East York Swim Club provide?
It was not a whole lot different in the way we trained than now, although here at UB I do a lot more quality swimming as opposed to quantity. The atmosphere here is a lot different. Here we support each other to train hard and we try and push each other to become faster.

You had a number of experiences at the Canadian Junior Nationals. Describe what that has been like.
Junior Nationals is a meet that I have been swimming at for a long time. The first time I swam there, I remember looking at the results from bottom up and placing third last. But as I got older, stronger and faster, I started to move up in placing and eventually made it to top three.

There are a total of six Canadians on your team. Talk about the relative strength of the swimming program in your home country.
Canada has a fairly good swimming program, although it doesn’t really compare to that of the United States. There are some really good opportunities here in the U.S. that we cannot get in Canada, so a lot of athletes end up coming down here to swim.

-The ’10 Questions with…’ feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.