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Feb. 12, 2008 After not competing at all in the high school level during your senior year, how did you make the transition to competitive college swimming? I didn't compete at the high school level, but I competed in a few USS-level meets because I moved and I switched teams, which was hard because I basically trained for a year straight without any meets to break it up. A huge part of swimming is racing people and you're doing it somewhat in practice, but not doing in actual meets. It was evident my freshman year as I didn't swim as well as I would've liked. It was like I had to use an extra year to get back into it. St. Bonaventure is quite a ways away from sunny South Carolina. What drew you to the school? I've moved around a lot all through high school because my dad was in the Navy. So I've lived in pretty much every part of the country. I remember when Coach Lance (Brennan) called me and I hadn't even heard of the school at the time. I was living in Georgia and assumed I would go to school down there, but I thought New York sounded cool so I'll go up for a visit. After I came up and met the team, I put aside the fact that it was so cold and just thought about the team and the coach. I knew that if I went to a big school I wouldn't have as many chances to prove myself, while at St. Bonaventure I thought I would have an opportunity to get more attention and make an impact. What was your first impression of Coach Brennan and the coaching staff? Has it changed during your four years at the school? The staff has definitely changed as we didn't have an assistant coach when I was being recruited or during my freshman year. Now we have Cindy (Johnson) who was a senior here in my first season and I've enjoyed it because when I was a freshman she was like the mom of the team. Her presence aroud the pool has really helped me. As for Coach Brennan, I must have asked him every question there was in my first couple of years. Now I know that he teaches you to figure things out for yourself. He's a different coach in my eyes because I go to him for different reasons now. You said that you wanted to go to a school where you had the opportunity to make an impact, but what do you think your lasting image will be on the program as a teammate and as a swimmer? I've definitely improved since I've been here, but I won't be leaving the program as one of the fastest swimmers. I'd like to think I was a good leader and I know that I'll at least leave a lasting impression for the next three years with the people on the team now. I think my work ethic is something I hope people will remember. I know just from being on the team for so long that there will be days where coach will tell stories about a girl that went here eight years ago and what she did, so if I can just be in one of those stories I'll be happy. The team is very young this year, with a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Do you think the idea of work ethic comes before anything with meets and competition? If you don't have work ethic then you just can't pull it out of nowhere. I think the one thing I didn't know how to do when I arrived here was how to race someone, but because of my work ethic in practice to get things done I can do that now. It's a pretty even mix though; you need both to be successful. Coming into college without that competitive nature, what has been your mentality in matches now and how has it developed? I was looking at one of the freshman who I see as what I was like when I was a freshman and I asked my coach, "am I a different swimmer than I was four years ago?" When I was behind the starting block as a freshman, I was terrified and I thought that everyone was out to just beat me because I just didn't have any confidence. Now when I go up to the block, I'm not going to say I'm not nervous, but now I keep that inside and try to help the freshmen who's nervous and that helps me to relax. At some of our bigger races against Duquesne and Michigan State this year, I went in knowing that I wasn't the fastest but it finally clicked that I could win. How much of a bond to you have with your relay teams and how much of a bond should you have with them? Our medley relay team is really close, Anneli (Johnson) has swam with me all four years and she'll always look behind and say the exact same thing to me every time before we swim and it's become a ritual, she has to say it to me or she thinks it's not going to go well. We definitely have a close-knit group. And even if you're not friends when you're away from the pool, you are when you get in the water. Coach Brennan places a lot of importance on team-building; do you see the benefits of it? The team is very important and I think people forget that because they see swimming as more of an individual sport. You're spending four hours a day with your teammates and it is way more enjoyable if your friends with them and you work harder when you're friends with them. I've been swimming since I was five years old and I wouldn't still be doing it if I didn't like the people I was swimming with. This group is as close as I've seen since I've been here and I think it shows. I want to be in touch with these people four years after I graduate and beyond. What is your favorite memory during your time here? My favorite memory was the 400-free relay the last night of Atlantic 10 Championship during my sophomore year. Going into the relay we were tied with Massachusetts and the team that won that relay would come out on top. I remember Coach pulling us four girls aside and telling us we would remember this moment forever and to take advantage of it. When we walked out for finals that night, the crowd was screaming, Def Leopard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was playing in the background and the entire team was jumping up and down in excitement. We ended up winning the relay and we spent the next hour with huge grins from ear to ear and holding our fingers in the "number one" pose. That by far is my favorite memory and one that still gets my heart rate going two years later!! You mentioned that you wanted to stay in touch with your team four years from now and beyond. Where do you see yourself four years from now? I wish I could answer where I'd be six months from now. Right now I'm just in front of monster.com trying to find jobs. There are so many things that I could be doing that would make me happy. I don't know if I'll continue to swim after college like some people do, but I know I'll still be active and I'm sure I'll be swimming again just because I've been doing it for so long. I want to be in a spot where I can keep in touch with the girls on the team, but I know that it'll be hard. I also really want to see how these freshmen do, I don't want to just fall away from St. Bonaventure.
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