Associate Head Coach Anthony Nesty Recaps Georgia Tech Invite & Previews FSU Dual Meet
Monday, November 22, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
University of Florida associate head coach Anthony Nesty addressed the media Monday morning as part of the Gators' All-Sports Media Day.
Coach Nesty shared his thoughts about last weekend's competition, when the men's swimming and diving team each finished in the top three at the ultra-competitive 2010 Georgia Tech Fall Invitational.
He then previewed tomorrow's meet vs. Florida State, while also discussing the growth of freshman Connor Signorin (East Windsor, N.J.) and sophomore Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa).
TRANSCRIPT
On the Gators' performance at the 2010 Georgia Tech Fall Invitational:
“We traveled to Georgia Tech this weekend and swam against two of the best ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) teams, Georgia Tech & Florida State, on both the men's and the women's side. This year we had a top-five program in Texas A&M. We had our work cut out for us. We talked as a staff that we were going to meets like this as prepared as the other teams. We kind of worried how your kids are going to react. Our kids were outstanding stepping into the blocks every time and racing tough. I think we have some really good young swimmers - Elizabeth Beisel on the women's side and Connor Signorin amongst others on the men's side. Of course the seniors did a really good job of rallying the troops so to say. It was a good meet overall.”
On the dual meet vs. Florida State tomorrow:
“We always finish the fall season against Florida State. You always want to go out with a win. It'll be a tough challenge again going up there and swimming outdoors at 5 o'clock in Tallahassee (Fla.). Hopefully, the weather stays warm and I believe it will. It'll be a good challenge for both our men and women. Florida State was one of the teams at the meet last weekend (in Atlanta), where the meet last weekend was one of their focal meets for the fall. Our focal meets of the year are always the SEC and NCAA Championships. Our kids race very tough. It's going to be pretty hard for them. Once you have a shaved meet and you get ready for that meet and two days later you have to back it up so to speak (vs. Florida State), it becomes a mental and a physical challenge. In our situation, it's part of our training. Hopefully, we can race tough and come out with a win.”
On freshman Connor Signorin:
“Connor is one of the best young athletes coming out of high school. He is a U.S. Junior National Team member. If you're a National Team member, you're certainly one of the best high-school swimmers in the country. Every time he raced this weekend, he was there swimming to win. When you swim the other Conor on our team, Conor Dwyer, you have your work cut out for you. Every time he raced, he raced tough and raced well. He's been improving ever since he's been on campus. We're certainly thrilled to have him representing the Gators.”
On Teresa Crippen returning to action:
“It's obviously been a tough fall on both the men's and the women's side. The swimming community is so small, so when you lose an athlete in such a tragic circumstance, it's tough on us for sure and also tough on all the other programs out there. The most impressive thing to me is how the women have rallied around her and helped her out from day one; the men did as well. Again, it's a very tough situation. It was definitely a first for me as a coach. Coach (Gregg) Troy has been coaching longer than I have, and he's had to deal with several of those where you have to tell the kid what has transpired. Again, I give credit to our kids who rallied around her and helped her out every step of the way.”
On sophomore Sebastien Rousseau:
“Sebastien is a South African swimmer that came at the mid-point last season. When you come in at the mid-point at the University of Florida, it's always different than when you come here in August. He comes from a different background. When you come here in August, you have a couple of months to get in our system. It's kind of a different terminology in terms of how we do things; how we do our workouts, how we do our strength coaching, weight workouts and dry-lands. He's had to adjust a little bit, but he's still has a lot of improvements to do. He's coming on well. He won the 200-yard butterfly last night with 1:46 time, which is a pretty good time this time of year. Hopefully, he's going to continue the improvements. Hopefully, when he goes home he stays on track to do the little things right as we've told him from day one here. He's on the right track.”
