Coach Troy and Coach Craine Preview 2011 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 | Women's Swimming & Diving
GAINESVILLE, FLA. - University of Florida head swimming coach Gregg Troy and head diving coach Donnie Craine addressed the media this past Monday morning as part of the Gators' All-Sports Media Day.
Coach Troy shared his thoughts about Elizabeth Beisel, the freshmen class and the 2011 SEC Swimming Championships, while Coach Craine spoke about the 2011 SEC Diving Championships, senior Monica Dodson and the Lewark brothers.
WATCH Coach Troy's Press Conference
WATCH Coach Craine's Press Conference
COACH TROY TRANSCRIPT
Opening Statement:
“We are just in our final preparation stage for the swimmers. It is great being at home; kind of unique having the diving first. The divers get a real spotlight versus being caught in the middle of the meet. We have a good group and they have been very successful all year. We are looking for a continued performance from them. It is a little different from other coaches - time for us to get better is running out. We have to be real good, so we are looking at the next two weeks of some outstanding performances and probably facing some of the better individual athletes. We have to find a way to swim better relays and make sure our depth pays off in the meet. It should be a highly-competitive meet.”
On the role Elizabeth Beisel has played and what she has brought to the team:
“Well Elizabeth (Beisel) is a tremendously gifted athlete. She swims a lot of different things and brings a great work ethic to the program. She is from a very highly-competitive program in New England and Chuck Batchelor, her coach, has a reputation of producing great athletes and working them hard. On top of that, she just has a very light personality and kind of a team bonder. She keeps the team together and has a very exciting personality; very energetic at competitions and on a day-to-day basis at practice. Since she is so versatile, she has made us better in a lot of different aspects. It is tremendous having someone like that around that can swim so many things.”
On how Elizabeth Beisel's personality has brought up the team if things are going well:
“It is especially unique that we have a great women's team, but we have had a real tough season and a lot of misfortune and injuries along with some tragedy in the team with the Crippen situation. Throughout all of that, Elizabeth was kind of the bond that kept everyone together. She has a unique perspective of knowing that swimming is important. It is very important to her as she is one of the best athletes in the world, but at the same time she can stay light about it. That aspect has been especially good for her too because she has been a little bit better long course swimmer than a short course one so she can build like Ryan Lochte did and take a good performance and build off of it but when she is not so good, it is not the end of the world and she has the ability to learn from it and move on.”
On Beisel's excitement when she was told she could take it easy:
“She was pretty excited. She handles rest real well. She is in a little different stage than some of the rest of the team. We have about four or five athletes that are already pre-qualified for the NCAA meet off of their performances in the fall, and we need them to perform well. They are key in our relay performances, and Elizabeth is one of those, but at the same time we are still keeping their work up a little bit with the bigger swims on down the line.”
On expecting to see Beisel being in the 2012 Olympics:
“She certainly has all of the tools. Right now she is top three in the world in several events, so if she isn't part of the US team then we are probably not going to be as good of a team.”
On other standouts besides Elizabeth Beisel and Conor Dwyer:
“Those people get a lot of recognition, but Teresa Crippen is every bit as good as Elizabeth and she swims some of the same events. They have been a great duo all year long. Some on the freshmen side, Trish Regan has been really good all season long. We have a great spring core. Sarah Bateman has been one of the fastest sprinters in the country. I don't believe she has been beaten in the 50 free this year in any of our dual meets. On the men's side, a guy like Brad DeBorde, we really need to have him step up. We have some younger guys, Scott Sommer, who hasn't been to a conference meet yet came in from Ocala and has gotten better every year. So we going to have to have people like that, Sebastien Rousseau is a very good swimmer; those type areas are going to be big for us.”
On what it mean's as a program to host the SEC Championships:
“It is always good because it brings in a lot of extra attention to the program because swimming is not always in the spotlight, so that helps. It gives our athletes a chance to swim at home and that is an advantage because our facility doesn't handle crowds very well so it makes it a little cramped and uncomfortable, but we are used to that because our dual meets are that way anyways. It also is a little bit different lighting at certain times of day and the uniqueness of the facility so it gives you some advantages and things you can work off of. It is always great to be at home, there is a comfort level and a confidence level that comes with that.”
On more pressure because hosting:
“We like to coach it like it is the same, but it's not. When it is at home there is no two ways about it. You don't get it very often. We do have a good team and have some high aspirations. We haven't qualified everyone we would like to so it is a real big one being at home and then you put on top of it is our qualifier to the NCAA meet. So we like to say it is like any other swim meet but it is a little more than any other swim meet.”
COACH CRAINE TRANSCRIPT
Opening statement:
“First of all, we are excited about hosting the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships this year. It is a little unique this year because we are doing the diving first. It makes the diving stand out a bit more, so we are excited about that. We have four boys and two girls diving in the meet this weekend. Senior Monica Dodson from the Indianapolis area and Kaylee Doback from Braden, Florida. Then on the guy's side, we have freshman Chris Jones and fellow freshman Mike Lewark and then Mike's older brother Anthony, who is a junior, and John Speed, who is a senior, that will be competing in all of the events.
On Monica's season so far:
“Monica's season is going great. I am really looking forward to her being able to dive at home. It is an advantage because we are used to the diving boards and the facility. It does put a little bit more pressure on them sometimes because we are at home, but I think she can handle it really well. The lighting is different her, but I look forward to Monica. She has the opportunity to possibly win two events if she dives like I think she is capable of doing.”
On expectations for this weekend moving forward to NCAA's:
“It kind of sets us up. We have a separate meet we go to for qualifying for NCAA's, it is a zone meet, and it gives us a chance to see where we compared to everybody else in our conference that is inside our zone. There are a certain number of divers; I think it is nine men and nine women that can go to NCAA's out of our zone. That meet is exactly one month from this weekend, so once we are done with the conference meet we go right back to work to get ready for that.”
On what he (Craine) and the divers are going through leading up to the SEC Championships:
“Basically we are just like swimming; we cut back a little bit on the amount of work so they feel stronger and better about what they are doing. We do a lot more of individual dives. We will do a list of dives like they will do in the meet and sometimes we score them and let them know where they are. We do that in preparation because when you are in a meet it is one dive at a time and usually it is about 15 minutes between dives. It does make it a bit different when you do a list and go through it two or three times to get used to it.”
On strong competitors that will be competing against:
“It is usually about the same teams. Georgia has one really good girl that has been a finalist at the NCAA's and was second in the conference last year by two points. Auburn has two girls that were at the NCAA's last year that are very good. Auburn also has a very strong men's team, as does Tennessee and those are the teams that we have to look out for. We have to do the best we can to help the team score as many points to win the championship.”
On how the Lewark brothers prepare as divers:
“They are very different, in that they are both very competitive but Anthony is about 5'9”, 175 pounds and Mike is about 5'5” and 135 pounds. One of them can point their feet better than the other, but one of them has a better entry than the other. They are very competitive and they are really supportive of each other when they are competing, so that is a good thing. Mike made a statement to me at the last meet when Anthony couldn't compete, that he was used to stepping in if Anthony didn't do well but now he would have to step up and do well on his own, so I was proud of a freshman to come up with a statement like that and feel confident enough that he could be competitive.”
