University of Minnesota Athletics
No. 16 Gopher Men Set for Big Ten Championships
2/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 21, 2012
Big Ten Championships Information Page
As the Minnesota men's swimming and diving team makes the trip to Iowa City, Iowa for the 2012 Big Ten Championships this week, Gophersports.com recently caught up with head coach, Kelly Kremer to preview the event and get his thoughts on what is on the horizon for the 16th-ranked Golden Gophers for the remainder of the season.
After finishing in fourth place last year, what do you need to do to finish back in the top three?
"We need to maximize all of our scoring opportunities. Prelims in a championship meet are critical. You have to get the job done in prelims to give yourself an opportunity to swim and dive at night. We need to be ready to go right when the meet starts in the morning and give ourselves the opportunity to perform at night."
Without having Michael Richards at the Championships this year, who do you look for to step up and help lead the team?
"A whole bunch of people. We have a really good group, in fact, a great group of veterans returning. When you look at it, Derek Toomey is coming back, Zach Bolin is coming back, Matt Papenfuss, Mike Vernoia, and we have two breaststrokers who are outstanding actually, Jared Anderson and Josh Hall. Kyler Van Swol, who I think is going to be very helpful both in flys, relays and in the 200 IM, he can do everything. We have a great group of veterans which makes this meet probably the most exciting, but also puts you a little on edge. It's exciting in the sense that we have a group of freshman that we are not quite sure what we're going to get, and a group of underclassmen that how we do is going to hinge largely on how that group has developed this year. We're about to find out how well they've developed, so that is going to be an interesting part of this competition to watch."
With having so many freshmen, will they need to adjust to the atmosphere and pressure of the Big Ten Championships?
"I don't know, the thing is, this might be one of the bigger meets that most of these young men have participated in, but the reality is they've been in this atmosphere before whether it's from high school state meets or U.S. nationals. The atmosphere won't throw them off, but the newness of it is something they might have to adjust to, but I think it will only affect their performance positively."
What are a few of your team goals for the Championships?
"As a team, we want to qualify the best team we possibly can for NCAA's and that is probably first and foremost. Getting our relays qualified for NCAA's and getting individuals that are capable of qualifying for NCAA's in the swimming side; that's probably goal number one. Goal number two is to finish as high as possible as a team. We were fourth last year and it would be nice to get inside that top four this year."
What other teams do you as major competitors?
"The Big Ten is so loaded. When you look at our conference top to bottom it's the deepest conference in the country. Everybody is getting better, everybody is getting new facilities, so every year you show up at this meet and there is another team that you say, wow last year they were here but this year they're here(higher up). Clearly Michigan and Ohio State, Indiana are teams that have traditionally been on top of the Big Ten and will there again this year. I think Minnesota has traditionally been at the top of the Big Ten and we'll be there this year again too. There are up and comers like Purdue and Iowa that are going to be very tough at this meet as well. You have a number of teams that are talking about getting into the top three and there's just not enough room for all them. That is where it comes down to individuals really getting the job done."
Who have you seen the most improvements from since last year at this time?
"Too many people to talk about. This is my first year with the men and for me, jus t seeing the improvement from fall until now has been immense. Our two breaststrokers, our sprinters, the sprinter I didn't mention who I think will be a major player at this meet is Ben Griggs. Just watching his improvement from this fall until now and from last year to this year is really immense. Watching our freshman develop over the last six months, there is so much with that. We haven't really shaved and tapered short course yards yet so we don't know exactly what we are going to get, and again, that's where the excitement comes in."
Which events do you see as your strongest going into the Championships?
"The sprint frees are going to be really important for us. We're not really deep in fly but when you have a swimmer like Kyler Van Swol, it's a good event for you. In the breaststroke, when you have two breaststrokers like Jared (Anderson) and Josh (Hall) you're going to be pretty good in those events. I think the freestyles and breaststrokes are strengths of ours. The butterfly is strong but again, I wish we had more of them. When you look at backstroke and IM, last year we didn't have a lot of them but this year we do, but they're all freshman and we're not quite sure what we're going to get, we'll just have to see. I think we'll be solid on the boards as well."
Traditionally as relays, Minnesota has been very strong. Do you see that happening again?
"Our relays are going to be really strong, particularly the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, I think those are our two best opportunities to get into the NCAA's, and the 800 freestyle relay as well. In the medleys, we're just so young in the front with our backstroke leg, just not sure how we're going to do. That is what makes sports exciting, we're not sure, we'll find out."
With the women winning last week, does that give the men more incentive to win as well?
"I hope so, It was fun this week. I kept getting calls and texts from the men back here that were just saying, wow. They were watching the results and getting so excited themselves to perform. A lot of the preparation is the same and they're with the same coaches. I think that made them feel that they wished their meet was last week which is a good thing, they're ready to go. They're sitting on pins and needles just getting ready to get down there and get to it. It's a much more exciting feeling to have than the alternative. It has helped them a lot to get them ready to go and fired up."
Does it get them fired up even more knowing the NCAA's are coming up?
"NCAA's is such a big care for these kids and when in an individual sport like ours, if you're going to be a successful team at NCAA's you have to get a lot of individuals to the meet. I still think with the individual component to it, every individual has a chance to look at themselves and go, "I can make it, I can go." In a team sport, either the team does or doesn't go, but in our sport, each individual has that chance, which blends a different kind of excitement to it. To be successful at NCAA's, we need a whole bunch of individuals to make it, but I do think it adds to the excitement for sure."
Players Mentioned
