Diving in with Aedan Lewis and Jae Sarkis

Under the Surface with Aedan

Favorite author: James Patterson
Favorite hobby (outside of sports): boating
Favorite musical artist: Tyga
Favorite TV show or movie: The Express
Favorite restaurant: Garden Catering in Old Greenwich, Conn.
Favorite pro sports team: Redskins and Capitals
Biggest fear: I fear nothing
Biggest pet peeve: N.Y. sports fans
Person you'd most like to meet: Joe Rogan
Dream vacation spot: anywhere with great skiing
Sport you'd like to try but never have: hockey

Under the Surface with Jae

Favorite Author: Walt Whitman
Favorite hobby (outside of sports): writing and being with animals
Favorite musical artist: alternative artists like Noah Kahan
Favorite TV show or movie: Friends and Deadpool
Favorite restaurant: Mercato in Hell's Kitchen, N.Y.
Biggest fear: if all the animals disappeared
Biggest pet peeve: people who stop in the middle of sidewalks or hallways
Person you'd most like to meet: Jeffree Star
Dream vacation spot: Grenada
Sport you'd like to try but never have: pole vaulting

With the 2019-20 swimming and diving season set to kick off this Friday, GopherSports.com continues to sit down with each of Minnesota's 24 newcomers in order to get to know them better prior to the team's Oct. 11 opener at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.

In this week's installment, we asked transfers Aedan Lewis and Jae Sarkis the difficult questions. Both transfers hail from the Northeast U.S., with Lewis being a graduate of Greenwich High School in Conn. and Sarkis hailing from Pittsford Sutherland High School in N.Y.

After spending the previous two seasons at Southern Methodist University, Lewis transferred to Minnesota to complete his final two seasons of eligibility. Lewis should provide a boost to the Gopher men's core of breaststrokers after swimming an Olympic B-cut time (53.96) in the 100 breast while at SMU.

Sarkis comes to Minneapolis after spending one season at the University of Buffalo. As a freshman, Sarkis was named Buffalo's Freshman Diver of the Year and Most Valuable Diver, while earning Second Team All-MAC honors.

GopherSports: Why did you choose to attend the University of Minnesota?
Lewis: "Upon visiting, taking a recruiting trip here and meeting the coaches and everyone on the team, I realized this was the place I wanted to further my swimming career. I knew I could achieve the things I want to achieve in the next few years here and I could finish college swimming with a bang."
Sarkis: "It's honestly kind of a dream come true. I put out my transfer video with my diving and was contacting a lot of coaches, and Wenbo [Chen] emailed me. My heart kind of stopped. I called my mom and said, 'this has to be a dream.' I just said, 'this is it. I have to go here.'"

GS: When did you first start swimming and when did you know that you wanted to compete collegiately?
Lewis: "I started with summer league swimming when I was very young and then continued through club swimming. I would say I realized I wanted to swim collegiately in high school. I had a lot of very good older swimmers from my team swimming in college and I saw the experiences they were having. They inspired me to do what they were doing and get to the next level."
Sarkis: "I think I started diving about seven or eight years ago. The second I got in the pool, I said, 'this is fun.'" I like doing this and I've kind of always had that dream of being an athlete in college. So, I just kept pushing and kept diving."

GS: What would you say is your biggest strength in the pool and what is one thing you're hoping to improve this year?
Lewis: "I would say my biggest strength is swimming breaststroke, as I'm a breaststroker. A weakness would be the aerobic side of things, which is something I've been working on since arriving here in June. Improving my aerobic abilities and filling that void is going to lead to great things."
Sarkis: "I think my biggest strength in diving would probably be my ability to make the corrections. I try to do everything I can to change what I need to change, and I think with Wenbo, the corrections that he gives are so critically needed, that I'm going to be able to change completely as a diver."

GS: What is the most memorable moment of your swimming/diving career?
Lewis: "As opposed to a specific race, one thing that really stands out is having taken four training trips to Puerto Rico in high school. We had a really great tradition on my high school swim team of taking that trip, thanks to my coach, Terry Lowe. Every spring, getting to go down to the mountains of Puerto Rico and train outside; I would say that was quite the experience."
Sarkis: "Honestly, just the adventures that it takes me on. Whether it's going to Kentucky and having fun, throwing in new dives that I've never done before, or being able to travel with my teammates and friends and just have a good time with them and compete."

GS: Who has been your biggest mentor or inspiration throughout your career?
Lewis: "The coaches I had in high school, Terry Lowe from Greenwich High School and Jamie Barone from Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club. I was lucky to be coached by both of them. They both are phenomenal coaches and have had great swimming careers, so getting to be coached by two guys like them made it easy to want to continue and work hard."
Sarkis: "I'd have to throw that one to my family. There are those days where it's just super hard and they're the people that I talk to. I call them and tell them about hard days. My parents are always there for me, as well as the rest of my family, my brother and my sister. There's always those really good days, where they're the first people I call because I had a great practice or wish they would have seen me competing. Those are the people that really keep me going."

GS: Did you play any other sports growing up?
Lewis: "Yeah, I played football and water polo."
Sarkis: "I was a gymnast."

GS: What are you looking forward to most throughout the upcoming season?
Lewis: "Dropping time and seeing hard work pay off. Hopefully, having teammates have the same experience."
Sarkis: "I'm excited to have a team with me, men and women, as well as having an amazing coach to work under and just improving as a diver."

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Players Mentioned

Aedan Lewis

Jae Sarkis