Deep Dive with Abbey Kilgallon

With her impressive sophomore season behind her, junior Abbey Kilgallon is ready to get back into the pool with her teammates and kick off the 2020-21 season.

The Bridgewater, N.J. native logged an exceptional second collegiate season, tallying seven different first place finishes. She also notched impressive finishes in the 1650 free at both the Minnesota Invite (sixth) and the 2019-20 Big Ten Championships (13th). With an exciting future ahead for the distance specialist, Kilgallon sat down with Gopher Sports to share her thoughts on her 2019-20 campaign, teammates and more.

GopherSports: How have you been keeping busy these past few months?
Kilgallon: "I've been trying to find ways to workout. I've been trying to run a lot and I've been making sure that I stay up with certain times to have a goal to move towards. Then my treadmill broke, so I had to start running outside and it's very hot in Jersey. I figured with the heat, some people had to have their pools open, and luckily I have a really good friend who was on my club team with one. So, we bought a cord, and I've been trying to swim on there. Even though it's boring, it's something to do and I felt good just swimming on a cord, so I can't wait to get back into the water."

GS: Have you picked up any new hobbies during this extended time at home?
Kilgallon: "I've been trying to think of new things to do, and I've been reading a ton. Otherwise, for the most part, I'm playing video games with my brother. I know that isn't the most amazing thing, but I'm really bonding with my siblings. I'm glad to be back home just to be with my family, but my brother's really awesome. We bond over all those games, so that's what I've been doing, too. If I'm not reading, I'm probably just playing video games or watching videos on YouTube with my brother. It's more just trying to spend more time with my siblings."

GS: How much have you communicated and stayed in touch with your teammates?
Kilgallon: "I have a group that I talk to a ton. We'll try to play games, and we always have something to talk about in our group. I try to reach out to everyone, though. It's just so easy to talk to my teammates whenever, and they always want to talk. We're all stuck in the same situation with swimming, so we always have someone to go to or someone to talk to about what we're going through. Honestly, I still talk to them almost as much as I did when we were in school, so we're always in touch. I just love our team."

GS: How would you assess your 2019-20 season and what are your biggest takeaways?
Kilgallon: "I thought the whole ending of swimming was very interesting. I was really glad at Big Tens that I was able to make the final heat, but I was also really anxious, so I didn't do as well as I expected. However, I didn't do that badly, so it was kind of a lesson that if I'm already feeling bad, it doesn't mean my time will be terrible. I was also really happy about how my dual meets went. I felt like I was able to step up to the plate more and actually compete against other people. I think last season went really well. I just hope next year I'm able to calm the nerves, be able to focus on my race, be in the moment and not let pressure get to me."

GS: Who is a teammate that really impressed you this past season?
Kilgallon: "I have four different athletes in mind. Cameron Kelley and I have the same ideas about the guys because we're both in distance, so my first two are Aidan Dillon and Aidan Dulaney. I train with them personally. We get along so well and they have been getting so much better. I'm really proud of both of them seeing their results, especially because I'm a close trainer with them and we're awesome friends. On the other side, we have Kate Sullivan and Maggie Erwin. Maggie always doubted herself when she came onto this team, and I just kept reminding her that she's going to get better and that she's never done this training before, and she popped off. Especially in one of our practices. Maggie, Abbey Erwin and I were all racing the 500 [free], and she dropped like seven seconds. It was insane. Then we went to Big Ten's and she did just as well, and we're all just really proud of her. Obviously with Kate, everyone's been talking about her. She's another really close training buddy of mine, and I love racing with her because we're just really good, competitive teammates. We both race the 500 very differently. I go out faster, she builds, and it's so funny. She'll make jokes about it, and it's great. All of those swimmers really did well last season, and I love watching them."

GS: Looking ahead, who might you tab as the next breakout Gopher?
Kilgallon: "I really think Aidan Dillon is going to pull out some great times. Every year, he's just getting faster, and I see it everyday. I don't know if he notices as much as Cam or I notice, but he should notice how good he's becoming in this sport. He loves to compete, and he's going to be amazing next year, and each of the following years."

GS: What does receiving Academic All-B1G mean to you?
Kilgallon: "It was really important for me because I committed to Minnesota thinking I'd just be in the business program, and it turned out that I wasn't. So, I knew I had to get really good grades just to get into the business school. I was able to get in going into my sophomore year, and it was a lot harder for me. I worked with Kyle Nelson. We knew I'd be okay and my grades were still doing well, but I'm just a very anxious person and I really wanted the 3.5 GPA. Stuff doesn't come easy, but I just try to study so hard, so it meant so much to me to get a good GPA in the end. It's important because it fits into our team. It's kind of like a label that we're all hard workers, we're all doing well, we all want to succeed and it gets people wanting to be a part of our team. Overall, I think it shows we're putting our head down into everything we do. I remember Tom Donker saying, "we're not athlete-students, we're student-athletes," and I always think about that and think 'student first.'"

GS: What is your favorite part of being a Gopher?
Kilgallon: "Just being a part of this huge family. I know the coaches use that term a lot, but it's very true. Everyone's there for each other, we're all accepting, and we all give constructive criticism. It's always for the good, it's never for the bad, and the coaches are always leading us on that path of that culture. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. When people ask why I picked Minnesota, I tell them it's the best decision I've ever made. The people here, the coaches and everything about it, I wouldn't change anything. We all care for each other, we all want the best for each other, we help each other and everyone's just always there."

GS: What is the most memorable moment of your Gopher career so far?
Kilgallon: "Meets are awesome, but I love practices. I love training with my teammates because they're just the hardest workers. On our training trip in Hawaii, we were doing this hard 100 set called "0-1-2" and Maggie Erwin was killing it. We were racing each other. It started raining and everyone was tired, but we got through it and it was probably one of the most memorable times I've had. Our team did so well that day and we took pictures as a group. It's just the feeling of getting through those sets with the people that support you and know they have your back and are there to make you better, and you're there to make them better and you want to see them succeed. Those are the best moments because you finish and just look at them like "we did it." We're getting better, and we're going to do well at conference and that's what it's all about."

GS: Is there a particular swimmer that you look up to or try to emulate in the pool?
Kilgallon: "Ashley Steenvoorden came from the same club team as I did, and she's always talked to me and been there for me, even before she knew I was going to come to Minnesota. She would come to the pool and talk to me because our coaches told her I had some potential. So, Ashley just willingly talked to me all the time, and ever since I committed, she's always offered me a place to stay here. But, her performances in swimming have been phenomenal and she's just shown me that hard work can get you there. She's someone I've just always looked up to. I've heard about the stories she's done on my club team, like swimming a 3,000 for time and holding a minute pace. She just really motivated me to always try my hardest no matter what. Even though I'm not tall and I don't have those advantages, I can still do it. I've kind of followed in her footsteps, and she's always been there to support me, telling me I can do it too. She's just awesome. She's definitely my role model for swimming."

GS: How important is is to see alumni staying embedded in the team's culture?
Kilgallon: "I like listening to the alumni because it just shows that their time here was so valuable. They still talk about it and reach out to the people they were on the team with. There are very few races they can really remember, minus the big, important ones, but what they mainly remember is the pure memories they have with other people. They're still friends and still talk to and reach out to all of their former teammates. So, once you're a Gopher, you're always a Gopher. Obviously that's what everyone says, but it's very true here. They always say that the time goes by too fast, and I'm still swimming and I feel like time's going too quickly. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I see how successful some of these people are from benefiting from being on the team and at the U in general. It's great hearing from them and their memories because I know I'm going to have the same feelings when I'm older."

GS: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Kilgallon: "I just want to say thank you to the coaches for this year. The way the coaches were able to get us up on our feet every time something happened was awesome. I've never been a part of something like this team, where so many things have happened, but everyone stayed so positive and the coaches always seemed to know what to say. I'm really thankful for our coaching staff."

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Players Mentioned

Aidan Dillon

Tom Donker

Aidan Dulaney

Abbey Erwin

Maggie Erwin

Cameron Kelley

Abbey Kilgallon

Kate Sullivan