Preseason Q&A with Head Coach Jim Richardson
8/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Aug. 23, 2010
Last season, the University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team remained among the nation's elite programs, placing 15th at the NCAA Championships -- U-M's third top-15 finish in four seasons (ninth in 2007 and '08) -- where swimmers earned three NCAA All-America and 14 All-America honorable mention awards.
Head coach Jim Richardson returns for his 26th season at the helm of the Wolverines and recently sat down with MGoBlue.com to talk about the upcoming season.
This team is going to have a much different look than last year after graduating 13 seniors. How do you replace that production?
It's impossible to do, both in and out of the pool. They all had their unique contributions to helping us for four years to be an excellent team. It's this team's opportunity now. For our sophomores, juniors and seniors, it is their time to lead and create what they want for themselves, and obviously integrate the freshmen into that. Every year it's a new process, a new team and new goals. That's one of our great challenges, to try and create excellence every year with a brand new group of people.
There's a lot of youth on this year's squad. Who steps up this year?
We have had a group of individuals that have really progressed this summer. Natasha Moodie, one of our captains, is going to be a tremendous leader in the pool. I think Kristyne Cole and (diver) Rachael Ropeik, our other two captains, are going to be big forces for us. Caitlin Dauw and Mattie Kukors have really stepped it up to another level this summer, as did Kally Fayhee. I would expect all three of them to have outstanding seasons for us. If we can integrate the freshmen successfully and train the effectively, I think we can be a lot better than some people think we might be this year.
Talk briefly about the freshmen. A smaller group this year but tell us a little about what we can expect from them this season?
Angela Chokran is on the U.S. Junior National Team, and those are the fastest 18-and-under swimmers in the country. She's a world-class breaststroker and is very, very good. Courtney Beidler from Pennsylvania is a solid distance or middle distance swimmer who is going to give us a lot of help in the 400 IM and is also very good in the 200 butterfly. Erin Cameron has so many tools -- backstroke, sprint, freestyle -- so it will be interesting to see how she comes along because she's a very gifted swimmer. Genevieve Aube swam at a very, very good prep school program (Pinecrest) and will give us some depth in the breaststroke. Meredith Cote is an IMer from Michigan who swam and has good foundational skills. We are looking forward to seeing her advance to the next level. Finally, there is Nicole Hubbard, a really good breaststroker/flyer. We saw her in camp two years ago and really liked her. She's a great person and our hope is to help her go faster than ever.
You've also have two transfers that are coming in.
Adrienne Bicek (Georgia) is a scoring swimmer from last year's NCAA Championships. She was the junior national champion a year ago and swam a time faster than our current school record in the 200-yard butterfly. She's going to give us a lot of help in the 500 freestyle, the 400 IM and the 200 butterfly. She's a great trainer and a really tough competitor. The other is Sam Pearson (Cal) and she will give us some good help in the backstroke. Actually, she's about as fast as our top returning backstrokers in the 200, so we are going to be pretty deep there. We are going to have some areas where have some very good depth, in the strokes primarily with the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. We might be a little thin in the sprint freestyle, but it will be interesting to see how this team develops. But I know this; this is as good of a team of people as there is in the country. There's no doubt in my mind about that.
You spoke earlier about the team's advancement this summer, particularly Mattie Kukors, who is entering her sophomore year and swam in multiple events at the National Championships earlier this month?
Well Mattie's training just went to a completely different level this summer, both in the freestyle and in the individual medley. I am really excited to see how that flows into her short-course training this year, because she really laid the groundwork for a great winter. The hard thing for her is deciding what her third individual event will be, because she's a good backstroker and a good breaststroker. She does so many things well and is someone I think is going to have a fantastic season.
How excited are you to get the girls back on campus and officially start the season?
Oh, I am really, really looking forward to it. We have so much potential for growth and improvement. The thing you need to be careful about is not starting out with too much enthusiasm. As the training gets more difficult, the enthusiasm starts to wane. The swimming season is a long one. We start the first day of classes and don't end until March 20. It's kind of like running a marathon. You have to pace yourself. We need to be balanced at the start and just keep reminding them that we aren't trying to build Rome in one day. It's a long season and we need to be in it for the long haul, but with that said, I'm excited to get started and I know our team is feeling that way, too.
