Wolverine Athlete Spotlight: Cameron Stitt
11/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
In the third Wolverine Athlete Spotlight of the season, sophomore distance swimmer Cameron Stitt discusses the biggest thing he learned as a freshman and what it's like to swim in the same training group as U.S. Olympian Connor Jaeger.
Q: More than a month in, how do you think the team has performed so far?
A: I think it's been really good. The meet two weeks back against Indiana, Louisville and Texas was really a big challenge. Obviously it came down to the very end there. I think we showed great team spirit and heart throughout, cheering for each other and all that. The big thing our team does well in a meet like that is we put all our energy into every single swim, even if it's someone who may not win. But when you win by a few points at the end, it shows that things like that matter. As a whole, the team is very connected this year. You see it more outside the pool than in, but we've meshed well. We all get along really well.
Q: The distance group has graduated some pretty big names the past couple of seasons. What's different about it this year other than the fact that those guys aren't on the team anymore?
A: Well, it's interesting, because they are still around. We swim with them every day. Hopefully we can continue to learn from those guys and chase after them at practice. But we also have two really talented freshmen this year, Ian [Rainey] and PJ [Ransford]. They're awesome to train with. The cool thing about training with that group is you get 100 percent from everyone there. You never know who is going to come out on top at the end of every practice. In meets, it's a little more stressful. Last year, Connor [Jaeger] was always going to win and everyone else was just swimming after him. You saw it against Texas. We couldn't beat Jon Roberts but that's something that down the stretch of this season and even past that, we want to have a group that's just as good as it was a few years back when Michigan won the national title.
Q: Now that you're a sophomore, what's the biggest thing you've learned from your freshman year?
A: I thought I trained pretty well and am continuing to train well this year, but I need for that to translate into meets. I've got to learn what type of warm-up works best and mentally get into the right state before my events. I'm not sure I've totally figured it out yet. I have some swims that are good and some that aren't so good. It's something I'm working on.
Q: You went to NCAAs last year as an alternate. How valuable was that experience, seeing how everything was run and what the atmosphere was like?
A: It was really good. You really can't make any mistakes at that meet if you want to succeed. I learned about the mental presence that you have to have, from the guys on our team and how they prepare to the guys on California. They came out every race and where ready to go. You could see mentally that they weren't breaking down. They were always in the zone and ready to go when they need to.
Q: One of Josh White's philosophies with the distance group is not to swim the mile just to swim it. It has to be done strategically. Do you like that approach?
A: Swimming it is valuable from a strategy standpoint, but swimming it when you're really beat up is counterproductive. It hurts a lot, you don't go fast and you don't want to do it again. Since we hardly rest during the season, the fact that we only do it a couple times when we get a little bit of rest is smart. At the same time, you have to know what your strategy is going in because you don't get to practice it in meets very often. The times we do swim it, we have to make it count.
Q: Finally, what have you picked up from a guy like Connor Jaeger? Being able to swim next to him every day has to have its advantages.
A: It's a lot of fun. He's a great guy. You watch him race, he takes things out conservatively and work into races. I'm trying to pick some of that up from him where I can still have a strong front half and be with guys but then be able to push it in the second half and go by them. That's something he's known for.
Communications Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 763-4423
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