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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SWIMMING MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 9, 2015Whitney HiteTHE MODERATOR: Coach Whitney Hite is here. We will have an opening statement and take questions. COACH HITE: Really excited about the team that we have, moving forward. Nine women going to Greensboro. The expectation is that we are going to have our best performances of the season, and, likewise, the next week, seven men travel down to Iowa. Great opportunity for both teams to put up some points and place as high as we can, and just really excited to see how they end up. Q. Coach, you got a past champion in Drew teDuits, Ivy is swimming at an elite level right now, your relays are putting together strong performances, school records, at that. How do you feel about the prospect of taking home what would be this school's fifth NCAA Championship, if you get one? COACH HITE: A good question. We will see how it pans out. I look back at the men's conference meet when Matt Hutchins won the 500 Free the first time, ever, for Wisconsin. That was pretty unexpected. Not that we didn't think he could perform well, but for him to beat an Olympian from Michigan, it's a pretty tall task. For us, I think it kind of just goes back to, you never know. You never know what's going to happen and to count any of our kids out, I wouldn't do that. On the 50 Free on the women's side, it may take an American Record to win. Ivy should be ‑‑ we're hoping for three Top‑8 finishes in her individual events. I know our relays are ranked pretty high on the women's side, the 200 Free and the 400 Free. We've got a shot. You get in that final heat and anything can happen. You get in the final heat of the 50 Free and anything can happen. Stanford has a freshman that's an American Record Holder, but she has never been to NCAAs, and it's a different meet. There is a lot of pressure. We rise up. We like that. We like pressure. Drew, you know, he had a rough, rough year last year, and for him to climb the mountain again so to speak, I couldn't be more proud of him. It's not easy. Our conference is one of the best in the country, top to bottom, and for him to come back and win the 200 Back again as a senior is a tribute to him. The neat part about the way our team has developed, everybody counts. We go in and it's not going to be perfect, but it's a situation where they know that every performance needs to be spot‑on. There is no room for error. That's really a great thing. I think it teaches them a lot. A lot about life as well. And now important it is to be precise. And it is a performance and that's really important. Q. Whitney your men finished fifth at the Big Ten, best finish in a long time, and the women were fourth. Wouldn't you say already this has been a successful season for your program? COACH HITE: No, because it's not finished. Not to be flip, but, yes and no. We want to do very well on the conference level. We've done that. We've always‑‑ our focus has always been at the end, when it's most important. And I think that we use our success at conference as kind of a spring board, so to speak, for the next step, for the NCAAs, and that's where the big boys and girls go to play, and we feel like we can play with anybody. Q. With what Drew endured last season, and after being in the NCAAs in 2013, how has that process gone this season, as far as him climbing back? Has it been fun to see him put in the work, and it seems he's at the point where he can compete for an NCAA Championship. COACH HITE: I give him all the credit. It isn't easy. It's not easy to win and when you're hunting it's different than when you're hunted. He's done a great job. I'm proud because a lot of guys can, for their senior year after a disappointment, they could cash it in. He hasn't done this. He's fought and he's in a spot where anything can happen. I think that's a good learning lesson for him. I think that's really important. You know, we don't know what's going to happen with either team, but we know that we're going to be prepared. We know we're going to go out and have fun and race and do what we do best. Q. To piggyback, not only Drew but Ivy, these are two impressive seniors that are going to get one last crack in the pool as Wisconsin Badgers; they've meant a lot to this program, haven't they? COACH HITE: They really have, along with Aja Van Hout; three of our four seniors going to the meet are from Madison. It's pretty special. It's my first senior class. They really do mean a lot to this program, making that next step, and to me personally. It's been an awesome journey for all three of those kids. You see them as freshman walk in the door and where they are now. They're great young men and women. No one works harder than those three. Aja Van Hout, I don't think I've ever in the history of my coaching, maybe two or three other kids that I've seen work harder. So for her to see the success that she did at Big Ten's and I know we're going to see at NCAAs, that's how it should be. Fair doesn't really play in the world of sports, but certainly it's nice to see when kids get what they deserve. Q. What's stood out for you with the relay teams, on both the men's and the women's side? I mean, especially at the Big Ten's for both, they have been setting school records, performing at an all‑time high. What's stood out for you with the relay teams? COACH HITE: We but a big emphasis on the relay teams. It's double the points. When I was at Cal Berkeley with the women's team, we had Natalie Coughlin, perhaps the greatest women's swimmer ever, and a bunch of no‑names, and not to sell them short, but we were consistently in the Top‑8 because they could relay up. It's a privilege to be in the relay. It shows how important the team is to those kids on the relay, that they're able to perform at a higher level when they're on a relay than when they would individually. Not only are they fighting for themselves, but they're fighting for their relay members, but they're also fighting for Wisconsin. It's pretty neat to see. Q. I talked to Ivy and Aja last year, about them being teammates for so long. And Aja, she kind of indicated that she might not swim for the duration of her career. Was that ever on the table for her, where she had kind of had it with the sport and was ready to walk away, and if so can you shed light on that? COACH HITE: News to me. You know, you get to this level and you train as hard as we do for as long as we do, there are always doubts. She was a very, very good swimmer coming out of high school. She went times two weeks ago at Big Tens that she hasn't done in four and a half years which, again, you've got to be really tough and dedicated to do what we do and train as hard and be that dedicated and not know the outcome, and maybe not get the outcome that you want and then to do it again for another two or three years without fulfilling your goals. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is. But, again, she has done the work and now she just needs to perform and I'm excited. I think that‑‑ you know, you don't really know when the kids are going to get it, when they're going to put it together. When they do, it's really pretty special. Q. NCAA Championships are obviously the culmination of the sport, everything you work for. What is that experience like and how do you feel going into it this year? COACH HITE: It's pretty stressful. I mean, I told the team that I don't want to be‑‑ my biggest fear is that I'm a factor. I don't want to be a factor either way. I know that‑‑ I'm very confident that the men and women have going to do very well. This is the best team we have had since I've been here. I feel like the women are really dialed in. It's a special group. They understand what the‑‑ they're focused, they went through the meet and did all their‑‑ what they thought they could do, how many points they could score, scored it all out, the men followed suit last week, and they understand. You know, every race counts. It makes for a long six sessions, but it's pretty magical because when it comes together, it's pretty cool. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Whitney. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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