At the Wabash College Patrick Woehnker Invitational, the O'Fallon, Ill. native won the 400-yard individual, finishing it in 4:33.43. With her performance, she earned her first NCAA "B" cut. However, that wasn't enough for the overachiever, who was MVP of her O'Fallon Township high school team for two consecutive years. Later in the Invitational, Newlon broke DePauw's 500-freestyle record with a time of 5:01.09. Two days later, Newlon was given North Coast Athletic Conference's women's swimmer of the week honor. For her efforts, The DePauw has named Newlon this week's Tiger of the Week.TDP
Sports (TDPS): With all your achievements at O'Fallon Township, you were a prized recruit coming in to the University. Did you feel like you had to live up to any expectations coming in?
Angela Newlon (AN): There were definitely expectations. Since I was now at the collegiate level, I wanted to keep up with the upperclassmen and improve with my times. The level of competition here was a lot more intense.
TDPS: Some critics may say with your accomplishments as a first-year, you will hit eventually hit a ceiling. How do you respond to these predictions?
AN: It's a concern for everyone, but you have to forget about it and continue to work hard. If I fix some small things in my technique, I hope I can keep improving the rest of my four years here.
TDPS: How did you first find out about your NCAC Player of the week award?
AN: My coach walked up to me and said, "Congrats, you're NCAC player of the week." I was extremely excited and honored.
TDPS: Is it safe to say that the 500s are your best races? If so, is there a reason behind that?
AN: The 500 is my best race. I'm not a long distance swimmer and I'm not a sprint swimmer. I consider myself a mid-distance swimmer, and that's what I focused on in high school. Making the transition to college, it's something I focused on here as well.