On Saturday, the DePauw men’s swimming and diving team finished in third place at the NCAC Championship after totaling 1,141.5 points in the meet. A significant amount of those points scored can be attributed to the outstanding performance from Junior Sam McManus. McManus contributed to a quartet of third place finishes on the team’s 800 freestyle relay, 200 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay, and 400 freestyle relay, as well as finished fifth in the 50 freestyle, second in the 100 breaststroke and 13th in the 200 breaststroke. Within his 200 breaststroke race, McManus also set the DePauw team record in the 100 breaststroke, which helped him earn Tiger of the Week honors from The DePauw.
The DePauw: “How would you rate your team’s performance in the conference meet this year?”
Sam McManus: “I would say that this year was one of the best conference meets in recent history. Our relays in particular were really impressive, which requires a lot of guys to be swimming well, so we didn't have just a few guys performing well, but a lot of guys doing their best. The energy on deck was also the best it has been in my three years, with people on and off the roster being really positive and contributing to the team atmosphere. All in all, I think this has been one of our best meets of the year, with a lot of good swims and good attitudes all around.”
TDP: What were your goals going into the meet?
SM: I wanted to be really team oriented at conference; I swam four of our five relays and time trialed our 200 free relay to try and get it a safer national cut. My personal goals have always been to improve, so to get the school record in the 100 breaststroke and improve my personal best by more than half a second is huge, and bodes well moving forward, especially since the main training focus of this season was freestyle due to an early season foot injury.
TDP: How do you feel about your team’s chances on qualifying for the National meet in March? If you do qualify, what will be your goals for the meet?
SM: Right now our 200 and 800 free relays are sitting in ninth place nationally; with about a week until we find out if they make top 16. Right now we all have to have and train with the mindset that they both make NCAA's, and once we're there it's a matter of improving from our conference times, something we are fully capable of doing.
TDP: You seem to have developed well as a sprinter this year. What are some of the things you have done during training to help you become a better sprinter?
SM: I think what helped me the most this year were the things I began doing outside of the pool, primarily spinning and active stretching. Being able to recover from the day-to-day grind is imperative, because it lets you train harder each and every session, so if you feel better more days you can put in better yards and practice at a higher level. I definitely had more practices this year where I performed better, and having those practices where you can push yourself harder is essential to getting better, not just going through the motions. I also can't not mention the importance of our assistant Blake Lehmann, who was one of the best sprinters in DePauw history, as well as the 100 back and fly school record holder. His guidance this year helped tremendously in improving my stroke technique and behind the block confidence, so a big thanks goes to him.
TDP: How did you get involved as a swimmer and what do you like best about the sport?
SM: I've been swimming since before I can remember, but I didn't get really competitive until my junior year of high school when I disqualified a relay at our state meet and didn't final in the 100 breaststroke. I used that failure as motivation to get better, so I took up club swimming and began training harder, and saw huge improvements my senior year, so that competitive spirit really pushed me to get more involved. Because swimming is time based, it's very easy to measure yourself for improvement throughout the season, and finding that motivation and cultivating the discipline required to be great is my favorite part of the sport. If you have the drive to become better, no matter what, you can improve and be amazing.