Champion's Mojo for Masters Swimmers
The award-winning podcast for Masters swimmers, adult athletes, and health and wellness seekers striving for personal excellence. Join your host, world-record-setting Masters swimmer, former NCAA Division I swim coach, best-selling author and health coach Kelly Palace, as she dives into inspiring stories, expert insights, and proven strategies to help you unlock your champion mindset. A podcast that champions you!
Champion's Mojo for Masters Swimmers
The Feel-Good-Comeback-Story of NCAA All-American Owen Lloyd, EP 277
A disqualification that turns into one of swimming's most viral moments. A champion brought to his knees in tears as officials strip away his victory. And a redemption exactly one year later that proves sometimes, the universe does give second chances.
NC State NCAA All-American and ACC Champion in the mile (1650), Owen Lloyd's journey from heartbreak to triumph embodies everything we love about sports comebacks. After winning the mile at the ACC Championships during his senior year, Owen experienced the crushing disappointment of being disqualified for inadvertently falling into a competitor's lane during celebration. The moment – captured on camera just as he was about to be interviewed as champion – amassed over a million views online and sparked outrage throughout the swimming community.
Rather than let this devastating moment define him, Owen returned for a fifth year with renewed determination. He meticulously developed mental techniques to maintain focus during his grueling event, including playing specific songs in his head throughout different phases of the race. His disciplined approach to training included benchmark test sets that built unshakable confidence, even when facing Olympic-level competition.
The story reaches its perfect conclusion when Owen returns to ACCs one year later, executing a flawless strategic race to reclaim his rightful title with the best time of his career. As he touched the wall in victory, the basketball phrase "ball don't lie" said everything that needed saying. His improvement from a 15:24 freshman to a 14:29 fifth-year stands as testament to what's possible when defeat becomes fuel rather than a final chapter.
Whether you're a swimmer or simply someone who appreciates inspiring comebacks against the odds, Owen's story reminds us that our greatest setbacks often precede our greatest triumphs. Listen now and discover how the discipline of distance swimming creates not just champions in the pool, but individuals equipped to overcome life's most challenging moments.
• NC State All-American and ACC Champion in the mile (1650)
• Improved from 15:24 as a freshman to 14:29 in his fifth year
• Masters Student focusing on coaching, leadership and psychology
• Recently retired from competitive swimming at 2023 NCAAs
• Uses carefully selected music in his head to maintain focus during races
• Created a strict 3-hour pre-race routine for the mile
• Endured a heartbreaking disqualification after winning ACCs
• Returned one year later to win the event legitimately against stronger competition
• Planning to pursue coaching at the collegiate level
• Values "pressure is a privilege" as his guiding philosophy
Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.
Hello friends, I'm Kelly Pallas. Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast and today, if you are looking for a feel good comeback story, you are in the right place. This is really one of my favorite comeback stories. It happens in the swimming community and it is phenomenal. The actual video that caught the start of this comeback story has had over a million views on YouTube and we are going to talk with the man who made this great comeback today, and that is Owen Lloyd. He is an NC State, ncaa All-American ACC champion in the 1650. Owen has a big resume. He's now graduated and is retired from swimming, but he's with us today and we are so excited. Owen Lloyd, welcome to Champions Mojo.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell us just real quick where you are in your schooling and your training and kind of where what is. What is Owen up to right now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I just completed my fifth year of eligibility at NC State. I'm currently in a master's program. It's two years, master's of arts, liberal studies. So I kind of get to choose what my focus is, and right now that's coaching, leadership and psychology. I actually just retired at NCAAs in March, so been enjoying not waking up as early, going to practice that kind of stuff, but kind of already getting into more things. I actually went on a run today. Did not feel great at all, but that's how it goes and that learning curve. But yeah, just finished up my swimming career. I had a really good post-season.
Speaker 1:How far did you run?
Speaker 2:today I just did two miles, two and a half miles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just so. Probably would have been easier on you if you'd swum that right 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always my right 100%. My Achilles and shins were not. We're not having it after all the basketball and stuff I did this weekend.
Speaker 1:So as a master swimming podcast and more for adults. I always try to encourage the younger swimmers that are on the show and we've had a lot of Olympians, a lot of people in your age group, to just say, yeah, you're going to retire from that high level of swimming, but would you ever consider continuing your swimming through masters, maybe later?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, 100%. I think I just wanted to break mentally from, obviously, that high level competitive aspect of college swimming. But I'm extremely open to doing triathlons in the future and potentially massive swimming, and as I want to be a coach, I'll be around the pool. It's a wonderful form of exercise. I know that so, and I I'm sure I'll get the the yearn for the water back, but as of now, it's not hitting me three or four weeks out.
Speaker 1:Right, right. I always wish that people would say they're taking a pause versus retiring, but I get it. I totally get that that high level, especially being a distance swimmer. So one of the things that I know we would love to hear from you and I say we because we have a lot of people listening what, what is that hardest part of grinding through distance for you, like, like all the training or the pain, or what, what is it that kind of makes that being a distance swimmer? What does that mean to you?
Speaker 2:That's a loaded question.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest thing is just almost the, the grind, as you call it.
Speaker 2:Not necessarily monotony, because there are ways to make it interesting and that's something that I really leaned into the last two years, but just the, the constant, constant yardage, the early mornings doing more than everyone else around you.
Speaker 2:Obviously, like every distance swimmer is envious of the people who are able to sprint, but those are not the gifts that I was given and, yeah, I mean, as I've gotten older like obviously almost two decades in the sport you're, you're gonna have stuff with your shoulders and having to rehab that and just constantly thinking about ways to mitigate that stress, recover correctly. It's just a lot that goes into it and I'm someone who, if I'm committing to something like I, want to be all in on it. So that disciplinary aspect of not cutting corners in practice also has, or did this year especially, kind of bleed over into the rest of my life. So, yeah, I think biggest thing about being a distance swimmer is the discipline to stay motivated, locked in, not just in practice but just out of it as well, and it'll, it'll translate to success that way but just out of it as well and it'll, it'll translate to success that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, almost a little bit more more likely, like it's. It's? You kind of know if you've held 15, 100s on a minute and you held your pace for the mile, you kind of know that's coming versus somebody who's got to drop a second, a hundred to to final or something. So so owen you your trajectory of your swimming. You, you came in as a freshman. You, if I'm recalling from reviewing your, your history there, you you kind of had this build into your senior year where I think your freshman year you didn't make NCAAs, and then you get a little bit better, and then you final, and then you win ACC's and then you your top five at NCAAs. What, what do you think was your? What do you think made that possible? Cause a lot of people go the opposite way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of factors that went into it, for sure. And, like you said, I was like 15, 24 or something coming into college. I just got a spot on the team, no scholarship money and I was surrounded by a really good group, obviously led by Mark Bertavino, but I was one of, if not the slowest guys in that group freshman year. So it was kind of if not the slowest guys in that group freshman year. So it was kind of just surviving that year. But after making wave one trials that was good I made it back to wave two. That kind of gave me a lot of confidence.
Speaker 2:And then at the start of my sophomore year I was like, okay, I need to like make these changes because my freshman year didn't go as well and there were challenges with COVID.
Speaker 2:But my sophomore year I really committed to kind of locking in and I knew that if I wanted to even just have lanes at dual meets I would have to really prove it in practice and race all of those guys who were faster than me, like Ross and Eric Knowles, and I kind of just built on that mindset as I got older and obviously they graduated so I had to be that person that the team could rely on be the next man up and we had people like Will Gallant still there and he was amazing, and then the younger guys like Lance always pushing me.
Speaker 2:So I attribute a lot of my continued success to my environment of teammates that were around me and a coach that was able to push me a lot and I kind of just built off that momentum. My junior year or my sophomore year I qualified for NC's but I wasn't able to go because of the roster limits so we had a diver qualify and he went instead of me but I got to go to the meet, experience the pressure, which is an awesome experience. And junior year I got mono and but I bounced back from that and that gave me a lot of confidence going into that summer where I qualified for an international team. So that was really cool and I had I just had a ton of confidence going into my senior season. And then obviously the DQ at ACC is kind of gave me that last little bit of fuel for the fire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's talk about that First. I want to just say for our listeners cause we do have a lot of triathletes, yes, we do have a lot of triathletes. Yes, friends, we are talking about a 1524 minute. Mile was 1650, which is pretty much a 1500, a little bit different, but about the same time, so that I think you're probably the fastest miler we've ever had on the show, but it's a 1524 mile. So you come in as a freshman with a 1524 mile and then your fifth year, you just went 1439. Is that right? 1429. 1429. Wow, sorry.
Speaker 2:Almost a minute I can see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, almost a minute, that's just a huge drop. And then you're talking about Ross Dant, which you said Ross, but not Ross Dant's last name, and we're going to get into Ross here a little bit. When we talk about this, that happened to you. So the, the idea of a comeback is so. It's so inspiring, it's so enticing and it's one of the things that we talk about a lot on the show, because it's just when you can listen to a podcast and you hear about a comeback from anybody.
Speaker 1:I just interviewed a really great actually she's. She's a miler too, she's done the, she's the fastest woman ever to do the English channel and she's swam a really fast mile. And she just told the comeback story of her having pneumonia, just thinking she's going to the, the ER doc, the doc in the box to get a thing of medicine, and she ends up in the hospital having lung surgery, and so she came back from that and set a world record of master's world record. But it's just you, just we love the comeback story. So your comeback story is in. It may be so personalized to me I'm probably going to cry here, owen, because the emotion that you, you showed in this. So here's. I'm going to just give you my like 30 second summary of what I saw. And then, of course, we want to hear everything that happened to you.
Speaker 1:So I am watching the ACC championships. This is the your senior year. You have never won an ACC championship title. You win the 1650, which is just gut-wrenching grueling. Anybody who knows that it's, it's just so painful. You win your senior year. This is a big, big deal and, like so many people, you get on the lane rope to celebrate your win. You guys are at Greensboro that's kind of the home pool and the crowd the kind of hometown crowds going nuts. You sit on the lane rope, like many people In fact. I'm going to just throw this in here Did you notice that Justin Yep celebrated his NCAA 200 breaststroke victory, got on the lane rope and fell into his competitor's lane?
Speaker 2:All right. Yes, I actually laughed with some of my friends when that happened but the race was over so he was fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he was fine. But so you celebrate. You fall into your competitor's lane. Who's done so? Everyone in the pool has completed the race, except one of the end lanes. I don't know which lane it was, but the lane that you actually fell into was Ross Ross Stant, your fellow teammate, who finished second. And so you your senior year. You're great, we're all going crazy.
Speaker 1:I'm watching this at home on TV and I'm very good friends with Mark Bernardino and an NC State distance all American alum, just like you, and I am just one, two and I'm celebrating. And they always interview the winner of those races. And so you go over to be interviewed by the on-camera person. And not only does this happen to you just as a experience that you lived with, but it happened in front of the world and it was a viral moment where, at that moment, when the microphone and the camera is on you, about to be interviewed as the new ACC champion, they announced that you are disqualified for leaving your lane during the race. And the reason it was during the race is because somebody was swimming in the end lane, and that only happens to the distance people, because everybody else is done Like we said, yep, when the NCAAs. He fell into it and to another lane and that race was done.
Speaker 1:So you have a very emotional moment, kind of a fall to your knees crying moment, which is totally understandable. And I just wonder if you know how many other of us like me. I'm in my living room and I fall to my knees crying. It's this moment that the world, you shared this moment with the world, and I just feel like the vulnerability, the power of that moment, the potentially unfairness of it all, but rules are rules. So that's the perspective of an observer. And then, of course, ross handled it in the most sportsmanlike way, saying you won fair and square. I mean, it's not like you got any advantage. He's deeming you the advantage. He's he's deeming you the champion, he gives you his award, he's like the ultimate teammate. And kudos to Ross. Yeah, I love the guy.
Speaker 1:And so, from your perspective and I know you've gone through this a lot of times, but to come back, and then we will follow up that you actually, one year later to the day, came back and won the ACC's when you really were not predicted to, and there was somebody in there that had swum faster than you that year and it's a fifth year and did this crush your spirit and could you do it again, and the pressure of it. And then there's kind of another fall to the knees moment of everybody in there watching you win it again a year later and just being incredibly joyful. It's just it for me again, a personal connection to NC State and that event and you and Mark. It was just to me one of the greatest comeback stories in sports and it's kind of like that to the world.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to stop talking now. That was way more than 30 seconds, I'm sorry, and it's kind of like that to the world, but I'm going to stop talking now. That was way more than 30 seconds, I'm sorry, but it's, it's just. It was quite a powerful thing that you did, owen, and quite an amazing thing that you did, and I first just want to say congratulations. What an inspiration. You touched my heart, my soul of this and I know there's thousands, if not tens of thousands, of other people. So, from your perspective, tell us about this experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'll kind of walk you through just both this year last year's ACC as well as this year. I mean that race me and Ross had been talking about it the whole meet. I'd been having a good meet. So I was like, okay man, like okay man, I think, like I think it's gonna be me and you like we got this. And he had been there before he'd been an ACC champion his sophomore junior year in the mile or the 500 and it was a really really good race. I swam it really well. I dropped like three or four seconds from a mid-season time, which is also really good then, and that would have been my second ever college win, that 2024 ACC championship. And yeah, I think it was a culmination.
Speaker 2:Like the reason I showed so much emotion was because I cared so much and I'd put so much into it. When I talked about like my discipline, obviously I translated that for almost two and a half years, maybe more, just into everything that I did in my life. So that was like three years of just hard work kind of built up and I mean everyone, everyone saw it. I I cared a lot about that race, I cared a lot about that finish and I didn't know this at the time, but the rule is actually discretionary, so the official had the option to to not call it, but decided that they did not like what I was doing. That was a big reason of the uproar, at least within the swimming community, and then obviously it got millions of views on youtube this one video and I I don't even know how many elsewhere. So, yeah, that was, that was hard and it gave me a ton of nerves for 2024 NCAAs where I got fifth with 1439.
Speaker 1:But I think those nerves really helped me the next year, so could you talk about the disqualification and the reality that your name wasn't going to be on the board as an ACC champion, kind of the aftermath. What was the darkest point of that disqualification for you and what was your mindset around that when it came, or did it ever come?
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably two or so weeks after ACC is when we kind of got back into really hard training for NCAAs. Obviously, I'd seen all the stuff online and there were just a lot of thoughts going on in my head. I was obviously really upset, even just at myself too, because I was just finding anything to blame. Obviously I shouldn't have been. What I did made sense, but yeah, there was definitely. It made me nervous. I wouldn't. I wouldn't say I was depressed. Obviously, I had a lot of good people around me and there was just more anger, I think, and sadness in that moment. But I kind of had to push those away and and really focus on what was going on, because I wanted to be there for my team and in CAAs I want to be able to perform Me and Dino butted heads a little bit that week.
Speaker 2:I remember we had a pretty bad argument at practice where he was trying to motivate me, brought it up and I was like I can't deal with that right now. So there was that. So that was a little bit of that anger. But yeah, I think that in-between period between those two meets was just super stressful and I mean that definitely helped me going forward, being able to get past that and still put up a decent time. But in c's, yeah, I would say right after, during that hard training, because when you double taper, I mean you're, you get right back to it, you're doing some of the hardest sets. We did something like six, five hundreds, like on 530, like go sub 440, sub 4435, sub 430, twice. So that that was the one where I came to a head with Dino and we argued a little bit. So I just remember that practice pretty vividly actually I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so then your fifth year. Had you always planned to take the fifth year, or did the disqualification play into that?
Speaker 2:No, even from after, like my sophomore year, braden had talked to me about it just because he I think he could see that I was someone who was going to keep improving and with with trials being that summer, it made perfect sense to stay in it, so that was always the plan. I'm so happy that I was able to get that opportunity. Obviously, a lot of bad things came out of COVID, but that was one of the good things in my life that I was able to get from that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I knew that obviously I focused on trials after NCAAs but I stayed in shape throughout the summer. I didn't have the greatest meet long course. We went to Colorado Springs in May, did a ton of long course freestyle training, which actually kind of messed up my shoulder a little bit, so I had to deal with that too, going into short course season in our training room a lot. But yeah, the fifth year was so good to have that and I think that really gave me a lot of motivation for the harder practices and the harder parts in the fall where we're doing a lot of rocktober training, as to call it.
Speaker 1:So you get the DQ, you go to NCAAs, you have a great mile, your best time up to that point. Then you have the summer trials and you go back to training in the fall, prior to going and resurrecting this loss and winning the ACC's again in not nearly as likely a scenario, or nearly as friendly a scenario, with a lot more pressure. Did it start out from the very beginning of the year? I'm going to win ACC's or was it just kind of in the background? Yeah, no pressure. How is the plan for the year going into that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I didn't want to like. I didn't want it to like dominate my headspace. I think I've learned a lot about mental clarity and just having a good mindset going into things. I would use it for motivation a lot in certain practices where I didn't feel good. I was like come on, like you got to give yourself the best chance you can. And we actually had David Bethlehem, the Hungarian guy, who was there and I was like this guy is my competition, because at that point the Cal distance freestyler hadn't come because he was a January guy but unfortunately David had to go back to Hungary.
Speaker 2:Problems with the federation, I won't get into all that. But now then after that I was like, okay, it's like it's me and Lance, maybe some other people, but like I know that I've done the work. So I, I just I kept building. My biggest thing throughout the hard training parts of the year is kind of getting these test sets that really really give me that confidence that I know that during a race I'm going to be able to be able to hold on so that I can go out fast enough, because that's something I've had to like kind of focus on in college. Obviously, as a club swimmer I was pretty done with my strategies where I would kind of finish the last 50 and be three or two or three seconds faster and I'm like, okay, I knew I had more and yeah, I had.
Speaker 2:I had really good dual meet swims. I posted the best time 847 in the thousand in Georgia, and then me and Lance went really fast in mid-season. And then obviously the Lucas Henvo, the Belgium Olympian, was added to Cal's roster kind of surprisingly in January and then he posted a 14.29. And like I know that I've done work to go that time, but obviously you never know like how you're going to feel at a race, how you're going to feel during it, obviously still dealing with my shoulder stuff, like I don't know how it's going to impact me. So yeah, there, I don't think I said like I have to win, because I knew that would have done too much to my mind. I was like I'm okay with what's going to happen, but I never counted myself out. And do you want me to go into like just the pre-race strategy and like, yeah, what was going on?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and I would love for you to address a couple of things while you're talking about, like that mental clarity you talked about, so just maybe, what that means to you. Like, like also, what are you thinking when you're in that grueling pain in the middle of the race, like you hit the hit 45 on the the counter and you're like, oh no, I've got another 500. How am I feeling? And then also talk about some of the test set, or a test set that might have gotten you ready for that, and then, just then, leading up to it, I'd love to know and what and what you felt when you hit the wall and saw yeah.
Speaker 2:So two of the test sets that we've done the last three years the first one is during Christmas training. It's eight, 800 short course yards on eight minutes were suited. My goal was to be around seven, 30 on all of them or descend to kind of. So I started out 740, kind of descended down each one. I actually finished with a 718, which was really really good for me. So that was one of the ones that gave me confidence. And then Dino loves a set where we do 33, one fifties on, like one, 45 suited as well. One aerobic, one white, one go and I held 116 low to 115 high and then finished with a 114. Oh, also short course. And yeah, those, those two were really really good confidence boosters because they were better than I had ever been and yeah.
Speaker 2:So, mental clarity this is something that I've worked on, or worked on a while back with sports psych. I did a few meetings with them just to kind of get negative thoughts out of my head, and I do this during practice as well as during meets, where I play music in my head, almost like kind of singing to myself, but not really. It's always songs that I know and it helps if I have music in practice. But for me specifically, I have three songs in the mile where I'll play them in my head and obviously I still think some, but it kind of keeps me in my rhythm, keeps me in my zone. And that last one is one that I know will kind of like I don't know like trigger my body to make me give it all I have Like sometimes when I'm just listening to it in the car I'll get goosebumps because I've like trained my mind that way. So I play those. Before the races I listened to some other music to hype me up. I have a pretty very, very strict three hours routine in the mile because I always have so much time. So I'll warm up about 2000 yards and then 50 minutes before my race I'll I'll take some caffeine, put my suit on, do a 500 or so suited with some pace, and then I get warm and I listen to my music to get kind of in that racing zone. But I get into the zone throughout the day because I'm usually racing in the afternoon. So that that zone really has been something that I've kind of cultivated and worked on over the last four years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then during the race I mean I knew that I had to stick with Envo and I was right next to him, which is great. I got a little bit of a draft. He's a big guy and that was nice. Open water swimmers will know how much a draft can can help you and I did some of that in clubs. So I've obviously been someone who's always thinking about it during a race if it's a possibility.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, I kind of made my move pretty early. So many people talked to me and they were like I thought you were going to die and I I pulled ahead quite a bit. Actually, I think I made my move around like the 650. And then when I see 47 on the counter, that's when I kind of just give it everything I have for the rest, like almost a sprint. Obviously, in a distance race, a sprint is different than like others, cause your body is just dying and focusing on turns.
Speaker 2:But I always told myself like during that race, cause the guy who actually got second was someone else, not the cow guy, it was a Stanford guy and he he was. He was negative splitting. But I was like don't, don't ever like get comfortable here. Like you got to keep pushing. You got to keep pushing, which helped me win the race by almost five seconds and post a really really good best time 14, 31 and yeah, I mean it. It didn't even feel real when I touched and I finished. Obviously I I had that that line ball don't lie kind of kind of loaded up in my mind. I was like, oh, this, this would be cool.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it was just like overwhelming, like joy, obviously, a huge feeling of victory, and I was very, very, I had a lot of gratitude. I texted a lot of people Thank you who are obviously like reaching out and saying congratulations, like it. Just it just kind of like flowed out of me. It was great. My, a lot of my family was there, aside from my little brother who's in college right now so he couldn't come, but he was able to make it 10 C's, which was really, really special and yeah, it was just so much. The two biggest emotions were definitely joy and then victorious kind of. It was really awesome, like I was talking with my friends just like a week after and I was like this is like the kind of happiness that like lasts such a long time, like it's, it's like true happiness because it comes from that work that you put in, and again that overcoming defeat there. So it made all that sacrifice, all that discipline, all the pain from the year before all worth it for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is the kind of accomplishment that you can look back on your entire life and I mean, this is the beauty of swimming you get something like this out and there are smaller comebacks that we all have. Yours has just been so public and so watched and you know that you can look back and say, well, I did that then. And then you can do it in your thirties and your forties and your fifties, and we all need comebacks all the time. It doesn't even have to be in swimming, it can be whatever your work or your health or something. But so, oh, and I have to ask if you're, if you're, writing the wrong. I was really hoping you would get on the lane rope and throw your arms in the air after everybody finished the heat. At least, did you? Did anybody other than me ask you to do that, or did? Did you think about it?
Speaker 2:I, I 100 thought about it. I actually did a little pump fake of the celebration, but I I didn't want to, I didn't want to risk anything, even if they were all done. The same official who dq'd me was there, so I was not trying to mess around with that. Obviously there were a lot of jokes with that. I, I had a good celebration. I'm someone who likes to celebrate. Obviously there were a lot of jokes with that. I had a good celebration. I'm someone who likes to celebrate. Obviously I have a lot of emotion tied to my swims and it is something that I like to do to like kind of get the team fired up, especially at bigger meets. But yeah, I thought about it. The guy next to me was like yo, you're going to get in lane, right. I was like, no, but I knew better than to do that. No, I let my actions speak for themselves. And then I had a little bit of saying like ball don't lie, obviously. And I talked about-.
Speaker 1:Explain that for me, ball don't lie.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's kind of something that comes from basketball where, like, if a call is bad, like you shoot for it to like say like, oh, this call was right. Rashid Wallace is the person who, at least Google, has shown up there. Yeah, a lot of basketball, it comes from basketball and it's something that now my friends have been saying a lot of ever since.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes total sense. So are your songs, your three songs that you sing during the mild top secret, or can you share those?
Speaker 2:The first one is no Church in the Wild, which is Jay-Z and Kanye, and then the second one is a song called On and On. It's kind of like an EDM song. And then the last one is the Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco and it's kind of like the beat kind of matters. So that's why I like that first one, because it's like a slow, steady. And then the second one builds just like I like to build, and the last one, it just always gets me fired up. I've liked it ever since, like middle school, so it's kind of been my, my go-to pump up song and it, it, it's applicable. That last one I, I, I felt like it. The lyrics are. The lyrics are good too and they get me going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think more distance swimmers sing or listen to songs in their head than than we think. So I like to hear that, because definitely a lot of people that I've talked to and I, I did the same thing. So now you are, you've retired, you're, you're out of it, you've had this the best season ever that you've ever had, and how does it feel kind of a month out now that?
Speaker 2:you're done. Yeah, it's definitely exciting. I still like I think I need to like journal some about what I feel. Obviously, I had so many emotions at ACC's.
Speaker 2:My training after was just so great going into NCAA so I knew that I could be a little bit faster. Obviously, that double taper is still pretty hard and the field there was insane because I went 10 seconds faster than last year but I got the exact same place. So there was a really tight battle between like third to seventh there. Obviously, zalon and Rex were pulling ahead a little bit more and they both had phenomenal swims. So the competitor in me was like, oh, I could have gotten third, but like that's not the end of the world. Obviously, I still broke that really big barrier of 14 minutes and 30 seconds, so that was something I was super proud of. But yeah, I mean I I'm extremely grateful for everything and everyone that was able to. Kind of let me have that storybook ending. I'm super excited to stay around the sport I want to be. I want to be a college coach and I'm coaching at a club in North Carolina while I finished my master's degree.
Speaker 1:Have you? Have you thought about writing out the whole incident? Just putting it down?
Speaker 2:My dad has told me that I should, and I think I will. I might wait till school's out to just kind of make it my summer thing, but or at least do it then. But yeah, I've been putting it off a little bit, but I think that I will, and I've had people be like yo, you should write a book, like yeah, no, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, there's a book in there, really, truly For sure, you would have to journal and explore those emotions of what was I feeling? What was I really feeling? What was I really thinking? Who was there for me? And certainly I would love to read that book. But I'm a fan girl. I'm a little bit geeked out on what you did. And do you feel like you've had a little celebrity, a little 15 minutes of fame? I mean, how has that been?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was definitely more last year. I was kind of hoping that, like, the big outlets that picked it up last year would pick it up this year. There's been pockets of people sending me YouTube shorts, instagram reels of some some people making stuff about it, and then, of course, within NC state it's it's made a lot of noise. I've gotten to do some interviews, which has been pretty cool. So, yeah, the, the fame is cool. Obviously, the the actual feeling of winning is much, much better, because I'm proving that to myself, not to anyone else. And, yeah, it was that was the only like silver lining last year was like, oh, like, I guess people now know my name somewhat, but now it's like they know my name and I backed it up. So it was kind of cool to have that be something that was kind of like rat rectified compared to last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So this will certainly look great on your coaching resume because you can talk to the kids. Whoever you're coaching young kids, college kids, masters, whoever you're coaching is going to be quite familiar with your story and you're going to be able to use that, the that experience, to be a better coach. What, what type of coaching do you see yourself doing?
Speaker 2:I've got club, at least for a year. I'm going to look for college jobs, but I want to be in. I want to be in college. For now, at least, that's the goal. I have no idea where. I have no idea what I mean. I'm assuming I would probably coach distance for now, but I'm really excited to learn more about the shorter races. I'm going to get to work with Wolfpack, leden and NC State this summer and then in the spring as well, in addition to the club coach job that I have at Wave. So I'm excited to learn a lot, because I know that I need to learn a lot. So that's my number one goal the next couple of years. But, yeah, college. I mean hope it'd be awesome if I could make it to be a head coach. That would be a dream come true. So that's the end goal for sure.
Speaker 1:And you've certainly had some incredible experience there watching Braden Holloway for five years and an Olympic coach and Mark Bernardino for swimming with him. So I think you've got a great resume All right. Oh, and is there anything that I have not asked you, that you think that our listeners might want to know or that you want to share?
Speaker 2:I guess I'll share some quotes that I really like. The first one is pressure is a privilege, so that's one that I always tell myself. I think it was Billie Jean King said that, and it kind of reminds me that where you're in a position to feel that pressure, it is a blessing that you have something that you care about, that you have something where you have to perform, or you have people that are that you love, that are supporting you and counting on you like a team. So that's something that always, that always gets me through really, really hard stuff. Yeah, I'll just, I'll just leave it with that that pressure is a privilege and that's that's a good thing to remember when you're, when you're facing those nerves I love that.
Speaker 1:All right, are you ready to do some sprinter round questions? What is your favorite sandwich?
Speaker 2:oh, I'm a big fan of like the like chicken, avocado, bacon kind of paninis. What do you own that you should throw out? Extra gadgets that I've acquired, or maybe give away, not throw out, but I've I've too much stuff from just certain random meat gifts or birthday presents or christmas gifts what's the scariest animal to you?
Speaker 1:to you, ooh, maybe like a snake, but I also hate cockroaches. Okay, what celebrity would you?
Speaker 2:most like to meet Hmm, I think your girl either Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. What is the hardest books about?
Speaker 1:them yeah.
Speaker 2:What is the hardest? I've read some good books about them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is the hardest swimming event in the pool?
Speaker 2:Age old question For you. I don't know Either the 4am or the mile, I really can't decide. Just both are very hard to execute correctly and you feel a lot of pain.
Speaker 1:One of your favorite movies.
Speaker 2:I'm a big fan of the gladiator interstellar. Got to see that imx this year. It's pretty cool. I love star wars. I like. I like both of the doom movies. Those are also good ones recently all right, favorite smell I guess guess just the smell of good food.
Speaker 1:Do you make your bed every morning?
Speaker 2:No, I do not.
Speaker 1:Do you prefer a kickboard or no kickboard? When given the choice, kickboard. If you had to listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Speaker 2:I guess I got to go with. Show Goes On.
Speaker 1:Window or aisle.
Speaker 2:Window for sure, I like to be able to sleep, if I can.
Speaker 1:Describe your life in five words Ooh.
Speaker 2:Like currently, or just my whole life story.
Speaker 1:Whatever you feel like, or just my whole life story.
Speaker 2:Whatever you feel like Laughter, friendship, family, hard work I don't know what the last one is Fun.
Speaker 1:Fun, I like it, okay, what word?
Speaker 2:comes to mind when you dive in the water. I'd say like discipline discipline.
Speaker 1:Okay, I like it well, wonderful. Oh, and thank you so much for spending the time with us. It was really awesome and we'll be looking for that book from you. I'll let you know yeah, thanks for being on the show. Thank you for having me.
