REDHAWK CHAT: Dave Jennings

 Miami women's swimming and diving head coach Dave Jennings

Miami women's swimming and diving head coach Dave Jennings, along with men's captain Mike Carroll stopped by for this week's RedHawk Chat. What follows is a transcript of the conversation.

The RedHawk women are looking to defend their MAC Championship from a year ago and are off to a 3-1 start in MAC dual meets this season. Both Miami's men's and women's swimming and diving teams will be competing this weekend in the Miami Invitational, which is hosted by the RedHawks. The meet begins Thursday evening and runs through Saturday with all the action taking place at the Corwin Nixon Aquatic Center.

MURedHawks.com: Good morning everyone. Besides head women's swimming coach Dave Jennings, we're pleased to also have men's captain Mike Carroll with us. We'll get started shortly.

Maria (Oxford): Is it a unique experience as a male coaching females in swimming technique, as compared to coaching men?

Dave Jennings: I think that there is some difference in terms of technique for females. Body position, length of stroke, and strength of the athlete can determine differences between males and females.

Tony from Caledonia: Event-wise, what are the differences in training for sprinters as opposed to long-distance swimmers?

Mike Carroll: Sprinters do more explosive work in the weight room and in the pool. Long-distance swimmers focus on getting in shape aerobically. Sprinters are more focused on getting stronger.

Matt (Oxford): Do any of the ladies have the potential to make NCAAs this year?

Dave Jennings: Yes. We feel we have a number of girls who can qualify for the NCAAs this year. Kelsey Vehr is a returning qualifier in breaststroke and we feel that Kasey Carpenter, senior backstroker, and freshman Leah Thornton, also a backstroker, have a good chance. Also Allison Way in the 100 fly and Megan Brunn, also in breaststroke.

Nate (Traverse City): Do the athletes have swim-offs to determine who will get to race that particular race each week of competition?

Mike Carroll: No. We usually go by past results and who Coach Lindsay thinks will be the best for that particular meet.

Bill (Cincinnati): At a swimming and diving meet, what percentage of the score comes from the swimming portion and what percentage comes from the diving portion? Have you ever had someone compete in both swimming and diving?

Dave Jennings: Divers compete in a dual meet in two events--one meter and three meter diving. In a dual meet, swimming competes in 14 events. Years ago, I did have a girl in a dual meet who was a diver and we needed an extra body for a relay. So, she had some past experience, we used her, and she helped us win the meet.

Bill (Millville): There's probably no hard and fast answer to this one, but at what stage in their college career do you typically see a particular individual's greatest personal improvement? Freshman to sophomore? Sophomore to junior?

Mike Carroll: Typically, in Coach Lindsay's program the swimmers tend to get significantly better their sophomore year. That can be due to just getting used to the program and normally becoming physically strong. I took a big step in my sophomore year.

Lisa (Oxford): Is there a reason why you practice so early in the morning? What are the benefits to that?

Dave Jennings: We practice primarly in the morning for swimming. At our Miami Invitational and the MAC championships because we have prelims in the morning and then come back and swim finals at night. So you want to get them into the routine of performing both in the a.m. and the p.m.

Elliott (Cleveland): I don't know swimming that well but I've heard the term tapering used when talking about training. What is that exactly?

Mike Carroll: Tapering is done typically at the end of the season when you're preparing for a conference meet. It is the act of lowering the amount of yardage that you do in order to be fully rested for your swims.

Hamilton: What do you look for in potential swim recruits?

Dave Jennings: We look at their background as far as the history of their swimming. We look for someone that has the ability to swim in multiple events. We look at body type. What I mean by that is that we look at their hands and feet, two important points in swimming. We also look at whether an individual would fit into the team. And then making sure that they're strong academically.

Chelsea: What do you hope to get out of this weekend's invitational? Any extra pressure since you guys are the hosts?

Mike Carroll: No, we don't feel any extra pressure. We hope to get a high percentage of in-season best times from each swimmer. We rested a little bit for this weekend, so we should be capable of doing this.

Bill (Hamilton): They always say it's tough to repeat. How do you keep your team hungry for another MAC championship and not let the team get too complacent?

Dave Jennings: I don't talk about repeating or defending at all over my career as a coach here at Miami. I believe that every year you have a completely different team with a different personality and we approach each year as a new season, a new set of circumstances. And hopefully the women express down to the underclassmen the excitement of being in the chase for a championship.

Maria (Fairfield): Who are some of the key swimmers for Miami?

Mike Carroll: On the men's team, sophomore Chris Gunnels has already posted lifetime and conference-best times. Dave Brown, a senior, who focusses on sprint events has swam well. And our two divers, Jimmy Beres and Cameron Horner , who are some of the best divers in the Midwest.

Ruby from Darrtown: Does Kelsey Vehr have a chance to break the one-minute barrier in the 100 breaststroke?

Dave Jennings: Sure. I think she has a shot. More importantly, we just want her to get better than last season. She's at 1:00.48 right now, at the MAC last year. She has to do a good job with her training, which she's doing, she needs to get better in the weightroom which she's doing. She's probably as fit of an athlete as she's ever been here at Miami. So the chances are pretty good.

Laura (Oxford): The new full-body suits have resulted in a ton of records being broken. I'd like to hear your opinion on whether or not this is good for swimming.

Mike Carroll: We didn't wear tech suits last season, but we were able to wear them over the summer. And there is a significant difference. Personally, I don't think they were good for the sport. The NCAA swimming committee made the decision that tech suits are no longer part of swimming.

Tony (Hamilton): What schools and what types of races will be run at the Miami Invitational?

Dave Jennings: The teams include the University of Illinois, University of Cincinnati, Wright State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Denison University, Emory University and Oakland University from Michigan. We'll be swimming all of the competitive swimming and diving events at this Invitational. Thursday at 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday are 9 a.m. for the preliminaries and 6 p.m. for the finals. We hope to see you there.

MURedHawks.com: And that will do it for today. Next week's guest will be from the men's basketball program. See you next week.

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