Oct. 1, 2001

By Marcus Bishel

Ever since he was four years old, Tiger junior Dane Pedersen has spent the better part of his days and nights in the pool. Pedersen, Mizzou's top distance swimmer looks to improve on last season's breakout year that included being named All-Big 12, Academic All-Big 12, setting school records in the 1650 freestyle and 1000 freestyle, and finishing second in the 1650 freestyle at the Big 12 Championships.

Pedersen, a native of Flowood, Mississippi, briefly considered other schools before deciding on Mizzou. He said he chose Mizzou because of the swimming team, the atmosphere, and the academic reputation of the school. Academics are highly important to Pedersen, as shown by being named Academic All-Big 12, and he feels a diploma from Missouri, in Communications, will "mean something."

Pedersen plans to take a leadership role to help the younger distance swimmers this season. He remembered as a freshman, former Tiger swimmer Randy Swift took him under his wing and Dane said he will "lead by example" and will dole out advice when he is asked for it. Pedersen says he does nothing out of the ordinary when he prepares to swim. He feels distance swimmers need to stay focused and contain their excitement to use the energy for the competition in the pool, "The adrenaline is already there and because the race is so long you need to save your energy." Unlike most swimmers Pedersen, other than using the same towel for every race, is not superstitious, "Distance swimmers don't get as superstitious as sprinters."

Pedersen plans to carry the momentum he had at the end of last season into this year. He said of last years breakthrough race at Arkansas, "I learned more about myself in that race than at any other meet. I was 10-12 seconds behind and I learned how to race and to not give up." Pedersen's goals for this season is to work on his consistency in dual meets, work on his technique, lead by example, make every practice count, and make the NCAA b-cut in the mile. Pedersen said he hopes to swim a 15:20 mile time, 14 seconds quicker than his record-setting personal best. That would have been the winning time at the Big 12 Championships last year. Pedersen has a lot of work to do if he is to catch the defending Big 12 1650 freestyle champ Jim Poolan but with his work ethic and attitude in the pool Pedersen could be the next Big 12 champion for the Tigers.