Jan. 13, 2006

COLUMBIA, Mo. - As the second half of the season draws near, Missouri head swimming and diving coach Brian Hoffer had a chance to sit down and reflect and reflect on a first half of the 2005-06 campaign that saw a lot of "firsts" for the program. The team hosted the Show-Me-Showdown - the first meet in the Mizzou Aquatics Center. The men earned the program's first-ever dual win against Texas A&M, which also marked the Tigers' first conference dual win since the Big 12 realigned to only three men's teams. In the inaugural dual meet at the MAC, the Mizzou women turned in the first tie in Hoffer's career by deadlocking national power Texas 121-121.

Here's what Hoffer had to say.

On his thoughts entering the season ...
"Going into the season, my concern was that everything around us was new. We have a new facility, about half of the team are freshmen and a new staff member. It seemed a little overwhelming. It was extremely stressful to manage all of that during the first couple of months, but we've progressed forward really well with all of that newness."

On entering the season with 25 freshmen on the roster ...
Anytime you have 25 freshmen, there's a lot going on. They've all been unbelievable and are doing really well. You always want to make sure they improve and get better everyday. We don't redshirt, so you have everyone competing and racing. Instead of a year to get ready and adjusted to college, they had six weeks before their first competition.

On how the freshman class performed during the season's first half ...
They're all doing very well. They're training at a high level and learning how to be student-athletes, which is all very challenging. I'm pleased with what they're doing. We've had some of them break school records or turn in top-five swims. We even had two freshmen on the 800 free relay team that broke the school record. It hasn't been easy for them, or for the staff, but we all understand that it'll get easier as we move forward.

On the team's meet results so far this season ...
We're happy that the men won their only dual of the first half, as well as the Show-Me-Showdown. The men are very deep, and when you have depth, people can step in and help you win meets. The women started off well with the tie against Texas, and we swam well against Texas A&M even though we couldn't pull it out. The Kansas loss was disappointing for the team and staff because we always want to be competitive with our rival. That loss may be a good thing though, because the team was feeling pretty good about itself after the Texas meet and the loss at Kansas may have helped them see what Big 12 swimming is all about. You have to be on every time you go into a meet. They've moved on and they had some good swims at Purdue and Texas.

On swimming well against top-notch competition at Purdue and Texas ...
All I really wanted out of those invites was good swims. There were great teams at both meets. It was nice to be able to take the whole team to Purdue and we threw in about 100 lifetime-best swims in that meet. Then we only had a two-week rest before Texas, which wasn't even a rest because we were training the entire time. We've never done anything like that before. The first day at Texas was OK, but we really came alive on the second day. We far exceeded our expectations in that meet. We took a reduced squad (12 men and 12 women) and we swam as well as we had in a long time. We had about 50 lifetime-bests swims with half of a team. I was very nervous heading into the Texas meet. We weren't worried about where we placed, but we wanted to do well for ourselves. In that kind of a meet, if you don't mentally feel like you belong there, then you don't. I felt like we didn't get intimidated and we enjoyed swimming against some great competition.

On a new energy in the program ...
When we finished last year, we knew that the facility was eight weeks from being complete. We made some changes as a coaching staff as far as our expectations. We told people that the status quo wasn't going to be alright anymore. We changed everything from dryland to workouts to weights. It really started there, and it continued when we moved into the facility in June. The freshmen don't know otherwise, and the returning swimmers really made sure that they kept the intensity high. I warned the freshmen to really be ready for something new, and they've embraced it fully.

On the state of the team at the end of 2005 ...
We're as good physically as we've ever been at this point, but we're not ready to go into the conference meet yet. We need some more training time to get better. The physical side is the thing we needed to integrate better when we came into the new pool. Now that everyone is together in the pool (as opposed to split workouts at the natatorium), I can keep things more in front of me and I'm not guessing as much. Our dryland, weights and swimming are all improved this year. (Strength and conditioning coach) Jana Heitmeyer has done a great job adapting our weight program to what swimmers need. Coach (Stefanie) Williams has done a really good job at getting our dryland up to an elite level. Our entire staff has done a great job with the water workouts. We want to make sure we're getting more fit in January than we are now. Mentally, we know we're not the best team in the country and that they have some work to do. They know what's on the line when they host conference. If you're not ready at that meet, then you'll do a lot of watching. I think they're ready for the challenges that lay ahead. January won't be easy. We're going to travel a lot, and by the time they get to conference they'll be happy to be home because we're going to be on the road for almost all of January.

On the team's emphasis on academics while on the road ...
We've always found that our academics are better when we're really busy. I'm not a big believer in the thought that you'll do better if you have more time. Our best academic years have been when we travel the most because we're more focused. Our travel schedule won't be a big deal. We leave on a lot of Fridays, so they won't miss much school and they know they have to buckle down on Sundays.

On the how the male upperclassmen have performed so far this season ...
If you look at our men's team, we have some guys really stepping up. (Senior) Chris Lukas is swimming as well as he ever has, as is (senior) Garrett McCaffrey. (Senior co-captain) David Darmitzel is really swimming well right now. (Senior) Dan Buhr really struggled early on, but swam as well as he ever has at Purdue. The sophomore class is so much better now than they were as freshmen. Lex Howard and Alex Zasadny have really come on. Travis Floyd struggled a little bit because he had mono, but he's swimming very well in spite of it. Alex Zasadny has been the biggest surprise - he's been unbelievable. He wasn't going to go to Texas, but he swam so well at Purdue that we couldn't leave him home, and he ended up going even faster at Texas. Justin Sellers is lighting it up for us in the 200 fly.

On the how the female upperclassmen have performed so far this season ...
(Junior co-captain) Amy Charley is swimming as well as she ever has before. In fact, she turned in a lifetime best in the 200 IM at Texas. (Senior co-captain) Liz Schoborg is healthy this year, which makes a big difference for our team because it makes us so much better. (Sophomores) Jill Bastien and Katie Gates are swimming great, and Taye Patterson is another sophomore who's doing really well right now even though she struggled a little bit early on. (Junior) Shannon Hogan has been on fire. She wasn't quite there last year mentally or physically, but this year she's putting it all together. It's been really fun to watch her race. She's been a big part of our success in the sprints, and that makes us a lot tougher as a team. I'm very pleased with how all of our upperclassmen have performed this year.

On what the team needs to do in the second half of the season ...
We need to put up in-season times that people will start looking at a little more. We're going to be going on some traditional trips, like to Iowa, and we want to swim good competition because it gives a different feel and a different attitude. The Notre Dame meet for the men will be pretty high profile, and that will be the men's big meet of the second semester. We have a lot of challenging road meets, like when we travel to face Drury. If we're not ready to go, it's going to be a difficult run. We also need to swim well at conference. It's our only chance to get on television, but you have to get in the finals to do so. We need to get in the finals and we need to swim well in them. That meet will be the showcase of our program and our school.