Q: How did you get started swimming?
A; Obviously, my mother. She was the Ball State swimming coach when I was born so I was immediately thrown into it just because of the history of swimming within my family. So you can actually say I started swimming at the age of one, but competitively at five. And from then on up, I started getting into club swimming. I technically did high school swimming but I didn't officially have a team because I was the only guy on my team. The only time I counted as being a team for Muncie Burris was at sectionals and state championships where I actually beat [Muncie] Southside by myself.
Q: Do you think that Ball State University will ever be at the same level as Eastern Michigan? (The Eagles have won the past six Mid-American Conference championships and 24 of the last 26.) A: If we get scholarships back, yeah, we could be back at that level. We were actually in the process of building a team that could be at that level. But as far as recruiting athletes, by not having scholarships you have to sell the campus, and the fact that there's Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Indiana State, all of these bigger colleges within the Indiana realm, selling Ball State is really difficult.
Q: Outside of swimming, what is your best college memory?
A: My best college memory would have to be all of the people that I've met and all of the great friendships that I've established with people that I know I'm going to talk to for years to come. I know that's not one single memory, that's four years all together, but I think that's one of the most important things that I'm going to take away from Ball State.
Q: What are some of your favorite sports teams, in any sport?
A: My favorite sports teams would probably have to be anything having to do with Michigan State athletics. I absolutely hate [the University of] Michigan and everything they are about. [I like] Michigan State just because my grandpa is the person that introduced me to life outside of swimming. And he is, by far, the most avid sports fan of Michigan State that I have ever known and ever will know. He even wrote a 1,200-page encyclopedia of Michigan State athletics. I even had decided to go to Michigan State before I changed my mind.
Q: How about professional sports?
A: I did like the Indianapolis Colts. Naw, I still like the Indianapolis Colts just because they are the hometown team. They're a bunch of blue collar guys. Of course they have Peyton Manning whose making all kinds of money but as far as like, just the team itself, they don't have any of the guys that just ruin the sport. The Detroit Tigers, they've always been a team, also, introduced through my grandpa. Basketball, I like the Pacers. But as far as fan loyalty, I'm not really a huge fan of the National Basketball Association.
Q: What are some of your greatest college accomplishments?
A: Obviously, being on a Division I swim team like Ball State University, [which has] always had a good history with being a good school in the state of Indiana along with the Mid-American Conference. Placing fifth in the MAC championships [200-breaststroke] is my highest placing thus far. Hopefully, that will be improved upon at the conclusion of next month. I've been top eight every year, but my highest placing is fifth my freshman year. I've been top eight in however many events every year. I was on the Academic All-MAC team last year, and that was probably my greatest accomplishment.
Q: What are your plans for after college?
A: Plans after college are to get a job in the sports field. Eventually, I would like to end up with USA Swimming. Not that I think they do a bad job, but I feel that swimming can be marketed a lot better than what it is currently, and I can help in that aiding. My major is sports administration and sports have been a part of my life forever, and working in them is just something that I've always been interested in doing.
Q: Name a celebrity that you would like to play you if your life was made into a movie, and why?
A: I could say Macaulay Culkin, but he went crazy. I've been told I look like Chris Simms and the oldest son from 'Home Improvement', but I wouldn't want them to play my life. Let's just go with Brad Pitt, for some rhyme or reason. He's very versatile in all of the roles that he plays. He's rugged, he's very attractive to the ladies, and he's probably, in my mind, the coolest actor out there.
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
A: The person I'd like to meet would probably have to be Johnny Weissmuller. He was a swimmer, a sprinter back in the early 1900s. He's probably the first big time name in the sport. And he also played Tarzan, I believe, in the movie. And I would just like to see his perspective of the sport back then and how it affected people back then. How it affected his life and everything that he's went about, and then compare that to what I've done.
Q: What has swimming done for you?
A: I will never give back to swimming as much as it's given to me. I can't even put into words exactly how much it has affected my life. It's been a part of everything I've done my entire life. It's the very first sport that I was introduced to. It's something that my mom has been a part of my entire life being that she's a coach. Once I started swimming competitively at five, I have not gone a year without swimming. It's just given me so many qualities as a person, and helped me grow into an adult.
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