Q&A With FSU Swim Team Coach Justin Anderson

Frostburg State University’s men’s and women’s swim teams are off to a great start. The Bottom Line sat down with Head Coach Justin Anderson to recap on last season, and to see what he believes is in store for this season.

TBL: How would you describe the 2015-2016 FSU swim season, and how do you hope to build off of last year?

Coach Anderson: The 2015-16 swim season was a huge success for the FSU swim team. The team established 30 new program records, had over 500 lifetime best swims, had the programs first ever All-CAC performer, sent a record number of athletes to ECAC Championships, sent an athlete to the US Paralympic Trials, won their most meets in the last decade, and scored the most points in program history at the CAC Championships.

We will look to use the momentum from last year as a springboard into this season. We have over 15 new athletes after only losing 2 to graduation last year. Our new team members will add depth and energy to the roster and make us more competitive at every competition. This should be the swim team’s best season in program history.

TBL: What has offseason training consisted of for the athletes in the FSU swim program?

Coach Anderson: We have the longest season of any sports team at Frostburg. We go from mid September to early March. That leaves a small window of offseason time for our athletes. During that time many of our swimmers take advantage of the opportunity they have to work with our strength coaches in the off-season and to swim during open swim hours. Most of the team has utilized the off-season strength and conditioning along with the open swim hours. Their dedication has paid off early in the season as we are way better than we’ve ever been this early in the year.

TBL: What major goals do you have for the men’s and women’s teams in the 2016-2017 season?

Coach Anderson: My major goals for the team this season are to score our most points at the CAC Championships in program history, to move up in the conference rankings, to have both teams achieve dual meet records of .500 or above, and to break more team records than ever before. I also want to see every swimmer on our team swim a lifetime best time in all of their championship events during the season.

TBL: What are you most excited for about to the upcoming swim season?

Coach Anderson: I’m most excited to watch the continued growth and success of our program and to bring in our best recruiting class yet. Having had the chance to recruit three classes, the team is now in a position to compete in every meet we are in and to compete with the rest of the conference at the CAC Championship meet.

The FSU women’s swim team is currently 5-3, and the men’s swim team is 5-4. The next competition for both teams will be at home on Nov. 12, against St. Mary’s College.

You can keep up with FSU swimming on social media @swimfrostburg on Twitter, and @frostburgswimming on Instagram. You can also find updates on Facebook under Frostburg State University Swimming and Diving.