There may not be a better example of a diamond in the rough turned into elite sprinter in the Big Ten than Northwestern University’s Chase Stephens. Entering his freshman year in Evanston, Illinois, Stephens was recruited more for his middle distance speed, with personal bests of 1:41.44 in the 200 free and a 4:34.12 in the 500 free. He hadn’t quite developed any significant sprint speed yet, and he carried bests of 21.5/46.7 in the 50 and 100 distances respectively.
Stephens towers over most competitors, standing at 6’8”, and it took a full two years for him to develop the strength needed to make the complete transition into a primarily sprint-oriented role. By the end of his sophomore year, Stephens had gone a 20.53 in his 50 and a 44.78 in his 100 free, and though those are significant drops in their own right, his junior year would prove to be the real testament to his rapidly developing potential.
In the summer before his Junior year, he would qualify for Olympic Trials in the 50 free at the Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational. Carrying the momentum into the collegiate season, Stephens saved the best for last as at last year’s Big Ten Championships, Chase shocked teammates and competitors alike when he dropped a 43.14 in the individual of his 100 freestyle during the preliminary session, and he would snare 7th place in the night session with a 43.47. This came just two days after Stephens also dipped under 20 seconds for the first time, and he would go a 19.91 in finals for 10th place. He would also provide a 1:37.7 2nd leg split on the 800 free relay for the Wildcats.
With that 100 freestyle swim, Stephens was able to grab the final qualification spot for NCAAs, and though he would gain time in Indianapolis, the season was more of a statement than anything. He has carried his momentum into his senior year, and by mid-season, Stephens had broken a pool record in Evanston in the 50 free (19.87) held by none other than Two-time Olympian and Northwestern Alum, Matt Grevers. He has also been a 44.32 in the 100 this season, and though it is not a best time for the senior, it is still 0.4 seconds faster than he was at the mid-season point last year.
Needless to say, Chase Stephens is a driving force for the Wildcats this year, and Northwestern Head Coach Jarod Schroeder has seen his team string together several impressive performances leading into Big Tens largely due to Chase’s contributions. Only time will tell how big the big man plans on going this year when he steps on the blocks for the last time at conference.
Best Times (SCY/LCM):
50 free: 19.87/23.26
100 free: 43.14/50.93
200 free: 1:37.06/1:55.15
School Major/Degree: Economics
Favorite Event: 100 Free
Favorite Hobby/Hidden Talent: Mustache growth/Foosball guru
Favorite Movie: Forrest Gump
Role Model Growing Up/ Person You’d Like to Meet: Abraham Lincoln
Favorite Food/ Pre-Race Meal: Bacon Pasta
At what age did you become involved with swimming? How did you get into it?
I started swimming at a young age because my parents made me, my sister and I had to do swim lessons and swim team at the community pool b8y our house. I wasn’t the best student or teammate so I barely did anything, but I did learn how to swim. Not well mind you. I decided to pursue other sports during my pre-teen years and came back to swimming competitively my freshmen year of high school. I became hooked to the sport because of the great teammates and coaches that helped me progress so far so quickly.
What is your favorite collegiate swimming memory and why?
My favorite memory would have to be after my sophomore BigTens when our team stayed on Sunday at Iowa to try and qualify for some Olympic Qualifying times. It was just great to see everyone pull together and get behind one another, even though we were all dead tired from the meet. Even though I didn’t personally qualify with a time, it was awesome to see guys like Charlie Rimkus get his time and see everyone cheering each other on in the now empty Iowa pool.
You had a breakthrough meet at last year’s Big Ten Championships, where you took 7th in the 100 free and also broke 20 seconds in the 50 free for the first time. This season, you have already set a new personal best in the 50, and have had great success in dual meet competition. What do you think were some of the biggest contributing factors to your success last season and how has that propelled you in the 2013-14 season?
I can definitely say I made it this far only because of the great team I have behind me. I owe everything to those guys, you included, and they helped me grow and mature to a level of racing that I didn’t know was possible. Coach Schroeder has a been a huge factor too, being he was the one who gave me a chance in the first place and believed in my success all these years. He does that with all of us on the team, showing that we all have the potential to be great if we put in the hard work and dedication. Technique wise, I really came into my own last year, proving to myself that I actually do have a 6’8” frame and I can swim pretty efficiently with it. Coming into this year, I have taken my experiences from last year, both positive and negative, and tried my best to improve upon them. I think that my personal success, and most importantly our team success, this season has been a group effort in that area of expectations, focusing our efforts on creating an atmosphere for success that everyone can benefit from.
As has been mentioned numerous times on SwimSwam, Northwestern has strung together two very respectable recruiting classes over the last two years. With impressive performances from freshmen Andrew Jovanovic and Charlie Cole and a wealth of sprint talent coming in next year, how do you think the training/racing atmosphere at Northwestern is changing?
I think the most important change has been to our racing atmosphere, with us focusing not on how we compare with other teams, but with us focusing how we can improve from past years and past performances. We have taken an inward approach to how we can improve, seeing that steps forward aren’t going to be handed to us, but will be achieved with hard work and dedication to becoming great racers. To do that, we have started a great habit of creating a race mentality during our training sessions, showing to ourselves that speed is very much under our control. I know that this mentality will transfer over, with many our underclassmen taking huge strides forward in their performance, improving faster and adapting to training at speeds I didn’t think were possible when I was freshman.
I know that one of your personal role models is Northwestern Alum and two-time Olympian Matt Grevers. I also know that Matt has been a constant presence around Evanston, and that he constantly tries to give back to the Wildcats in whatever way that he can. Has his presence around the pool and campus helped you become a better swimmer both mentally and in other respects?
Matt has been a great role model for all of us here in Evanston. I know that our whole team is proud to come from that incredible Grevers era of swimming history. When he was inducted into the NU Athletics Hall of Fame earlier this past year it wasn’t without a sense of pride from all of us on the team. Its great to see Matt still active in the Northwestern scene, given his busy schedule as a pro-swimmer, even coming to our alumni meet earlier in the season. I’m still unhappy that they ran completely over us (winning every event…), but it was great to see so many alumni, with notable names like Barbic, Alexandrov, Grevers, and Coach Groseth, all coming and showing such great support for the program and its future. For me personally, it has been a great challenge to try and fill those shoes that Grevers left, but it has been a fun one nonetheless. Breaking his pool record in the 50 free at our TYR invite was a really cool experience, and it definitely gives you a sense we are back on track to be a notable team again. As we start to bring down some of the Grevers era records, relays most importantly, it is showing our strength as a rapidly growing team.
Following such a tremendous junior year, are you willing to share some of your personal goals for your last Big Ten Championships and perhaps even your NCAA goals?
This will sounds really cheesy and all the guys on the team will make fun of me, but I am really looking forward to having a fun and exciting end of the season. We have been having a great season so far and swimming really fast has been a trademark of it, so I really want to keep that atmosphere alive and strong as we move through the final big meets of the season. At BigTens, I am hoping to leave a strong impression in my individual events, hopefully turning a few heads and showing some purple up on the podium. The biggest focus will be the relay’s though, and I am extremely confident in our ability to finish high in the standings with the great group of guys that we have, making our main goal being getting those NCAA cuts. And then at NCAA’s I hope to carry that same momentum and finish in the top 25.
Do you have any plans/commitments lined up for your future following the completion of your collegiate career?
Currently I have no plans lined up, occupation or swimming oriented, which worries me a little. However, I will graduate in June, which I am greatly looking forward to, and I am sure something will fall into place. Who knows, you might even see me in the pool next year.
What should we look forward to from Northwestern as a whole at this year’s Big Ten Championships?
I am really looking forward to us showing how far we have progressed over this past season and even how far we have come since my first year. The strides we have taken in the past few months have been tremendous and really reflect what our team is all about. Even though we are the smallest team in the conference, we definitely can compete with the best when it comes down to it. I think BigTens will be a great reflection on how we have evolved within the past year, broadcasting to the nation that we won’t be written off anymore as one of the stragglers. Rallying behind this point will be the strength and consistency of our team as a whole, especially the underclassmen. With young guys like Grant Halsall, Charlie Cole, Andrew Jovanovic, Andrew Cramer, and especially Jordan Wilimovsky pulling out huge swims, don’t be surprised to see these names popping up over the next couple of years.