AUDIO CLIPS: Georgia coaches, swimmers talk SECs

The University of Georgia prepares to host the first of Division I’s major conference championships next week as the whole SEC gang comes to town. The Georgia Athletic Department caught up with several of Georgia’s top athletes and coaches to get their thoughts leading up to the conference championships.

Take a listen to these short interviews, courtesy of UGA, for an inside look at how the defending NCAA women’s champions and their male counterparts are preparing for the SEC meet.

Head Coach Jack Bauerle talks below about how tough the SEC has become since last year’s expansion, and how scoring down to 24th place affects the meet:

Below, junior Jordan Mattern talks about the Bulldogs’ desire to “protect the house” and beat their SEC opponents in their home facility:

Sophomore Ty Stewart chips in a perspective from the men’s side, talking about the prowess of SEC swimming and the intense competition the conference has to offer, below:

UGA Sports caught up with senior Shannon Vreeland for a brief interview as well, and provided her response, shown below:

​Vreeland: “I think it will be really exciting having SECs here. It’s neat that it will be more accessible to some of my friends. They may have seen me swim in dual meets, but it’s fun that they might be able to see me swim in an even more exciting atmosphere. You are so familiar at home and this is the place where we train every single day. We all have such a connection to this pool, so being able to swim the SECs here is going to be awesome. As for defending the title, it’s definitely not something we talk about. We know it’s there and we know it’s something we’re working for every day. It is very important to us, but it’s not something we’re going to pull to the forefront. We are getting ready for SECs just like we do every year. We will definitely go in ready to race.”

Other interviews, courtesy of UGA:

Junior Amber McDermott:

Junior Maddie Locus:

Senior Andrew Gemmell:

Junior Nic Fink: