Aug. 3, 2011

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Junior Addison Koelle is taking full advantage of her summer in College Park. Her enhanced training has paid off in the form of two trials cuts for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Koelle notched qualifying times in both the 100 and 200 fly at the Canada Cup in Montreal. She backed that up by setting another pair of marks in Maryland at the PVS Meet. The Groton, Conn., native's best time in the 100 fly is a 1:01.28 and 2:15.67 in the 200.

UMTerps.com caught up with Koelle recently and discussed her summer and qualifying to compete with some of the best swimmers in the world.

UMTerps: How has your training differed in preparation for the Olympic Trials in comparison to a normal summer regiment?

Koelle: My training differed from my normal summer regimen by the amount of yardage and meters I swam along with the intensity of the out of pool training. I had never trained in a long course metered pool until this summer. We did almost every day. We swam doubles three times a week, along with lifting and regular dry-land training the other three days when we didn't have a double. I had a goal in mind that I really wanted to achieve and the training that the coaches provided for us as a team prepared us physically and mentally in achieving our goals.

UMTerps: What advantages do you have from training at the University of Maryland's facilities this summer?

Koelle: The advantages that we had from training at Maryland this summer were huge. From training in a 50-meter pool, regular hours in the weight lifting room, and the availability of equipment used for our rigorous dry-land training, we had such a great change from my usual summer swimming. In years past I would have an hour and a half to two in the pool an hour from my home and no dry-land or weight training of any kind. Living on campus, close to everything, and having continuity in our training from the winter with our same coaches was perfect.

UMTerps: What do you most look forward to about competing in the Olympic Trials? What are you most excited about?

Koelle: I am so excited about being a part of an experience few get to witness. This is something that I have been working towards and looked forward to for many years and now that it finally happened I am just so happy to be able to go and watch my teammates swim fast and watch some of the fastest swimming ever.

UMTerps: What are your goals/expectations at the Trials?

Koelle: My goals are just to swim faster than my seed time.

UMTerps: What do you hope to gain from competing at the Trials?

Koelle: Experience. Being able to watch all the Olympic swimmers and how they conduct themselves at such an important meet - a meet where everyone has all eyes on you. It will be interesting to see how the Olympians deal with the pressure.

UMTerps: How has the summer training helped develop you for the coming season at the University of Maryland?

Koelle: The summer training helped me for this upcoming season by building a much stronger relationship with all of the coaches and the swimmers that stayed. I am in much better swimming shape because of the intense training we did this summer and I am more confident going back to Maryland to continue the same type of training into the coming season.