We sat down with NCAA champion Andreas Vazaios, who is now training and working towards his masters degree at Loughborough University. Vazaios is studying psychology, specifically emotional intelligence and self care. The Greek swimmer shares some of the things he's learned about these topics and how they've trickled into his life as a swimmer and as a human.

Read Andreas Vazaios' blog about emotional intelligence here.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Calvin Werts, swimmer at the University of Puget Sound and video producer at the CG Sports Company. Calvin, like many other athletes, has numerous passions, two of them being swimming and video production. After going to a swim clinic led by Olympian Jacob Pebley, Werts ended up calling Pebley's agent, CG Yung and asking if he needed help on the video-side of things. Calvin tells us how he worked his way from intern to paid employee and some of the things he found helpful along the way.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Notre Dame standout Coleen Gillilan to get her perspective on the past year. Gillilan put up impressive times recently at the Shamrock Invite, where the Irish put on racing suits and the sophomore surprised herself with near PB's. Gillilan explains the training that the Notre Dame team has been able to get in the last 2 semesters since getting back to campus, including a look into her favorite (everybody's favorite): 200 fly practices.

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Music: Otis McDonald

Olympic and World Champion Lilly King was SwimSwam’s 2020 U.S. Swimmer of the Year because the global pandemic did not slow her down. King crushed her competition over ISL’s second season representing the Cali Condors.

At USA Swimming’s most recent Pro Swim Series in San Antonio King swept the 100 and 200 breaststroke, but she was edged by Emily Escobedo at the Richmond Pro Swim. I have a feeling King would’ve swum faster had she been racing head-to-head with Escobedo.

• Emily Escobedo - 100 breast - 1:07.11

WAY TOO EARLY 2021 SWIMMING PREDICTIONS

I can’t pretend to doubt King—not even a tiny bit. King dominates the field in the 100 breast at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, inching close to her personal best at 1:04.3. She also wins the 200 breast, going out fast and holding on for 2:21.5

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We sat down with North Carolina native and high school senior Coleman McCreery, who has had a bit of a bumpy road in terms of finding a swim program. He originally committed to East Carolina in April of 2020 (as a junior), about a month before the program was announced as getting cut. After dealing with that blow, McCreery got back into the recruiting pool and landed on Michigan State, signing in October 2020 (as a senior) just weeks before their program also announced it would be getting cut.

Taking more time to recover from this second blow, McCreery came around to the realization that he was on a good trajectory with his swimming, and reclassified to the high school class of 2022. Even though McCreery is hoping to have committed to a school by April-May of 2021, he's hoping the gap year will give him more time to develop as a swimmer while taking community college courses from home.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Olympic, World, Pan Pacific, and Commonwealth champion Emma Mckeon to talk about the pandemic, how her 2021 Olympic prep is going, and dive into her swimming story a bit. Emma has been on the Australian national team for over a decade now but admits she wasn't always in love with pushing herself to the limit. Mckeon reveals when she was younger and went to her first major international meet (2010 short course world championships), she decided she wanted to focus on her social life instead and retired from swimming. Since then, however, she has found her rhythm in the sport and her results speak for themself.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with NCAA All-American Grace Countie to talk about the 2-week stint in which UNC raced 4 dual meets. Countie particularly shined in the last of these against Duke, where she won the 100 back and 100 free and was a part of the winning 200 medley and 400 free relays. Countie discusses that she gained confidence racing back-to-back like this, getting the opportunity to make small adjustments and fine-tune the details of her races.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with head coach for the Cal men and for the 2021 Men's US Olympic team, Dave Durden. We've seen some exceptional swimming from the bears in the last few months, and Durden breaks down the purpose behind each race since November. Durden also speaks on the uncertainty moving forward in the season and how that he helped to mold their mindsets into focusing more on the here-and-now.

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Music: Otis McDonald

Shaine Casas is the swimmer to watch. His star is rising fast! Shaine can swim backstroke, butterfly, IM, and freestyle at the elite level. Sounds like he even wants to make a run at breaststroke.

Shaine’s consistently racing fast—making improvements like an age grouper. At the college level, he's pure gold, but can he net hardware this summer? Can he make the U.S. Olympic Team?

WAY TO EARLY 2021 SWIMMING PREDICTIONS

I see this Texas A&M swimmer making the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team in the 100 back, 200 back, and maybe even the 200 IM. He’s probably going to final at U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha in a few more events. But who cares what I think? I’d like know what you think in the comments. Give me your best swimming analyst?

Shaine Casas SwimSwam BIO + Personal Best Times:

• 100 yard back - 43.87

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We sat down with NCAA All-American Izzy Ivey, who is coming off of an electric 3-day, 4-session dual meet performance in which she broke Cal dual meet records in the 100 free, 100 fly, and 4 relays. Ivey reflects on the racing that she and the bears have gotten to get in this year as well as the heavy training they've done throughout the fall and winter.

Ivey also delves into the perspective she's gained through the COVID-19 pandemic, admitting that the 2020 NCAA's getting cancelled was a tipping point for her in terms of having to discover who she was outside of swimming.

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Music: Otis McDonald