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--- Lane 9 News ---
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Promising Seniors-To-Be 2007: Teresa Crippen -- May 16, 2007
PHOENIX, Arizona, May 16. TERESA Crippen, who swims for head coach Richard Shoulberg at the Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pa., is the next in line for our Promising Seniors-To-Be series.
As of the May 4 National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) release of All-American candidates, Crippen sat in the top eight in three events with sixth place in the 100 fly (55.18) and 200 IM (2:01.55) and seventh in the 100 back (55.80). She also clocked a 51.44 in the 100 free and a 4:51.41 in the 500 free, which both were on the consideration lists.
Here is our interview with Crippen:
Was there a watershed mark in your career that made it clear you had a gift for the sport and could achieve big things?
I think it kind of hit me late. And, by that I mean, I had placed seventh in Summer Nationals my eighth-grade year, and I did not really think that I could be great then. It was more like Coach Shoulberg telling me that I could be good and inculcating that into my brain everyday at practices. When I first went a 2:15 in 200 back at the U.S. Open, I called my sister, Maddy, and she was the one who told me that it was a good time and that I could be good.
What type of interaction do you have with your coach when it comes to training? What kind of input do you have?
Shoulberg is great, he's like a second father to me. He pushes me really hard and, of course, we fight during training because workouts are extremely hard and tempers fly. But, every practice brings a new day in his mind and nothing temper-wise carries over, so it is good. If I'm feeling horrible one day, and workouts have been tough, he will sometimes change practice if one of his swimmers go to him. He will make it a little easier. However, Shoulberg likes to push us when we think we cannot do something so sometimes he keeps the workouts strenuous.
What are your goals for your senior season?
For senior year, I just want to focus on picking a college hopefully pretty early and then just focusing on training for Trials and the meets leading up to the Trials. Also, as a senior, I'll be one of the leaders of my high school team. So, I want to make sure that the girls are focused and I am helping them with their goals for their high school season.
Who has made the biggest impact on your swimming career to this point?
Probably my sister and brother, Maddy and Fran. If it were not for them, I probably would not have started swimming. Watching them make their international USA teams also helped motivate me and made me want to train so I could maybe one day be as good as they are and make a USA national team. My other sister, Claire, a senior now who is going to the University of Virginia next year for swimming, also helps impact my swimming because she is there training by my side everyday and if she was not pushing me I would not get that motivation.
Have you verbally committed to any University? If so, which one and why? If not, who is in your top five and why?
I have not committed anywhere and I really do not have a top five, I just want to focus on Pan American Games and then I will think more about colleges.
What has the recruiting process been like for you?
I really have just gotten a lot of letters and mail. Some coaches have been on my national team, so I have gotten to know them personally. They never talk about colleges or anything though. The process doesn't really start until July 1, so I cannot talk to them really before then.
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Photo By: USA Swimming
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