By Brian Savard<\/p>\n
SELINSGROVE, Pennsylvania, September 6. EMORY junior Keith Diggs stands next in line for the On Campus<\/i> series that previews the most elite Division III swimmers in the country.<\/p>\n
Diggs, a Vienna, Va., native, competed in the 2007 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. He placed 13th in the 200 IM (1:53.83), fifth in the 400 IM (4:00.88) and 25th in the 100 backstroke (53.27). Diggs earned a gold medal by competing on the first-place Emory 400 medley relay (3:23.13), and he also swam the anchor leg of Emory's ninth-place 200 freestyle relay. <\/p>\n
At Emory, Diggs is studying political science with a minor in music.<\/p>\n
What is your favorite movie?<\/b>
\nMonty Python and the Holy Grail<\/i><\/p>\n
What one song psyches you up the most before a race?<\/b>
\n"New Millennium Cyanide Christ" by Meshuggah.<\/p>\n
Activities on campus (other than swimming)?<\/b>
\nI coach twice a week for ECSC, a winter swim camp for local kids at Emory's pool.<\/p>\n
Collegiate awards won (both academic and athletic)?<\/b>
\nCSCAA All-America, 400 IM (2007)
\nCSCAA All-America Honorable Mention, 200 IM (2007)
\nCSCAA Academic All-America (2006, 2007)
\nEmory College Dean's List (Spring 2007)
\n2-time UAA Athlete of the Week
\nCollegeswimming.com National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week<\/p>\n
Where do you see yourself five years from now?<\/b>
\nLiving somewhere very warm. Perhaps in law school, perhaps teaching, perhaps something else (I suppose that just about covers everything). I'm really quite focused on the two years I have left at Emory.<\/p>\n
What made you choose the college that you attend?<\/b>
\nJon Howell and the whole team did a knockout job recruiting me, and I really felt that I would be at home at Emory. It's a great school with a really deep swim team, which was something I was looking for coming from a small club program. The location is a nice bonus, too \u2013 Atlanta has lots to offer, and I love that I can go to the outdoor pool on Halloween or April Fool's Day.<\/p>\n
At what point in your swimming career did you realize your talent as an elite swimmer?<\/b>
\nI never really realized my talent so much as found a sport I wasn't terrible at and decided to stick with it. I started when I was 10 on the advice of a lifeguard who saw me swimming laps one evening and immediately I was scoring points for my summer league team, which was a great change of pace from five years of being a benchwarmer in the more popular sports such as soccer or baseball (I tried basketball for two seasons and scored three points combined). That winter, I simply decided to drop everything else and go to swimming year round. I never looked back and it's been an awesome ride so far.<\/p>\n
What are your goals for the 2007-08 season?<\/b>
\nTo have an even better season than the last one. Make NCAAs before the December taper. Get under 4:00 in the IM and shoot for the school record while I'm at it. Get good at a new event. Learn to swim 200s. Be the guy who trains distance but does the sprints too. Get somebody else on the team to like death metal.<\/p>\n
What advice would you give to a high school swimmer with your talent looking at colleges?<\/b>
\nUse swimming to get yourself into a good school, because that's what will count more in the long run. Don't go chasing after a scholarship at a crappy school. Find a place where you like both the coach and the team and will have lots of people around you who are every bit as committed and talented as you are.<\/p>\n
What is the most difficult challenge that you've had to overcome in your swimming career?<\/b>
\nSenioritis. It was never severe; my grades didn't suffer and it wasn't like I was about to quit swimming or anything, but it was enough that I didn't train as hard or as often as I did junior year and it showed in my times. I knew I would survive in the long run, but it was the first year that my times got slower instead of faster, and that was difficult to deal with. Looking back I wish I had trained hard all that year; I'd probably have my high school record in the 500 to show for it had I done so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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