Stephen Conrad adding to the tradition of great swimmers from Mobile

Stephen Conrad adding to the tradition of great swimmers from Mobile

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome about Sports Talk ninety nine andfive. Randy County in the thread at
Faster in studio and right now reallyproud to have on with us. Steven
Conrad. He is up in Indianapolis, been competing in the US Olympic Trials
for the Olympics, and such acool, cool thing. Steven a graduate
of Saint Paul's here in Mobile.Steven, how you doing, man,
I'm good. How are you doingdoing great? First of all, just

(00:32):
congratulations on getting to the Olympic Trials. Just tell me, let's talk about
the process of being able to qualifyto be there in India and be part
of this such a huge and televisedevent. Yeah. Yeah, I mean
it's been something I've dreamed of fora really long time, you know,
growing up in Mobile watching guys likeMarlon Brookolitz and Will Glass competed the Olympic

(00:54):
Trials. It was always something thatI dreamed of. And you know,
coming to NC State, I thinkit really set me up well to qualify
for it. And you know,I've had a great time. It's been
awesome. So woke me through youryour week the last week in Indianapolis.
I know you got to off tosome early success, right right, Yeah,
Yeah, So I got here onFriday, Friday morning and swam out

(01:18):
a little bit in the pool.Really awesome. You know, a pool
in a in a football stadium issomething I don't think i've ever I've ever
been apart over ever will be apart of again in my life. So
that was really awesome to you know, kind of walk in and see just
how big it really was. Imean it was pretty crazy, but yes,
I did that on Friday. Igot a little swim out Friday and
Saturday, and then raced Sunday morning, won my heat, moved up I

(01:42):
think forty seven spots, one ofthe best time. So, I mean
it was really kind of like alike a storybook ending type thing, you
know, something I've dreamed of fora while and I got to, you
know, get the most of it. So it was really awesome. So
just one event you're competing in thereis that. That's how it works.
You get qualified for for one eventand got to compete in that qualifying standard

(02:02):
last year at Nationals. Last yearit was actually in Indianapolis, a different
pool, but it was in Indianapolis. Got the Olympic qualifying standard there and
I only got the one for thehundred backstrokes, so that was the only
thing I was able to individually competein. I did some time trials later
on in the week that we're kindof hit and miss. They didn't go

(02:24):
as well as I'd wanted them too, But you know, the one,
the one that mattered, I performed, and so I'm really proud of myself
for that. Let's start at thebeginning. So obviously people in mobile are
very proud of everything you've accomplished sofar and what you're still going to accomplish.
But how old were you the firsttime you were competitive in the pool?
I want to say I was fiveor six. I remember my mom

(02:49):
had put me into the guppies atthe Country Cupomobile and yeah, I mean
I remember. I mean obviously Idon't remember that well, but you know,
I do remember always just enjoying competitionand just enjoying racing, and uh,
you know, it was it wasalways something that I look forward to,

(03:09):
you know, going to the meetsand racing against people and just the
team aspect of it all. Anduh so, yeah, I was,
I was, I was five orsix. I think I'm always interested to
ask this question because the answer canbe very very different. But were you
really fast early? Like, wereyou a just a very good swimmer early
on, or did you work atit and then one day it was just
like, oh wow, I'm prettygood there. I think, uh,

(03:34):
you know, I was. Thereare videos of me when I was younger.
Obviously I don't remember exactly how ifI was good or not, but
I remember seeing I've seen videos ofmyself when I was younger, and I
was and I was winning. Iwas winning. I think, uh,
you know, in the inmobile Iwas good. I bet if I had
gone to some sort of you know, state meet or national meet when I

(03:54):
was at that age, I probablywouldn't have done as well. I think
I've gotten to the point that i'vegot too through a lot of hard work.
I don't think I'm the most talentedindividual. I think kind of.
I think I've worked my tail off, and I think that's why I've gotten
to the places that I've been.As a little kid, did you know
how to backstroke? I mean,like, how did the how'd the progression
go in terms of different strokes?Yeah. I I think when I was

(04:17):
younger, backstrip was my thing.Yeah, and uh and then once I
kind of got a little bit older, kind of than that, like ten
to like fourteen range, butterfly kindof took over a little bit, and
then backstroke started to come back,and uh, I can still swim butterfly.
Butterfly is probably my second best stroke. And you know, in the

(04:38):
collegiate meets, I have to havethree events, so I did the two
backstroke events and then I have tohave I do the hundred butterfly as well.
So but yeah, backstroke started offbeing the best, and then obviously
it looks like it's going to beit's gonna end up being the best.
Talking to Stephen Conrad at the OlympicTrials for swimming, he just finished his

(04:58):
sophomore year at North Caro Line ofState as a swimmer, before that,
starring at Saint Paul's. Early onwith your career, did you think about
other sports? I mean, wereyou just a guy that you were so
good at swimming earlier You're like,Okay, of all the things I can
do, this is the one I'mgonna put in on time and effort.
I wouldn't say so. I thinkI think that I actually wanted I was

(05:21):
I had wanted to really put allthe time and effort into swimming. But
I think my dad did a reallygood job of at a younger age making
sure I tried all different sports,just because I mean, looking back,
it was a great idea because I'veseen time and time again these really talented
kids that just put their lives intosports when they're really really young, and

(05:44):
then once they get older, theyfeel really burnt out because that's all they've
done. And so I grew upplaying a lot of basketball. I played
a lot of baseball, and Ithink I stopped those probably around eleven or
twelve and just focused on swimming.And I did a little bit of cross
country and track until my sophomore yearof high school, and then from then

(06:04):
on, you know, when collegejust started calling and you know, all
that stuff started happening, I thoughtit was about time to just kind of
just focus on swimming. When collegesfirst took note of you, was it
as a backstroker, Yes, sir, I think it was. I think
I was a backstroker at that point. So tell me how you get from
Mobile to North Carolina State. Howdid that process go that you decided to

(06:26):
be a wolf pack? Yeah?So this summer before my junior years when
all the colleges started calling, andyou know, obviously I had a list
of you know, five to tenschools that I was super interested in before
the whole recruitment process started. Andwhat it really came down to was when

(06:46):
I started to kind of talk tothe to the swimmers, because all the
coaches are going to say the samething. You know, if you come
here, you can do this,this, and that. Whether or not
they believe you actually can, They'rejust trying to, you know, make
it if you feel like you're theone special guy. So there really wasn't
a determining factor on that. Itwas more so the team. I'm messed
really well with the team. Itwas a lot of really great guys,

(07:09):
and you know, I believe inthe process that they were that they were
putting forth and the goals that theyhad, and they were similar to mine.
So yeah, I mean, it'sjust it ended up being a great,
a great fit because I mean,I love my teammates, love my
team, love my coaches. It'sI really got I got really lucky.
Steve. How old are you now, I'm twenty one. What do you

(07:30):
think if you just had to say, what's a peak age for a swim?
I know it varies from person toperson, but what do you think
that in general, what is likea peak age for swimmers? I want
to say, I mean, honestly, if for for females, since they
mature earlier, I think it's athe younger maybe, I mean eighteen or
nineteen something like that. But formen, since I think we're going through

(07:54):
our you know, maturing process alot later in our in our life,
I think the probably the fastest you'llsee a guys when they're probably twenty five,
twenty six something like that. Andthe issue with Todd is you really
don't see a lot of guys reachingtheir max potential because I mean, unless
you're the best of the best,you're probably not going to swim after college.

(08:16):
And so a lot of these guysprobably could have had the potential to
be really good. We'll stop themtheir twenty two to twenty three because they
graduate college and have to go geta job or go to postgrad or whatever.
See that's what I was thinking.I was it's so interesting with the
sports that are so dominated by theOlympics, of it's kind of how old
you are, you know, whenthe next four years games comes up,

(08:39):
you know, whether it's swimming orseveral other sports that would seem you know,
you would be twenty five for thenext Olympic Games. I'm sure you
did that matter before I did itfor you right there. So what about
what about that possibility? Do youthink four years from now you're gonna be
at your peak or you think aftercollege you're probably gonna have to turn some

(09:00):
more else right, I won't.I won't shut any any possibility down.
Obviously, if you know, thenext year and a half goes super well
and I see myself as being ableto potentially qualify for an Olympic team,
then yes, I'm all for it. But as of now, you know,
I want to Uh, I'm majoringin human biology with the hopes of

(09:22):
going to med school after college,and I think if I put that off
another two two and a half years, that's I mean, I'll I'll be
pretty pretty far along in life beforeI have a decent paying job. And
so I the plan now is tojust finish up college and then hopefully go
to medical school. But you know, things change, like if I,

(09:43):
like I said, if I havea really good next year and a half
and see, you know, thehopes of making the Olympic team getting higher,
then yeah, I'm all about it, but you never really know at
this point, Can I give yousome advice? Decent paying job is way
overrated, way overrated, right rightright. You know, you could work

(10:03):
for fifty years or you've work forfifty two years. You know, fifty
is not you work for fifty years, That's not the end of the world
if you got a gest to bean Olympian. Just one person's advice,
just one guy's advice here. Soanyway, thank you, thank you.
We're talking to Stephen Conrad, graduateof Saint Paul's and now a student at
n C State up in Indianapolis.At the Olympic Trials for swimming. How

(10:24):
well do you know Paige Madden?I know her pretty well. We we
overlapped a little bit in our timeat the City Mobile SIM Association. At
that point, I was a littlebit younger and shy, and you know,
she was the you know, bighot shot swimmer who is going to
Virginia, and so I never reallywent all that much out of my way

(10:46):
to talk to her. But nowyou know, when I see her at
National meets and stuff like that.She's very friendly. She's a great person,
and so I really enjoyed talking toher. Yeah, she's very personable.
I mean I would even think evenas little kid, Steven, she
would have been nice to I wouldshe I assumed she would have. I
thought that was more on MI endthat I was a little scared. I
can understand that completely. Her justher talent is a little bit intimidating,

(11:09):
right right, Yes, yes,she's so talented and works super hard.
I mean she's she's great, She'sreally great. So at the trialgy swam
fifty five point one three. Ithink that that was a great number for
you. Yes, yes, yeah, that's a great number. That was
I had a goal of going fiftyfour, so obviously I was. I
mean, I wouldn't say I wasdisappointed, but it was something that I

(11:31):
really wanted to do. But youknow, I can't complain for the best
time, So I was super happyabout that. Where would you have to
be, you know, theoretically,four years from now, where would you
what would have to be your goalto make the Olympics four years from now.
I don't have the results with meright now, but I think for

(11:52):
this year, it took a fiftytwo point three or four something like that
to make the Olympic team. Mhm, so it's a it's a big
jump. I think I could doit if I really wanted to and put
my mind to it. But youknow, you, like I said,
you never know at this point.So what's your what's your forecast for this
year in college? Going back ton c State. What are your goals

(12:15):
there? And is it the samethree events you think you'll be focused on
there in college? Yes, sir, probably the hunter backs, show turner
backs, shoke, and hunter butterfly, And uh, you know, these
first two years have been good withthe development of just you know, handling
pressure and uh swimming under you know, a collegiate stage. And now that
I'm going into my junior year,it's kind of time for me to step

(12:37):
up a little bit and uh,you know, become a leader on the
team and uh score some points hopefully. So, I mean my goals are
qualify for the n Cuba Champion NationalChampionships and just contribute to the team scoring
wise. Steveen, We've already mentionedsome of the names here in Mobile,
it's really a good swimming town.I'll give you a chance to give a

(12:58):
shout out to your coach and yourassociation and inmobile that helped you get to
this point. Yeah, yeah,CineMo do some association been there since since
the beginning. I started off withwith Brian Evans over at westfo'bile. Uh.
He did a great job of,you know, instilling like heart the
periods of hard work and teaching mehow to really go through a practice and

(13:20):
try my best. And then onceI moved over to Tyler Kerns, Uh,
you know he I the results speakfor themselves with all of the people
that he's coached and the success thathe's had and the people that he will
coach. So yeah, if ifif you have a kid who is interested
in swimming or you know, wasjust a downright hard worker, I would

(13:43):
completely recommend sending him to Tyler Kernsand you'll you'll be thankful that you did
it for sure. What a greatendorsement, Steven Man. It's great to
catch up with you. We welove following you over the last week,
and we'll follow you next year atn C State and I hope in four
years you can put off METS schooland uh, we'll see you in the
Olympics in four years. But whateveryou do, I'm sure you're going to
be a success. Man. Iappreciate you, yes, sir, thank

(14:07):
you so much. There you go. That is a Stephen Conrad, a
great swimmer from here in Mobile nowat North Carolina State and uh great,
great thrill getting to see him competeat the US Olympic Trials up in Indianapolis.
This is Sports Talk ninety nine five.