Anna Schottler of St. Bens

0:00Hello, everybody. Welcome again to another episode of the Minnesota swim and broadcast. I am your host, Mark Sieglin, and I have a very special guest today. I have Anna Schotler and a welcome. Hi. Hi. Tell everyone just a little bit about your swimming history. They may not be super familiar with you, but let her rip. Yeah. So for high school, I swam for Chan Hassan High School. And then my club team was aquijets. And then now I'm at the College of St. Benedict's. Excellent. So freshman year, college St. Benz, what led you to swim at St. Benz? How to choose that as your school, as your program, as your home for the next four years? Yeah, I get this question a lot. So yeah. No, it's a good question. Yeah. And honestly, it's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly when I decided that I wanted to go here, like, what specific reason.

1:00But I was kind of driving up to campus for my recruitment trip, my overnight visit. And I was like seeing all these people outside. It was a very nice summer day. I'm like, many of the days we have right now, but it was just like so peaceful. And I was like, OK, I'm really liking this place. And then my recruitment, like overnight visit, really seldom. Everyone on the team was super welcoming and just super sweet. And Mandy is an awesome coach. And from what I heard about her, I knew my season as a freshman was going to be great with her. So that kind of solidified my wanting to go to St. Benz. Yeah, let's dub tail and do your first season here. So I knew you as ice go in the club swimmer. And I saw you as you could swim D1 at some places, certainly D2, D3. What was your first season like at a D3 program? How have your time? Have your times changed? Have you approved? How is your life swing ballots?

2:00What's what's your first year that didn't like? Yeah, so I would say my first year was pretty good. Before my mid season meet, I kind of had a rocky moment where I was out for almost a month with an injury. And I wasn't really competing. I didn't compete at a lot of means. And I didn't really practice right before our mid season meet. So I was really stressed about that because I was like, there goes the rest of my season. Like I was really looking forward. I was kind of hoping that I would have like a really good standout season as a first year because all of my meets leading up to this injury. I was doing like pretty good. I was where where I wanted to be. And so that was really unfortunate. So yeah, I would definitely say a big change from everything. I've never had like an injury before in past where I've had to sit out of practice and watch everyone else practice, which was really. It's boring. Yeah. As a coach, I can tell you it's boring. Yeah. But one of the other girls on the team, she was kind of going through something as well.

3:03So we like stuck together a lot during that time. And it was really nice to have someone to lean against. It was really nice to know that someone else was going through the kind of the same thing. And that we were both going to be able to get back into it. And so then I went to my mid season meet, not really expecting that much, having not really swam and everyone else is tapered. So I was just kind of like, we'll just see where it goes. And I actually had a pretty decent me for I would say being out a month. I was like half a second off my best times a couple of my best times. So I was really excited about that. And I got to spend on some of the real lives that we set like previous school records before we broke them again at my ex. But it was pretty good. So yeah, I would say that's kind of like the start of my season. And then like the transition from college to high school. I've always been a pretty well organized person. So it wasn't that difficult. Me and Mandy were kind of talking about this too, because I mentioned that I was going to be on this broadcast. And she was like, you're not exactly like the most.

4:07I don't know. I'm pretty like, I don't really like have issues where I can't like solve them. I'm pretty like driven person. So if I am having problems, I'm going to fix it that day. So yeah, very type A. The type A swimming mind. Yes, we are many. Yeah. So my schedule was always booked from dawn till dusk. And I knew exactly what I was going to do that day. So I didn't have like pretty much any problems with like figuring out my schedule and my life work and swim balance. Yeah. So yeah, I would say I did a pretty good job with that school in the morning, swim in the afternoon, friends in the evening in homework. So perfect. That's a good life right there. Yeah. That's why I would still be in college if they'd let me stay. Because I could deal with that, right? Like I get out, I do some school, I go swim, hang out with friends, go to bed, repeat. It's a good game. It's a lot of work, but it's a good gig. Yeah. Let's fast forward to my acts.

5:07How did it all turn out for you as far as your performances? Was the entry a factor? Did it set you back in your first year? Was like, maybe I want to do over or did you find some success? I would definitely say I found some success. I, again, was really worried going in because I was like, I had like less meets than everyone, less trading by like a good month than everyone else. Yeah. But I like talk to Mandy about it and she was like, you don't need to worry. You don't need to stress about this. It's going to be fine. And during taper, like something about me as a swimmer is whenever we're doing like broken's or like timed for like a certain time, I'm never going that time. I'm always like, good five, 10 seconds away from the times that I should be back. Why does it sprinter right there? Classic sprinter. So I was just sitting there like chewing my nails. I'm like, gosh, I'm doing horrible. Like I'm going to be horrible at my ex. I'm going to swim terribly and they're putting me on these relays. And I'm going to let everyone down.

6:08And so yeah, pretty typical sprinter where I'm getting in my head before every single race. Just worried about how it's going to go. So yeah, that was kind of like my taper time. And towards the end, I was just like, you know what? It's going to come together with me. And I don't need to stress about something that I can't really control. I put in the training. And like I know like all the training that I've done that Mandy and Michaela are assistant coach have wrote for us is going to come in and I'm going to be just fine. So I get to my ex and the first day is Wednesday and we have the medley really in the eight free relay. I'm on the medley relay and I'm up before the box before I'm about to dive in. We're doing really good right now. We have two or three other awesome swimmers. We have Haley doing fly Megan doing breaststroke and Mary doing backstroke and they're all awesome. It would not have happened without them how like we got our school record again by over a second from I think when we had it in the fall.

7:15And we won by like over a second. So that was really exciting. Yeah, so I think that really set the tone for how the meat was going to go and like having one swim to like just like start and see where I'm at is really helpful. It kind of made me feel a lot more confident going into the rest of the weekend. The rest of the swims that I did that weekend. I think the 53 was on Thursday. I swam that prelims finals dropping like maybe a 0.3 in between prelims and finals, which was really exciting. And then I ended up getting second was that your first ever 23 had you on 23 and 4th right. So break the 24 barrier 23 8 if I remember correctly. Yeah, so amazing swim. And then obviously after that you go into what's your third event? I am thinking 50 300 free. Too free actually.

8:16But that one every sprinter hates that event, by the way. Yeah, we didn't know if I was going to do the free or the two free or the 100 fly until I got there. So we're just going to see where everyone was at. And then man, he was like, so too free. And I was like, oh, I know. God, I hope paper gets me to do the last 100. Yeah, exactly. I was like, I just really don't like the two free. And definitely one of the most stressful events too. For sure. How did go though? Did you have a good swim? Oh, yeah, it was great actually. What'd you got? In prelims, I think I win a 158, which was a second drop from my best time. And then made it back in to be finals. I really wanted to get into a finals, but I missed it like by half a second. So happens. Yeah. Yeah. But I was like, all right, now I need to win a final or be finals. So then I dropped a couple more seconds off my like prelims time for 156. So I was pretty happy with that.

9:16You should be. You absolutely should be. And I think that's kind of pretty close to an alignment with what your 100 time is, right? So yeah, that's awesome. That's outstanding. And then he finished it up with 100 free, which I looked at as your best event when I watched you swim. I was like, well, tapered. I've saw plenty of great 75s during the season when he used to swim high school. And then the wheels kind of come off the last 25, but you know what, taper is going to fix that. Yeah. So how'd the 100 go for you? It was pretty good. I would say that 100 and me never usually like it's it's very much of a toss up. I've had a pretty interesting history with that one where I've been. I've been stuck at like 56s for like two years. And then maybe I'll drop like half a second to get a 55. And then I'll be stuck there for a long as time. Yeah. And then I finally got like a 54 like maybe a year or two ago. And so I was pretty happy with that. And I was like, all right, we just need to like go 54. I wasn't expecting that much.

10:16Obviously I want to do good. I'm someone who is always pushing to be better. I'm very driven. And I've never satisfied with what I get. But. And then so you never will be. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I remember everyone's like that that I met from something that always pushing to be better. Always wanting more. So the 100 free is definitely also up there for one of the most nerve-wracking events for me. A lot of expectations on it. And just based off of how like my the rest my meat or like my previous like swims had been going. Everyone is like, all right, Anna. Let's see something awesome. And I was like, don't expect too much demand. Yeah. Just hoping for whatever I had left. And obviously it's a fourth day of the me. I swam. It's old. Not old. It gets tiring. Yeah. I think it would be, I think it was about to be my eighth race. Yeah. So I was like, we'll just see how this goes. Prelims went really well. I got to get into fourth for finals. So I was very excited about that.

11:16And I think I dropped down to 53. First time ever going a 53 that day. Why stop there. Yeah. And I didn't. And so in finals, I dropped another like second maybe and I went a 52. First time ever going a 52. So broke 54 and 53 in the same day. So I was really happy about that. Yeah. And that's, that's awesome. And it's a great story. And I know the hundreds hard. And mentally, right? It's a tough race sometimes. You have that fear of going out too fast. You know, really look at it like it's just a 50 with a bonus 50. Yeah. Right. So in the first 50 like you want to win a 50 and then you just kind of find a way through the second 50. And I don't think I've ever seen anyone just stop reading and float. So you're going to be okay. You're going to be okay. No, I definitely learned that a little bit more this year. Yeah. And you'll continue to learn that because you get the experience. Let's talk about my access of me. I have been on record to say it's the fastest beat in the state of Minnesota.

12:18Hands down. And that's even if big tens are here. That's if whatever's here. It's a fun. What's your perspective of the my a college conference fee? How to describe it? Energy is always there. Prelims finals are the crowds brought the energy. Our teams bring the energy. Everyone is so happy and excited and hyped up for everyone to swim. No matter if you're going to make it back for finals or not. Everyone is there watching you cheering you on. So definitely like the main component of what everyone wants in us for me is energy. You always want people cheering you on. And it's so. Yeah. Very exciting. It's contagious. Yes. Definitely. I knew like every time I was going up to the block. So there would be people cheering me on wanting me to do my best rooting for me. And that was really awesome and really empowering. I would say. That's awesome. Yeah. It's just the meat. And it does get long. Yeah. First days just finals only.

13:18But four days of prelims finals. Down time in between together and how to manage that a little bit, right? Yeah. Some people go nap. Some people can't nap. Some people need to be busy. Some people just need to be chill. But the energy is up for the whole thing. And it's pretty. It's a pretty crazy. If people haven't gone down to watch my acts. Take the time to do it. It's what to me. Swimming is all about. And I wish every meat could be like that. I don't see a reason why I can't be to be honest with you. But whatever. Right. Let's talk about the coaching you've received. You've got Mandy, who's your head coach there. I have a ton of respect for Mandy. But how would you describe Mandy as a coach? What makes her. Mandy. Honestly, I see a lot of like my personality, which I feel like she might not agree. Reflected into her. But more of like. She the way that she's driven. She's ambitious. She's not going to just settle. She wants us as her athletes to do the best. So I feel like she's very good.

14:18At pushing us to strive for more than what we think we can achieve. So I think that is like her best quality as a coach. Absolutely. What they and this is this from an outsider's perspective. She seems very, very invested into everyone on the team as an individual. Like yes, I kind of feel like she's one of those people that. If you're in a room with 100 people, she still makes everyone feel like they're the most important person in the room. Oh, yes. Because she knows you guys, right? She's invested. You're not just a number or a time or a potential realize from her. She knows Anna. And that is different from whoever else is on the team. And she treats you all kind of a little different. I think that's a pretty cool thing. Yes, 100%. She knows all of her athletes very well. And probably knows them better than they even know themselves sometimes. Yeah. You guys are getting into the age where you could actually admit that when you're in high school, you think you know everything.

15:18Yeah. Now you're like, there's a lot out there. I probably don't really know. Yeah. I might not be quite there yet, but. No. Getting to that point. At least you're not a boy. It takes us like 40 years to figure it out. Right? Like you got a chance in the next five years to get some of that taken care of. We're screwed. We're screwed. What advice you have for kids out there starting to the college process and looking around and. Yeah. What's your advice from your experience on how to approach it? Don't count out any schools in like your the start of your search. Kind of open your doors to everyone. Be open to seeing everything. You never know what you might like until you actually look into it. That would be my biggest advice for just like even the general college search. You don't know what you're like. I always thought I would want a huge school. I didn't think I was really going to swim or wanting to like actually swim competitively.

16:19Maybe just join a club team. Sure. So it wasn't until I actually like my mom was like, are you sure you don't want to look here? Like, um, like I don't want to and she's like, Anna, you need to look more than just like what you thought you would like. Yeah. And look how it worked out. Yeah, worked out great. You're swimming great. You're happy. You're healthy. Um, and you're you're on the road to post college awesomeness. How about from a swimming perspective? What's been different in college swimming in high school, swimming your club swimming for you? It was been an aha that you're like, wow, this is really different. Um, the season's definitely pretty long. I will say like it is high school season time stubble. Yeah. So I mean, get all that works out great when you have an entry early on, by the way. When you were talking to that, I'm like, don't worry. It's a 24 week season. You got plenty of time. Yeah, you don't want that, but it's there.

17:19Yeah. If there was any time to get an injury, I would say it's in the fall. Yep. Good planning. All right. What else about college swimming is besides the length of it? Um, I would say like you take the best of high school. Like you get the really super close team because you spent so much time together. And, um, like the great training of club. And you put those together and that's college. At least that's my experience. No, that's awesome. I know a lot of people that would agree with that. One other thing about colleges, you have a bevy of events that you can swim. Oh, yes. As a sprinter, you typically have the approach of, there's the 50 free and everything else. What's the most horrific out of the everything else, Mandy put you in? Um, I'm going to be honest. I didn't have to swim anything other than the 50, 100, 200 free in the 100 fly. I don't think, uh, actually at the beginning of the season, we did a pentathlon. So we did the 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 free, 100 I am.

18:22And, um, that was pretty hard to start off with. That was like one of our first meets of the season. But, yeah, so I didn't really have to swim that many, uh, before I am. Yeah, I'm reaching out to Mandy after we get down here. And I'm like, let's, uh, broaden shot. There's horizons a little bit, huh? She looks like a grade four I am or for what I've seen. Oh. Um, I'm, I'm good. I'm going to have to pass on the law. And I think, uh, she didn't say that she wants, she didn't say that she wants me to try out. I am a little bit more like going into Rochester next year. So, yeah. I don't know. We'll see him. You have a lot of meets and you can play around. Not, um, not all of them are going behind the competitive one way or the other. Yeah. Um, and it's a chance to explore and, um, you know, I did my fair share of thousand backstrokes and dual meets and, uh, stuff like that. It's just kind of get to get some different stuff in. I know that scares the hell out of you as a 50 swimmer. Right? Yeah. I know you guys, um, do you get a lot of workgroup specific training in college that maybe you didn't get in high school?

19:28I know it's really hard to do workgroup in high school. Uh, yeah. No, definitely very like it can be. We have like, um, days where we're all together. We have days where we're a little bit more separate. We have days where we're doing like more like power resistance training. So yeah, there's definitely like a lot more like workgroup specific training. Like I know for me, um, I need, uh, surprisingly, I need some decent amount of yards to actually get me through. I know. So, um, yeah, there's definitely like, and Mandy takes this all on consideration. Like when I talk to her, like, I, on the end, I do know myself as a swimmer. Like someone better than she would have coming into the season. Yeah. And now I think she probably knows me better than I know myself. But, um, yeah, no, definitely a lot more specific. And you can tell her your goals and show like put you in the right practice group to reach those goals. Yeah. I just remember we did when we do work, the distance people would get slaughtered.

20:30And every now and then they're like, why don't you move up to it? I'd be like on the lane line hug and like, no, don't move me over there. I swear to God, I'm a sprinter. Yeah. No, we watched, we get done with practice like 10 minutes early. Yeah. We don't. No. And then you're complaining about how hard your 2,500 yard practice was. Yeah. Don't, don't do that. Don't do that. That's not how you make friends. At least stop with the distance people. Yeah. I try to have some respect to them knowing that I could never do what they do. So. Right. No, I get it. Maybe a mile, be in your future. I did it 500 months. Yeah. That's awesome. See it's easy. They count for you and everything. Yeah. It's pretty long. It's pretty boring. It's pretty boring. Well, it's very good catching up to you. I'm so glad you're having so much success. I thought you were a great swimmer in high school. And I, I know for my perspective, I saw potential for more. If that's what you chose to pursue at the next level and I'm glad that you're finding it.

21:32And I'm excited to continue to watch you. Somebody get St. Benz for a great program. A great college and a great experience for you. So thank you for joining me. Yeah. Of course. Thank you for having me. Always.