Olympic Strength and Conditioning Coach Works with Owl Swimmers

KEENE, N.H. 1/24/11 - You never know who’s going to walk through the door at Spaulding Gymnasium. Trading one cold and snowy climate for another, Lori Briggs, the strength and conditioning coach and dry-land specialist at the Olympic Training Center for the USA swim team in Colorado Springs, was at Keene State College last week.

In town to work with Keene native Eva Fabian, a member of the USA National swim team, Briggs also took the time to work with a few Keene State swimmers, including juniors Jillian Whitaker (Gilford, N.H.) and Meghan Wilson (Torrington, Conn.) and freshmen Sheila Cremin (Andover, Mass.) and Drew Ledwith (Keene, N.H.).

“I feel like we’re getting better, because people are paying attention to us,” said Ledwith. “She came all the way from Colorado to help us with our dry land training.”

Working with each swimmer, Briggs, who has been with the Olympic Training Center for three years, put together a dry-land training program of exercises to piggyback with what each swimmer does in the water. “Without the dry land work, they’re going to find that their body alignment, posture, line, and balance in the water isn’t going to be as strong as it could be,” said Briggs. “So it has an important place in their training.”

The KSC swimmers appreciated the training tips. “It’s a great experience. You don’t realize how much goes into swimming,” said Whitaker. “It’s important to learn to jump well and have strong legs, so you can go off the blocks quicker and push off on a flip turn.” Briggs said the Owl athletes were receptive to her ideas. “They’re doing great,” she said “This is my first chance to spend some time with them and they’re making great progress.”

Keene State Coach Jack Fabian gives his swimmers high grades for their extra work. “I love it because the swimmers want to do extra work on their own,” he said. “It just shows their level of motivation. They’re excited about trying to be the best that they can be.”

“It’s a team effort,” said Briggs. “If we can work together, we’ll see times that are better and better. And that’s the name of the game.”