STATESBORO, Ga. -- Entering his 10th year with the Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving team, Head Coach Nate Kellogg has established quite the legacy. Appointed as the interim coach in the fall of 2004, Kellogg quickly proved to be more than capable of leading a program. The Eagles have re-written the school record books during his tenure, breaking a whopping 57 marks in nine seasons.
When Kellogg took the helm, the oldest records in the book came from 1992 and were 13 years old. Every single active record on the board has been broken since, and currently the oldest record stems from 2009.
THE FIRST NINE
Back in 2004, Kellogg realized that it might take some time to create the program that matched his vision. Little did he know that in his year as interim coach, five records would fall.
"There was no focus to break records at all that year. I was just hanging on for dear life at that point," said Kellogg. "Some of the women on that team we're very, very talented. They kind of adapted to me and ran with it."
The 200 Medley Relay team, Allison Cochran, Kimberly Morris and Leslie Williams all added their names in the record books that year and became, in more ways than one, part of a transition that brought the program to where it is now. Cochran's 2005 100 and 200 Breast records would not get rewritten until 2012.
"Going back to the very beginning, Kimberly Morris was one of those swimmers that certainly challenged me, not in a negative way, and would always question me why are we doing this and made me rethink things and ask myself why we were doing things," said Kellogg.
Morris set three school-best 200 (2005) and 400 (2005, 2006) IM times that lasted until 2009.
In 2007 the Eagles received GSU-best marks from Heather Jones in the 1650 free as well as the 200 Free Relay team.
THE NEXT 30
According to Kellogg, a lot of the team's recent success has to do with having the right student-athletes on board, and he knew after his first year that he had to make a big recruiting effort.
"Back in 2004, the team looked very different from what it looks like now. We had about 15 swimmers, and we're about double that now," Kellogg said. "About half of those were not here for the right reasons. Whether it was mine or their decision, along the way we decided to part ways."
"It became the focus of our recruiting effort to get the right people here. That was really the bottom line when it comes to recruiting. No matter how talented someone is or what their potential is, it has to be the right kind of person that we want to be around."
The first big pay-off of the staff's recruiting push came in 2007, when a six-person class that included Caroline Bevillard, Ali Campbell, Lindsey Goodman and Kristen Haudenchild started their assault on the record books. In that same year, the program made the switch from the North East Conference to the much more competitive Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA).
"The 2007 class that existed of six swimmers broke four records. That was a really good class," Kellogg said. "They brought a different standard of competitiveness to the program, and I think we also really understood that it was a much faster and deeper conference than what we had been in."
In 2009, Bevillard broke a 15-year-old 200 Free record, set by Nicole Goodwin, while Haudenschild broke Lauren Bird's 6-year-old 100 Fly record. Neither record had a chance to stand for the same amount of time as both Bevillard's and Haudenschild's marks were recently improved upon at the 2013 CCSA Championships.
Now an assistant coach, Campbell holds the oldest active record in the books with a 1000 Free mark she set in 2009 and broke a total of four distance freestyle records in her years at Georgia Southern. A Backstroke specialist, Goodman set new school-best 100 and 200 Back times in 2009, repeated the feat in 2011 and still owns both records today.
An attentive reader may realize that the 2008-2009 season lines up with the year of the full-body polyurethane and neoprene swimsuits, but according to Kellogg, that was only part of the reason for the immense success of that year. Of the 17 records broken in 2009, only one still stands - Campbell's 1000 Free.
"The nice thing is that all those records have since been broken so that tells me it wasn't just the suit but mostly the level of talent that we had," Kellogg said.
Only two other former Eagles still have their names written in the books. Courtney Martz (2006-2010) still owns the 50 Free, set in 2010, while Lauren Parr (2008-2010) still holds both the 200 and 400 IM records, also set in 2010. Both swimmers claimed new school-best marks in 2009 but immediately bettered those in 2010, proving that the program's talent was on the rise.
"Courtney Martz was one of those special swimmers that had talent come out of her ears," Kellogg said. "Lauren Parr came in as a transfer from Akron and lit it up both years she was here."
From 2007 until 2011, the Eagles set 19 individual and 11 relay records, six of which are still on the board at the Recreation Activity Center.
THE MOST RECENT 18
After averaging five and a half school records in the first seven years of Kellogg's mentorship, the Eagles set no less than nine school-best marks in each of the last two years. Rising junior and 1650 Free record holder Amber Juncker finds certain approaches most helpful for her personal success and that of her teammates.
"Nate cares about more than just swimming, more than just the sport. He'll ask us how our day is, what's going on with school, tries to see if something is bothering us," she said. "It makes us more of a family and makes us care more for one another more about things outside the pool than things inside the pool."
This approach seemed to have worked for seven more swimmers and divers as they have all swum times good enough to be part of Georgia Southern history.
Rising juniors Elaina Lanson (100 Free), Kristen Bates (100 Breast) and Courtney Harrison (200 Breast) all set a new school best times in 2012. Rising senior diver Sara Meisenhelder also added her name in the books when she broke Mindy Hall's 15-year old one-meter dive record and Leslie Williams' nine-year old three-meter mark. In 2013, Meisenhelder broke her own one-meter dive record once again and improved it by nearly 20 points.
At the 2013 CCSA Championships, the Eagles took down eight more records, including four relay times. Rising sophomore Kylee Parsons shattered both the 200 and 500 Free records while rising junior Sarah Schwartz and senior Lindsay Mullican made history in the 100 and 200 Fly.
According to Juncker, breaking records is never part of the plan and goals they set with Kellogg twice a year but more a product of great circumstances.
"I think our main focus would be just performing the best we can as a team and then records are just going to come," Juncker said. "We train hard every day, and that's a reward we get because of it. Nate does not add pressure to get records."
THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Averaging six records a year is starting to seem like a piece of cake for Kellogg and his swimmers and divers, and along the way Kellogg found out that there are certain key ingredients to that recipe.
Recruiting
"It starts with recruiting. We want to bring in someone that certainly has not tapped into all of their potential yet and whose vision lines up with ours," said Kellogg.
Creating a team dynamic
"We feel like putting them in more of a team dynamic really helps. Breaking the record is just kind of the result of focusing on the team, racing for the team and competing for the team," Kellogg added.
Patience
"We're patient in their development but demanding in their work ethic. We don't expect people to come in their freshman year and completely set every single record. We understand that maybe getting them to think that they're able to achieve certain things will take a year or two," Kellogg concluded.
With Kellogg continuing to use the recipe, the Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving future is bright as all but one of the current record holders still have at least one year of eligibility left, but Kellogg knows that there is a lot more work left to be done in all aspects of the program.
"I knew this university and this team had a whole lot of potential," he said. "A lot has changed since then but there's still a whole lot of potential there. We're starting to turn a corner in that where our expectations and the expectations of our swimmers and divers exactly line up. Maybe in another nine years we'll be there. It's always a slow process. I don't know why it is, but it's just something that takes time."
Good thing patience is part of Kellogg's vision for success.
