2008 Woodie Awards
Sports Close-up
Q&A: Bucs swimmer David Dolphay
Yasmeen Cobb, Staff WriterEach week, staff writer Yasmeen Cobb will put a Whitworth athlete on the hot seat. Below is an excerpt from this week's interview with swimmer David Dolphay.
COBB: Have you been swimming all four years at Whitworth?
DOLPHAY: Yes, I started freshman year.
COBB: What is your favorite event to swim?
DOLPHAY: Favorite would be the 200 freestyle.
COBB: How many laps would you say you swim per day?
DOLPHAY: An average practice is about five miles per day. Each mile is roughly sixty laps. So 300 to 400 laps a day each practice twice a day. Double that and it’s 600 to 800 laps per day.
COBB: How does your swimming relate to your lifestyle?
DOLPHAY: I like to think of myself as a dedicated person. If I start something, I like to finish it all the way and I definitely swim like that. I started swimming a long time ago and that’s my mentality in the pool. Outside of the pool, I like to finish things and make sure they get done the right way.
COBB: When was your most inspirational moment?
DOLPHAY: Probably my senior year of high school, at the high school state meet. I was watching the girls teams, and there were three teams I think within eight points of each other going the last few laps, and one of them was our team and it was, like, in a tiny pool and we were all just kind of packed in there and the last 15 minutes before the relay there was a little break, and everybody just started doing cheers and chanting, and by the end the whole place was screaming at the top of their lungs before the relay. It was really amazing to see at this high school meet the energy was there.
COBB: Do you have a role model?
DOLPHAY: My coach, Kevin Wong. He’s the distance coach and, yeah, he has been my coach for all four years now. He’s just done a really good job coaching me in the pool and being a mentor and a friend outside the pool. He does a really good job connecting with all the swimmers that he coaches.
COBB: If you could be someone famous, who would that be?
DOLPHAY: Oh! I’ve always admired Tom Hanks. I really like his movies. He’s got a normal, stable family life. He stays out of the tabloids and seems like an all-around good kind of guy.
DOLPHAY: Probably not like in a competitive swimming capacity. I do want to continue coaching. I’ve coached the summer league for the past 3 years and I’m doing it definitely again next summer and that’s something I would like to continue doing.
COBB: Does anyone in your family swim besides you?
DOLPHAY: Neither of my parents do. My younger sister swam for three or four years. She was actually better than I was comparatively when she swam. She actually busted her shoulder. She manages a high school team and stays connected there. I’m really the only one that I know in my family that swims.
COBB: Who do you always look forward to competing against?
DOLPHAY: For the past three years I really look forward to the Linfield (College) meet. They have four really quality swimmers that are good guys to swim against. Just the conference meets in general because you’ll have a lot of friends you get to race against.
COBB: You know people from Linfield?
DOLPHAY: Oh yeah. Swimming is kind of an interesting sport, and I don’t know if it’s like this in all sports, but it’s the mentality like, OK, we’re going to race each other, and each of us is going to try and win, but at the end of the race, you’re going to go over to each other and shake each others’ hand. Across the board in all of my swimming experiences, all the way from club teams to nationals, there’s competition and there’s rivalries, but when the race is over it’s over, and you shake the guy’s hand and so you get to know guys from other teams. I guess you wouldn’t call them best friends but you say hi to them and see how they’re doing.
COBB: How do you feel you guys will do against L&C and Willamette this weekend?
DOLPHAY: We should do fine. Our men’s and women’s team are both very strong this year. Lewis and Clark and Willamette are a little bit smaller. I think there are nine guys on LC and maybe six on Willamette.
COBB: Is getting to wear speedos your favorite part of swimming?
DOLPHAY: No, actually that’s not my favorite part. After a while you don’t mind it. It’s just uniform. I’m sure at first it’s kind of weird especially for people swimming for their first time. For us it’s just what you wear.
COBB: Do you ever bump into anyone in the lane beside you?
DOLPHAY: Not a lot during a race. Occasionally the lane dividers that they have are usually pretty thick. If you run into them you get kind of scratched up and it kills your momentum. I try and stay away from them. So it doesn’t really happen.
COBB: Who would win a race: you or Michael Phelps?
DOLPHAY: Michael would definitely dominate me in anything we swam. Swimming is one of those sports where’s there’s always someone better than you. You can be a great Division III athlete and win nationals and move up to Division I and you would probably make the travel squad and after division one there’s a whole other range of Olympians and all the way up. Yeah, Michael Phelps would definitely out class me in anything in the pool.
COBB: You guys have won over 50 meets in-conference. Do you think Whitworth will ever lose again?
DOLPHAY: It has to happen. I mean I don’t think any type of dynasty will last forever and our conferences have gotten a lot stronger. Especially this year and in the past year it’s been Whitworth and UPS and then maybe one other school. This year I know for the guys there are other strong schools and may come and beat us.
COBB: What do you think keeps your team strong?
DOLPHAY: We are a very tight nit group. We spend a lot of time together in and out of the pool. Success breeds success. So if you’re a recruit looking to swim in the northwest conference you look for the most successful program. The program keeps getting more successful and more people want to come there. That’s the biggest reason, good recruiting we get solid guys every year that can score points or go to nationals and that’s what keeps the program strong.
DOLPHAY: It’s kind of weird. After a while it doesn’t happen as much. I guess your body just gets used to the water so you don’t really prune up. But if you’re out of the water for a long time and you hop back in for practice, then yea I guess you do notice it. But it is kind of weird that first time. I don’t know what causes it but yea your body gets use to it and it is not something I enjoy.
Contact Yasmeen Cobb at yasmeen.cobb@whitworthian.com.
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