Dec. 17, 2002

Columbia, S.C. –
CHRIS MCCRARY

USCSports.com: What gets you psyched to swim?

CM: Competition gets me really excited to swim, just knowing that I am up against fast swimmers. The better the competition, the more psyched I can get myself. I love challenges, I love stepping up, I love racing guys, especially when they are considered better than me. Swimming in practice is great, but I love swimming in meets. I love getting on the blocks with the other guys and matching up. Looking at the water; it’s just a great feeling.

USCSports.com: How do you keep from getting bored swimming so much?

CM: It’s an effort to try to get up every morning and come in for practice, for weights. I am not much of a morning person, so that’s where I really struggle. I actually love training, especially at the college level. We have so many meets that it’s hard to get down on training because it really keeps us fresh and ready.

USCSports.com: What are three words that describe you as a person?

CM: Those are the kinds of questions that people ask you, that you know they are going to ask and you should have an answer for, but you never really think about it. Maybe I should start writing them down.

USCSports.com: That’s all right. We can go on. Other than swimming, what’s your favorite sport to watch at USC?

CM: I would have to say football. Definitely football.

USCSports.com: I think we have all seen you guys at the football games out in your suits. How did all the craziness get started?

CM: I don’t know when all that got started, but for us, my freshman year, we got paraded to the first football game in our Speedos and drag suits. We got all painted up and had a big thing. It’s kind of our form of initiation. Its something we do to freshman just to welcome them to the team. The guys have to get their hair cut in these weird do’s. We butcher their hair. It looks like a weed-wacker got taken to them. We get the body paint and they do it themselves. When we did it, it was so much fun that now all the freshman get to do it.

USCSports.com: Besides swimming what do you do in your spare time?

CM: School, but other than that we don’t have a lot of spare time. I like to sleep when I get the chance, I like to write and I like to draw. I can draw something or someone and
you will be able to guess what it is. I am not going to make a fortune doing it. Its just a hobby.

USCSports.com: When you sleep do you dream about swimming?

CM: Usually I am so tired that I don’t dream about anything. It seems like I close my eyes and the alarm goes off and I go to the next morning’s practice. I am not a morning person, so it’s tough.

USCSports.com: What was your biggest motivator as a child?

CM: I have always had an internal drive towards competition. It’s a quirk in my personality. I love to compete. My older brother swam. He’s 13 years older than me and swam for Arkansas. As I started getting older and getting more decent, he became kind of my focus. I wanted to swim and be as good as he was. I looked up to him a lot.

USCSports.com: What’s your favorite thing about swimming at Carolina?

CM: I love swimming here. Great people, great facility. I love the team and all of my teammates. That’s probably the number one thing. If you have a bunch of teammates that you love being with and love training with, it makes everything so much easier and more fun. This is like my extended family.

USCSports.com: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

CM: I would want to fly. That would be cool because you wouldn’t have to wait in lines at the airport. Its not a big problem for me, but I live in St. Louis. Its so far away that, if I could fly, I would be able to just jump in the air and fly there whenever I wanted to.

USCSports.com: What celebrity would you most like to go out on a date with?

CM: My girlfriend wouldn’t like that question very much. Until recently it has been J-Lo, but she has been married so many times now, that that’s out of the picture.

USCSports.com: When you swim long distances, what do you think about? Is it swimming or does your mind wander?

CM: You pick a song that you really like and just keep repeating it over and over again.

USCSports.com: Do you talk to yourself when you are swimming?

CM: There are times that I have been known to talk under water. Nobody can hear you or make it out, but there are times that you just have to get stuff out. The most I talk to myself is in the warm-down pool. If I am really upset with my swimming I have to talk to myself to get myself re-motivated.

USCSports.com: Do you have any message for your family back home?

CM: Just that I love my Mom and Dad. Thanks a lot. They have given me great support. I love my brother. He’s my coach. I want to say “Hi ” to all of them.