Today: Mar 29, 2024

Louis Geist sets great example for men’s swimming team

Philip Zoppi – General Assignment Reporter

Louis Geist’s name is scattered all around Southern’s record books for men’s swimming. It’s not just what Geist does in the pool that makes the team better, however.

Tim Quill, the head coach for both men’s and women’s swimming teams at Southern, thinks Geist sets a great example for his team.

“Lou is not afraid to give during practice. I think that’s where he has the ultimate respect level from his peers,” said Quill. “They know that any set or workout that is thrown in front of them that Lou is probably going to be doing it right. He’s the kind of the guy that they need to chase and follow.”

Geist
Geist gives a lot of his credit as a good swimmer to head coach, Tim Quill.

As a senior, Geist feels like he needs to be a leader. He stressed that he tries to lead by example to show younger swimmers the right way.

“After being in this program for the three years now, it’s easy to take the freshman under your wing and show them how everything goes,” said Geist. “It’s easy to show them your hard work ethic in practice and show them what goes into doing well at meets and championships.”

Geist’s hard work and dedication to practice has provided him with performances in meets and championships that stack up to some of the all time great swimmers at Southern.

One of the events that Geist performs well in is the 1650 freestyle. He ranks second all time at Southern in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:59, which is just three seconds behind the best score in Southern history held by Matt Sorena.

To go along with Geist’s impressive time in the 1650 freestyle, he also ranks in the top five all time for Southern in the 400 individual medley and the 500 freestyle.

To be listed next to all of these great swimmers that went to Southern is very humbling for Geist.

“It’s a great honor to be listed with those names,” he said. “Southern has a very historic program and it’s just cool to see your name up there with them.”

Quill has coached Geist throughout his entire career at Southern and couldn’t be more impressed with the amount of events that he is able to swim effectively.

“Lou is one of our more versatile athletes on the team. He can swim pretty much anything.”

That’s a good quality to have as a swimmer because there are so many different events at meets. Geist credits a lot of his success at Southern to Quill and really respects him as a coach.

“Coach Quill is definitely one of the best coaches that I’ve ever had,” said Geist. “I think one thing that he does really well is he’s very discipline and doesn’t let you take time off. He’s a really great motivator and always strives to get the absolute best out of you.”

In a losing effort against The College of New Jersey this past week, Geist and teammates Brendan Murphy and Shane Maypother took first place in the 400 yard freestyle with a time of 3:23. So Geist is picking up right where he left off last year.

Geist wasn’t happy that they lost, but he thought in the 400 yard freestyle that the relay team swam really well and that’s something they can build off of.

“At that point in the meet we were just looking to get one win in there. I think everyone on the relay team swam great and that it was a good team performance to at least get one win in there.”

Photo Credit: SCSU Athletic Communications 

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