Dean Mason Stepped Quotations

We had it scored out quite a bit closer. We thought the girls would be a real tight meet. We stepped up.

With the girls, we though we had an outside shot of winning. The girls swam extremely well at Friday's trials and during Saturday's finals. South stepped up.

We were really trying hard for third in the medley relay. But right away, we came back and won a spot in the 200 free. And then we stepped up in the IM and the 50. We were definitely ahead of where we had planned to be after the 50. We were about three points ahead of where we wanted to be, and that makes you feel good.

It was a very big switch for us. By her winning it, Julia and Stephanie Greenfield having a great swim there in the IM, I felt like we could still take 2-3-4 in the 500. A girl like Shannon Kemp, our third swimmer in the 200 and 500, she's really stepped up and she did it again today. She took a fourth in the 5, and a fifth in the 200. That is very helpful to us.

I'm very happy with the way a lot of the younger kids have stepped up to this point. Nick Carey, Brendan O'Brien, Ryan Shields, Ryan Schmid, Rob Mills ? quite a lot of kids who were waiting in the wings have gotten stronger. We're asking them for a lot more swims this year. So far, they've responded. We know a lot of our tougher meets are ahead of us.