Courtesy of Connecticut College Office of Communications
Camel of the Edition is a continuous series which seeks to highlight extraordinary Connecticut College athletes who have stood out for their recent performances.
Justin Finkel ‘25 was recently named Division III Swimmer of the Year by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) following a stellar season where the swimmer won individual national titles in the 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly, breaking school and NESCAC records in the first race and the national record in the latter. The swimmer from Cheshire, Conn. became the first Conn swimmer to win multiple national titles and the first to hold a national record. Finkel also earned All-American honors with a fourth place finish in the 200 freestyle and was named NESCAC Swimmer of the Year after becoming NESCAC Champion in the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and 200 butterfly events.
Recently, The College Voice caught up with Finkel to learn about how many hours of his week he spends swimming, how he managed the complicated nationals schedule where he swam multiple races each day, and his mindset heading into next season.
Could you please introduce yourself? (pronouns, majors/minors, any clubs/organizations, other involvements on campus)
I’m Justin Finkel, pronouns He/Him, I’m a Biological Sciences major, possible Hispanic Studies minor in the works, and I’m following the Public Health pathway right now. Hopefully, I’m going to med school after I graduate [from Conn]. Other than Swimming and Diving, I hold a board position at Zachs Hillel House, I’m the Shabbat Coordinator [and] I’ve been on the board for like two years now. I’m also in various clubs like OneLove and SAAC, but not as involved in those clubs.
Talk me through your journey in sports?
I’ve been doing sports my whole life but swimming in particular began when I was around 8 years old. That’s when I joined my first competitive swim team, and I wasn’t as committed to it then as I was now. I mean it sort of built up, I sort of stuck with it. I did various sports as I was on the swim team but once I hit probably like middle school, I only did swimming up until and throughout high school. I just did really like swimming, I’m a really competitive person and that’s where I can truly use that competitiveness so that’s pretty much it. I was on my high school swim team, I was on a club team which I was on for like eight or nine years, that was Cheshire Y/Sea Dogs which yeah, great club. I was on that team, then I was on my high school team, then I came here.
When and why did you decide to focus on swimming?
I mean, there’s always a little bit of the parent aspect, I think my parents really liked swimming because they saw that I liked it the most out of all the other sports I played, and they probably knew what was best for me at that time but yeah they really pushed swimming and then I began liking it myself a lot, and like I said, I could use my competitiveness there, and it was just a really good fit. I had friends that I made on the line and who I’m still really good friends with now, and it was a grind but it was great. I never disliked it.
What was your recruitment process and how did you end up choosing Conn?
So it was a little weird because of COVID, I didn’t really have a true recruiting trip, I didn’t really do much for recruiting, I think it was a couple emails and a couple Zoom calls with Coach [Marc Benvenuti]. Once I was truly considering this school, I only live about an hour away, I was able to come here and drive around campus when everything [else] was shut down. I really liked the campus, from everything I read online I liked the school. I had this biology program I wanted to do. That’s pretty much it, I wish there was more for recruiting, but I am lucky I ended up liking the school. It was kind of funny because I think actually, coach reached out to me first, and we maintained contact then we lost contact and then I was at a crossroads because I couldn’t find any other school that I wanted to swim at which is ironic now, but then we regained contact and it sort of went smoothly from there.
How do you prepare yourself for races? Do you have any pre-race rituals?
I’d say the pre-race ritual varies, depending on what race it is. I think for shorter distances, like sprints, I sort of dial in a lot more than I would for long distances. But I like to just move my body, keep my legs and arms moving, keep the blood flowing before, take a couple deep breaths, [and] maybe listen to music. I try to visualize my races the best that I can.
What did you do during the offseason to improve and prepare for this season?
I did not do as much this offseason. I had an internship and a couple other jobs and I was all over the place so I didn’t really have as much time to do what I probably should have and kind of wanted to do [in the] offseason. Like I wanted to hit the gym more, get stronger because there’s only so much I can do in the pool now [and] get in the pool more. I didn’t do as much in the offseason as I would have hoped, which I mean, I guess it didn’t really matter, but I definitely want to come into next season being in better shape I think.
How much time do you spend on average swimming each day?
It varies. But, a lot. Typically our practice schedule is we swim Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, [and] Sundays are off. On Monday we do two hours, [from] 6 to 8 in the morning, then two hours [from] 4 to 6 in the afternoon, we do the same on Tuesday, and the same on Thursday and Friday. So we have four doubles a week, and I think it all equates to like 20 hours a week where we’re in the pool, which is a lot. Definitely hard to balance in school during that, but it pays off. We work really hard, and all that is conditioning, and you’re never sitting around doing nothing with your hours so it’s a lot of hard work.
Swimming is a very physically demanding sport and swimmers can be susceptible to burnout. Knowing this, how do you stay committed to working hard to excel at your sport?
I think in college there’s not really much wiggle room, like areas to take your swimming past college I guess, so to speak. I guess that’s preventing the burnout [from swimming] since I never really experienced burnout for swimming [before]. I think I’m coming to terms with how I won’t be doing it for the rest of my life. Like, I never really expected to be doing swimming as a career for the rest of my life. I’m glad about how far I’ve come, but I never really expected to take it anywhere past college, so I think it’s more of a fun thing as hard as it is, as much as we do work, as much as I am sacrificing, it’s still a fun thing. It’s something that I’m going to miss, definitely, but it’s not something that I’m feeling burned out by. That could be attributed to all the successes I’m having, and luckily I’m accomplishing all my goals, but I feel like maybe if I was in a different boat where I wasn’t achieving any of my goals and I was sort of missing where I wanted to fall, I think that definitely would have contributed to [feeling] a little bit more burnout.
Do you sort of plan out your swim season schedule so you can peak or race better at certain times in the season?
Yeah. So what we do is something called taper, so you go hard all season, you train as hard as you do, and we probably do that during [the] start of the season [in] late October, early November and until the end of January. Then we take a two to three week period where we start slowly easing off the yardage, so say we’ll do like 6,000 yards [of swimming] in a day, and then at the end of that week we’ll be down to like 4,000, the end of the next week we’ll be down to 2,000, and then it slowly gets lower and lower until we’re basically doing nothing right before the championship meet. I do that for both [Championship meets], I taper down for NESCAC Championships, and then I do the same, I build back up and come back down before the NCAA Tournament as well.
You recently defended all three of your NESCAC titles from the previous year in the 500 free, 200 free, and 200 fly, breaking meet records in two of the three events. What was the experience of having to defend your titles like?
It was great. I was a little nervous because there were some newbies, some first-years who were from other [NESCAC] schools who were putting up really fast times, and I was a little worried. Obviously, I like to win so obviously I wanted to defend those titles, so I think being a little worried definitely helped me out. It made me go a little bit faster, and overall just winning made me feel great, and winning for my team too was a great feeling, so seeing the guys all excited, it was a good feeling.
You were named NESCAC Swimmer of the Year both last season and this season. What was this experience like and were you expecting to win it both years?
I wasn’t expecting to win it either year. I knew I had a good shot at it, just because I won all three of my events, and I don’t think any other swimmer at the meet did that so I guess I sort of knew in the back of my head that I was contending for it, but I didn’t really know how it worked. I started this year with the expectation that maybe it was a one-time thing, but I’m really glad. It’s a pretty cool title.
How did you manage the complicated nationals schedule in which you had to swim both prelims and finals on the same day?
It was a challenge, it didn’t really leave me much time for other things. Luckily we had spring break, so I didn’t have to do work or anything in between. But it’s a challenge; you sometimes nap in between, so you have like three to four hours in between sessions. [I] went back to the hotel room, napped, ate some food, and just rested up for finals. Also, I was alone so there was a mental aspect there, a little bit of mental training. I guess visualizing my race, trying to picture what went wrong or what went well in the morning, and trying to emphasize and fix those parts. That’s about it, there’s not much else, I think rest and eating are the most important parts in between. But yeah, that’s about it.
How do you feel having the top times in the nation and does this affect the way you approach next season?
Right now I think I have the fastest time in DIII, which is pretty cool but it’s gonna pose challenges for “where do I go from here”, like what goals to set for next season and then how to properly execute it, because I think the reason why I went that time is just because I had somebody to race. I don’t think I’m gonna [swim] that time [again] unless I have somebody to race against, and that person that I [raced to swim that time] is graduating, so I’ll definitely have to work on myself. Pick a similar training schedule, I’m not gonna change anything because it’s gone so well, so I’m going to stick to that training schedule. Whatever coach has in mind for me, he said he has some tricks up his sleeve so he’s gonna help me out with that, and I guess just setting new goals to answer that question, and then bringing that to next year.
Having appeared and finished as an All-NESCAC and All-American swimmer at the NCAA Championships in each of your seasons so far as a Camel, how do you continue to stay motivated?
Well it’s definitely a little bit tough, the motivation comes from my team, it comes from myself. I think mentally, I think the competitive spirit drives my motivation. Sometimes it’s hard to get myself out of bed at like 6 AM, but it is really nice having the team and that we’re all in the same boat and you know that. I worked really hard for my goals, and it’s like those things were pushing me, and I’ve just done swimming so long that I’m glad to see a payoff. I mean I guess just pushing myself and trying to get those goals is what motivated me. It’s kind of hard to say, I mean my coaches, obviously my parents, and friends, everyone just motivated me. No easy answer to that question.
You’ve accomplished nearly everything as a swimmer at Connecticut College, is there anything you haven’t accomplished which you would like to accomplish before you graduate?
I mean right now in regards to swimming accolades, I don’t think so. But, I’m going to be a senior on the team and I’d like to test my leadership [next year]. We’re going to have a lot bigger of a team as most of our team’s gonna be underclassmen next year, and I think going from being super competitive, trying to [get] goals that I achieved this year and just going for the time, going for myself, I’m going to take myself out of those shoes and put me into a new pair where I’m a leader or role model for the team, kind of guiding the younger kids, and also just enjoying the sport. It’s going to be my last year, if I’m constantly [going] for these [accolades] I’m going to look past the enjoyment of the sport, so I really wanna enjoy my last year where I’m officially on a team, and I think that’s something that a lot of people take for granted no matter what sport you’re on, like this is your last year, keep playing the sport before you’re in the real world. You gotta appreciate it while you’re here, so I think that’s something I’m gonna be working on for next year.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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