We caught up with Frank Busch, coach of the UA men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, after the celebration at McKale Center for the men’s national championship.

Wildcat: OK, you’re on the spot. So what just happened here? I just got here; looks like I missed most of it.

Busch: We just returned from Seattle with the men’s swimming and diving team where we just won the national championships.

W: Wow. That’s great.

B: The week before that, the women won the national championships.

W: Who scored the winning point?

B: Well, it’s not just one point. In swimming and diving, each event you score points by how you finish, and you accumulate points.

W: So if you’re off sides, do you lose points? Or…

B: No, no, no. It’s just a swim meet, so you’re just racing somebody. You touch the wall first, you get 20 points, and if you’re second, you get 17 and if you’re third, you get 16. And it works its way down all the way to the top 16.

W: And then…

B: And then another race comes up and they score that one the same way.

W: So is it every man for himself?

B: Yeah, there’s eight lanes and depending on how many swimmers are from any team or whatever. Because there are probably 60 teams there competing. It means you have to qualify for the preliminaries in the morning, and if you make top 16, you get to come back and race for points.

W: Has anyone ever gone into someone else’s lane to push them out of the way?

B: No, because they have big lane lines that divide them.

W: Aw, because that would have been a good idea. Anyway, do you have to be able to hold your breath a long time?

B: No.

W: Because I did that when I was younger. They had a contest of who could swim underwater back and forth in the swimming pool the most amount of times without going up for air.

B: We don’t do that contest. You just go swim…

W: Is it treading water, or…

B: We swim freestyle, or backstroke, or breast stroke or butterfly.

W: OK. So it’s just those.

B: Yup.

W: How much are you going to sell the trophy for?

B: We won’t be selling the trophy.

W: Aw, that’s too bad. You could probably pay for really nice American Apparel swimsuits or something.

B: Yes we could, but I don’t think anyone would want to see me in one.

– interview by Andi Berlin