Quincy University provided two student-athletes with an opportunity they will never forget. Me and my teammate, Angelina Pagliaccio, are swimmers, communication majors and have aspirations to work in the world of sports.

We were given the opportunity to represent QU at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving championship in Indianapolis, Indiana as reporters. At the meet, we got to cover the two Hawks sent to nationals. Pagliaccio took pictures, and I was in charge of the videos, the other interviews, and the highlights of the two swimmers and coaches.

When we first arrived at the pool, we had to pick up our media credentials, this allowed us to get on the pool deck with a camera in the designated media zones. On the first day, we got a feel for the environment, how the meet worked, where we could stand, where we couldn’t.

On day two, we hit the ground running, getting to the natatorium right after the doors opened in the morning session to get pictures of the pool while it was calm, and got B-roll and my stand-up done for my QUTV news package I was doing on the meet. When QU swimmers Wyatt Walsh and Borna Kisasondi arrived, Pagliaccio took pictures of them getting in the warm-up pool to prepare for their swims, I did my interview with assistant coach Nick Angeli.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to help out their school and get experience at things they may want to do after school,” Angeli said.

After the preliminaries had started, our focus shifted to capturing the swimmers and their emotions of them being at the biggest meet of their season. It was tough seeing teammates of mine swim so well and not being able to cheer for them. Once both swimmers finished the morning session and qualified for finals, we headed to the media room to upload our pictures and videos into a Google Drive folder.

In between sessions, Pagliaccio and I walked through the city, got lunch at a restaurant, and planned our best spot on deck to shoot both athletes at finals.

“Going to nationals provided me with so many memories and a chance to meet people that work in the field of sports,” Pagliaccio said.

I recorded my interview with Walsh before he got into the pool to warm up and uploaded it to the folder.

Of course, if we are going to be at a major event, we had to grab some merch that was being sold at the meet.

Once finals started, and watched Walsh and Kisasondi swim, got the content of their races, and also got to video Wyatt receiving his 6th place trophy for his swim in the 400 Individual Medley.

After finals concluded, we headed into the media room for the last time of our trip and uploaded the last bits of our work.

Once that was done, we hit the road back to Quincy and arrived just before midnight.