Stephen Fenning had his first stint as St. Ed’s swimming coach from 1988 through 2007, and today he is back in the fold after an interlude of nearly a decade to take on the dual roles of director of aquatics and head coach of the varsity boys and girls swim teams.
Fenning was hired in January 2016 to return to familiar surroundings and get reacquainted with a few of the swimmers he mentored when they were barely out of kindergarten.
“I guess everything happens for a reason,” Fenning said. “I had a lot of experiences in between that helped me become a better coach and better teacher. It was nice to see some familiar faces again. I felt like I had been in a time warp when I came back. Time passed and they have all grown up.”
The swimmers he was talking about are among the four candidates for the state tournament. Coleman Kramer, Tomas Botero, Spencer Greaves and Andrew Brown have become fixtures in the pool at St. Ed’s. They are state tournament veterans dating back two seasons and have already been recognized among the best swimmers in school history.
“Those four guys train year round,” Fenning said. “When I left here Andrew Brown was in the third grade and Spencer Greaves was in second grade. I had them here in the swim program as little kids. I had no idea how they would turn out.
“These four guys are very accomplished at this point. We are looking to place high in the district meet, and at the regionals we should be in the top five. Then we will see what happens at the state meet.
“The boys team has a real good shot of making the finals at the state meet, but without a lot of swimmers we really can’t place too high. The 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay are where Brown, Greaves, Botero and Kramer are going to be most successful.
“The rest of the boys on the team are seasonal swimmers and a good portion of them are in the sixth and seventh grade. The five swimmers on the girls team are all seasonal. A lot of them are starting from scratch. I’m looking for all of them just to improve their strokes and skills.”
The leaders on the girls team are Mary Cate Stiles and Morgan Chapman. Stiles was designated team captain this year and she has seen the team evolve over six years on the varsity.
“I started swimming when I was in the fifth grade and joined the varsity in sixth grade,” Stiles said. “I really like it and I keep coming back, so it has to have something that appeals to me.
“The girls team was big when I was in sixth grade but then it kind of dwindled down. Swimming is not a huge sport here. I really wish it was. We always try to get more people involved, but they are intimidated because they think it’s such a hard sport.
“But our team is built like a family and we have a lot of fun together. We are all there to support each other and everyone backs you up when you are in an event.”
Stiles usually swims three or four days a week after school and tries to swim in the morning as much as possible. Her specialties at meets are the 50 and 100 freestyle as well as the butterfly for the 200 medley relay team.
Brown and Greaves co-captain the boys team. The drive to excel for these guys shines through when they team up with Botero and Kramer for relay races.
“It’s more fun to train with teammates in what is basically an individual sport,” Greaves explained. “It’s a nice change of pace. We all get really excited when it comes to relay time because that’s what really brings us together. We always get hyped up for that.
“My friend convinced me to join the swim team in fifth grade. He’s no longer swimming but I ended up loving it and sticking with it. I am in the pool every day except Sunday. I usually do the 200 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay, 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. I will also do the 400 backstroke depending on the meet.
“I want to make it to states again this year (as a junior). I made it in both my freshman and sophomore years. I would like to final in both of my individual events and definitely in the relays. When a relay race starts, it’s all good.”
