Boys swimmers at St. Thomas More fought for their chance back into the pool
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When Blake Bermhingham, a sophomore at The High School of St. Thomas More (STM,) emailed swim coach Angie Deptula in October of 2021, he didn鈥檛 realize his request to restart the STM boys鈥� swim team was kind of a tradition.
鈥淚 have been the girls鈥� swim coach since 2017,鈥� Angie says. 鈥淒uring the fall of 2019, a senior came to me wanting to create the boys鈥� team again. There wasn鈥檛 enough interest that year, so it didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�
From 2012 to 2013 and again from 2014 to 2015, former coach Jack Clifford coached an incredibly successful boys鈥� swim team at STM. Four of his swimmers set school records, including five that still stand today. Even back then, the students took the initiative to get the team going.
鈥淸S]ome students came to him asking him to coach so kids could have a [boys鈥橾 team,鈥� Angie says.
Despite the success of that team, eventually it disbanded.
Angie did what she could to drum up attention for the swim teams, both boys and girls, on social media but interested dialed up and down. When the student request came in 2019 and not many others seemed interested, Angie thought that was the end of it.
Then the pandemic started and kept students home; when they returned to school, enthusiasm ramped up for everything at STM.
鈥淭here seemed to be more school spirit,鈥� Angie says. 鈥淪tudents were joining activities and sports again. The school atmosphere was really good.鈥�
Soon after the start of this school year, she got the email from Blake and met with the school鈥檚 athletic director, Jon Marston. He approved the budget for the sport the same day. Angie held a meeting soon after for anyone interested in joining the team.
鈥淏y the time we began practicing on November 22, I had eight swimmers,鈥� she says. 鈥淥f those eight, five were new to the sport.鈥�
Regardless of how long they鈥檝e spent in the pool, the new boys鈥� team is out of the blocks at a promising pace.
鈥淎s a team, we鈥檝e had success in seeing time drops at every meet, [broken] a few school records, and [won] a few events,鈥� Angie says. 鈥淲e may be too small and new to win a meet, but we are earning points.鈥�
The team wrapped up its promising season at the end of February with Angie, assistant coach Jennifer McCoy and a special team manager鈥擜ngie鈥檚 daughter and STM senior, Abby鈥攃heering them on.
Angie says Jennifer and Abby both made immeasurable contributions to the team.
鈥淸Abby]鈥s essential to our success,鈥� Angie says, adding that because Abby is a swimmer herself she knew how to keep practices moving at a good clip.
As the assistant coach, Jennifer ran practices when Angie, who also coaches STM鈥檚 cheerleaders, had a conflict. Jennifer is also a chemistry teacher at STM. That gave her more insight into the team, making her instrumental.
鈥淪he gets to interact with the boys both in school and the pool,鈥� Angie says. 鈥淥ften she will share with me if the boys have had a good day or if something bothered them.聽We really [have enjoyed] our first season with the team.鈥�
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