Columbus East senior swimmer Claire Brooks poses for a photo in breakfast room used by the boys and girls swim teams at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. Brooks has organized an alumni swim meet to raise money for her senior project to renovate the breakfast room.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Now in her fourth season on the girls swim team at Columbus East, Claire Brooks wanted to do something involving swimming for her senior project.
With that in mind, Brooks is organizing an Alumni Swim meet to be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 3 in the East High School pool. All former Olympian boys and girls swimmers are invited to participate.
“I knew I wanted to something with swim, and something that’s really popular is doing a swim camp or something like that,” Brooks said. “But I thought it would be cool if we could bring back old swimmers. I thought that would be kind of fun. The last three classes, I’ve had a bunch of really good friends from, so I thought it would be cool to get them back in the water to see if they miss it. Then talking to people who also have spent a lot of time in the water, even in their 30s, 40s, 50s, seeing how it impacted them and how it’s changed.”
Brooks said she and her senior project mentor, East swim coach Doug Trueblood, fiddled with the idea of doing something around the pool, and then Brooks’s mom actually helped her come up with alumni idea.
“I loved it, and I ran with it,” Brooks said. “It took some convincing of my English teacher, who is a swim mom for North, but she loved the idea, so she helped me get it rolling. I ‘ve had the help of a lot of people who know how to run the DAK — all the electronic stuff — so it’s kind of smooth sailing.”
“I thought it was a great idea, and she’s doing a really good job of pulling it together,” Trueblood added. “She is driving it and organizing it and everything.”
Among the alumni signed up to compete so far are 2021 graduates Marin Wieneke and Chad Kelly, along with Chad’s sister Cam Kelly. Brooks is hoping more college kids will sign up now that they’re home on break.
“So far, it’s been the younger kids signed up,” Brooks said. “But I’m hoping to reach out to older people, as well. I have contact information for a few older swimmers that I need to send it out to. I’m really hoping that I can get as many alumni swimmers as possible. I’m really happy that I got the pool for Jan. 3 because that’s when all the college kids will be home from college.”
Scott Lee, who is a member of the school-record 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay teams from 1995, also has indicated that he might swim. He has reached out to the other members of those relay teams about competing or helping with the alumni meet.
“They messaged me through him, all saying they wanted to know how to help,” Brooks said. “I’m really hoping they’re going to try to make it, but if not, that’s OK. Doug and I are still brainstorming on how we can use their help best.
“I’ve gotten a lot of messages about, ‘How can I help?’ which is amazing,” she added. “It’s going way better than I expected, which is awesome. Social media has been a blessing. I’m really excited. Hopefully, it will be a great turnout.”
A view of the breakfast room used by the boys and girls swim teams at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. Claire Brooks, a senior of the girls swim team, has organized an alumni swim meet to raise money for her senior project to renovate the breakfast room.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
All of the money raised from the meet will go toward renovating the “Breakfast Room” in East’s pool area. Brooks’ goal is $500.
“We practice here six mornings a week, so before school, it’s really important to come in here and eat,” Brooks said. “A lot of times, it’s grab-and-go, but when we have time, we all love to sit and eat together.”
The breakfast room currently does not have shelving units or running water. Someone has said they would donate a sink, and Brooks wants to upgrade the microwave.
Swim parents take turns making the team’s breakfast for their three-hour Saturday practices and restocking the breakfast bar and refrigerator for weekday mornings.
“We’re not like the football team,” Brooks said. “The football team has crazy (amount of) sponsors. We’re just a swim team. We don’t have any of that. The football team has 80 players, and my brother plays football, and they get all their stuff paid for. The baseball team has a card, and they all go out to dinner. We don’t get that luxury.”
The Olympians practice from 5 to 7 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and lift on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. They have from 7 to 7:35 a.m. to eat and get ready for school.
“Obviously, being a swimmer takes a ton of dedication,” Brooks said. “Swimming takes up a huge chunk of my life. We’re in here every day before 5 a.m. until 7, when we go to school, and then after school for 2-2 1/2 hours every day. I swim club, as well, for Donner, outside of swimming for East, so swimming is just a massive part of my life.”
