Since its inception in 2016, Club Olympia swimmers have incorporated some open water training and competition into their repertoire.
So when Northside Middle School, where the club has done most of its training, was closed last spring and summer, and the Donner Park pool did not open in the summer, Club Olympia did a large part of its training in lakes.
“We worked on all the strokes, except just backstroke was difficult because there’s just absolutely nothing to keep you going straight,” Club Olympia coach Jennifer Brinegar said. “Sometimes, people would go a long way before looking to see where they are. We told them to do 20 strokes backstroke, and then turn over and do 20 strokes breaststroke. That way, they can correct if they get off course.”
Brinegar was sold on the concept of open water training by one of her teammates from the 1976 Olympics, Huntington native Matt Vogel. Vogel, who went on to become a successful coach in Fort Wayne and in Maine, did most of his training on a lake and made the Olympic team in the 100-meter butterfly.
“Before he moved out East, we would see each other at meets, and we would talk, and he told me about the Huntington Mile and training in open water,” Brinegar said. “We realized you really can do that. I probably would have never done that if I had never had that conversation with Matt Vogel.”
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Club Olympia swimmers were out of the water for about six weeks. In late April and early May, they started going to Grandview Lake and Harrison Lake.
“I had never really been there (to Harrison Lake), and it turns out it’s beautiful, and it was perfect for us,” Brinegar said. “Grandview is really good for the older swimmers, but the water can get kind of rough with the boat traffic. Within two to three weeks, the water warmed up enough that most of them took off their wetsuits. I feel like we got some good training that way. It was interesting as they got kind of used to it watching the butterfly and the breaststroke and the freestyle. Their stroke got longer.”
The pool at Seymour’s Shields Park opened in late May, and Club Olympia also trained there until it closed in late September. Some days, they would do a lake swim in the mornings and then do an evening workout at the Shields Park pool.
After the Seymour pool closed, Club Olympia went back to doing open water training at Harrison Lake until it got too cold. They were able to get back into Northside after Fall Break in October for almost a month, but then it closed again. So the club trained at Foundation For Youth in December, then the Brown County YMCA over Christmas Break before getting back into Northside Jan. 5 when Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. resumed in-person classes.
“I feel like the kids were in pretty good shape this summer,” Brinegar said. “Then in November, when the kids went to e-learning, that’s when it was really hard. Luckily, one of our coaches has a good relationship with FFY, and they were real accommodating.”
Club Olympia had three swimmers compete in the Return to the Nat meet in October at IUPUI, then several swimmers went to Northridge in November, Fishers in December and back to Fishers last weekend.
“Because of COVID, the swim teams are having to reduce the number of participants, and they clean between sessions, and the swimmers have to wear the masks when they’re out of the water,” Brinegar said. “They have the kids sit six feet apart, and they don’t have fans. It’s a different environment, but it’s a chance to race, so it’s worth following all of the protocols and restrictions and rules that you have to follow.”
Several Club Olympia swimmers are making waves for their high school teams, led by sophomore Brady Beyer, who has set multiple school records at Columbus East. Other Club Olympia swimmers competing for boys teams are Chad Kelly and Dathan Wolf at East boys, Pratt Badve at North and Ethan Myers at Trinity Lutheran. The girls include Braylee Moore from Jennings County and Ashley Freel and Adriana Terry from Bloomington North.
The IHSAA allows high school swimmers to compete in two club meets during the high school season as long as they don’t interfere with a high school meet and they have a pre-approved waiver from their athletics director.
The swimmers are glad they’ve had a places to train throughout the pandemic.
“It’s certainly something that I don’t think anybody thought would ever happen, and it occurred right in the middle of championship season in March,” Brinegar said. “I didn’t ever think it would go this long.”
