Next month, the Fairview Lady Knights will look to defend their 5A state swim title, and there are more than 100 reasons why they'll have a great chance at doing just that.
The Knights' swim team goes deep, and we're not just referring to the depth of the pool. A total of 115 girls signed up for the team this year -- around 10 percent of the high school's female population.
"It's a little hectic sometimes, because there's just people everywhere, but I made a lot of friends quickly because there's so many different people doing the sport," freshman swimmer Anna Stone said.
Head coach Bob Smartt has seen the number of girls on the swim team more than double over the past 17 years he's been at Fairview.
"When I first started in the late 90s, swimming was a fall sport. It's now in the winter, and I think that works better from a recruitment standpoint. Other than skiing, which is only limited to a small number of potential athletes, the other winter sport is basketball. By their nature, most basketball teams are limited to 12 or 13 girls," he said. "Swimming becomes the outlet during the winter for Colorado girls who want to participate and be active during that season."
At times, the indoor practice pool can sound more like a pool party, but the Knights have found a way to make sure everyone gets the time they need in the water. Fairview allows its swimmers to choose between a morning and afternoon practice, and offers Saturday practices when there are no meets.
"We usually have different lanes for different levels of swimmers, but at the end of the day, we all come together and cheer together [at meets]," sophomore swimmer Natalie Brent said.
"The nice thing about 115 athletes is we know we can fill up meets and there's always plenty of interest," Smartt added.
But Smartt and his coaching staff also stand out because of their decision to swim against the tide. In a day and age where many families turn to specialization and club and competitive teams, Smartt and Fairview High School have elected to let the girls decide what they want their swimming experience to be.
"We don't have to require anyone to come to any specific meet. It's just whatever fits their schedule and fits what their level of interest is," Smartt said. "We can let girls decide how often they want to practice, and how many meets they want to come to and what they want to make out of the season. We're not forcing everybody to try to be super competitive."
As the team numbers have increased over the years, so have the reasons for getting in the pool. Smartt's athletes have many reasons for joining the swim team -- everything from wanting to experience a high school sport, to socialization or lifetime fitness goals. For some, like sophomore Darcie Butler who moved to Boulder from Australia last summer, joining the swim team was a way to meet new people instantly.
"A friend in one of my classes suggested I should join with her, and I just kind of went in there and I found really good friends," she said. "I'm a really shy person, and they've really opened me with open arms. I started with zero, and I have so many friends now."
For others, swimming has become a new sport after a different one ended. Stone was a gymnast before injuries forced her to stop.
"After I tore my labrum, I tried track [but] everything hurt, so the doctors recommended I try swimming," Stone said. "For me, it did become something I wanted to do full-time very quickly."
Of course, Fairview has also turned out several collegiate swimmers over the past few years, as well as state qualifiers and girls who have gone on and placed nationally. But more important than that, Fairview seeks to have fun in the pool -- and that comes with dropping time.
"Studies have found that athletes tend to leave swimming when they're not improving," Smartt said. "We're trying harder and harder every day to enable them to get faster so they feel good about themselves and positive and want to keep going."
The Knights will look to defend their 5A title at the Colorado State Swim Meet which runs February 9-11 at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.
