Hard Work Pays Off

Hard work, dedication and team intensity were among the key ingredients of success for Carmel High School's boys and The Bolles School's girls, who captured Swimming World's national high school championship.

By Ed Odeven

Carmel Boys Are No. 1
To be No. 1, you need to put in the effort required to deserve this recognition. Remember this: no one ever suggested that Michael Jordan was a slacker.

In a nutshell, that sums up the creed followed by the Carmel (Ind.) High School boys' swimming team this season.

"We spoke often about the effort needed and the team intensity required to finish No. 1," says Carmel coach Tom Burchill.

Carmel's swimmers listened_and followed their coach's instructions.

"A tremendous amount of hard work and dedication was needed for Carmel to accomplish this feat," Burchill says.

That dedication paid off.

Carmel is Swimming World's high school boys national championship team for 2003-04.

Times and scores were tabulated by the magazine throughout the high school season, from November through May, in order to rank individuals and teams. Individual scoring was limited to two individual races and two relays, or one individual event and three relays.

Carmel amassed 152 points, while Upper Arlington of Columbus, Ohio, was second with 120. Perennial power St. Xavier of Cincinnati, Ohio, third overall with 101 points, was the top-scoring independent school for the third straight year; it was the national champion in Swimming World's 2001 rankings.

Not surprisingly, Burchill, the first-year Carmel coach, has developed a reputation as a strong mentor, one who prepares swimmers for the rigors of collegiate athletics.

"Tom's swimmers come to college technically prepared," Rick Simpson, Villanova University's head coach was quoted as saying on the Carmel Swim Club's website. "There's nothing we have to do to adjust any of the four strokes of his swimmers. He's a very good technician."

Great Expectations
Before the season began, the Carmel Greyhounds expected to have a triumphant season. After all, Burchill points out, the squad had a strong senior nucleus that bought into his blue-collar work ethic.

"I knew we would have a successful season in some people's eyes because we were fast coming into the year," Burchill says. "But we exceeded expectations of how well we would perform at the state and national level."

Such as?

January provided the "defining moments" for the team.

In the first of two landmark meets, the Greyhounds faced Homestead High, a school from Fort Wayne, Ind. People expected Homestead to be a tough foe for Carmel, says Burchill.

So what did Carmel do in the hours preceding the meet in terms of preparation?

"We practiced 7,000 yards Saturday morning, traveled two hours by bus, and swam the fastest we had swum all season to date," Burchill remembers fondly.

Then Carmel had the monumental task of facing two aquatic titans, St. Xavier of Cincinnati and St. Xavier of Louisville in a prestigious tri-meet.

"Again, we trained hard in the morning," Burchill says. "The meet was very fast. We outscored the Kentucky St. X, but were defeated by two points by the Cincinnati team.

Nevertheless, Burchill's boys edged St. Xavier of Cincy in the 200 yard medley relay, finishing the race in 1:33.40 to their rival's 1:33.88. The speedy quartet of Chip Bartels, Jason Cousins, Eric Johnson and Grant Wieczorek swam the fastest 200 medley relay in the nation during the 2003-04 season in the process.

Furthermore, the Greyhounds' Belcher, Jason Cousins, Sebastian Cousins and Fiete Stegger combined to swim the nation's quickest 200 freestyle relay this season, 1:24.92.

Teamwork was the key ingredient of Carmel's overall dominance. Especially on relays.

The team also had the distinction of posting the nation's top time in the 400 free relay, with Bartels, Wieczorek, Stegger and Belcher producing a superb time of 3:03.43, nearly two seconds better than any other high school foursome (Greenwich High of Connecticut was the runner-up on the national list at 3:05.23). It was a state record that was established March 5 at the Indiana high school state championships.

"Grant Wieczorek was an obvious leader, but we had 10 senior boys, all who possessed leadership qualities," Burchill says. "Our underclassmen learned plenty on how to step-up their `game' from the seniors."

Other highlights of Carmel's season:
• Wieczorek swam the seventh-fastest time for schoolboys this season in the 200 free (1:38.93). In the 100 free, Wieczorek touched the wall in 45.22, also No. 7 on the national list.
• Chris Belcher's time of 20.73 was the 12th-best time in the 50 free and a school record. The junior also showcased his skills in the 100 fly, posting a personal season-best time of 49.62, the 14th fastest of the year.

Looking Ahead
Wieczorek is headed to the University of Florida, Bartels to Indiana University and Stegger to Davidson (N.C.) College, all Division I schools.

Certainly, one can expect those college-bound standouts to be a constant source of motivation to their teammates who are still high school students.

"Despite graduating 10 seniors, the Carmel boys' team will once again be strong," Burchill says. "We will definitely have the challenge of replacing the strongest senior class in school history."

But Burchill will take on the challenge by continuing to stick to his convictions and build the foundation of next year's team with the following traits:

"Respect, integrity, very high intensity, excellent technique, teaching how to conquer challenges and how to take responsibility for success and failure," he says.

Indeed, something special exists for the Greyhounds' swimming program.

Ken Stopkotte guided the Carmel boys to state titles in each of the three previous seasons. Burchill, who spent the previous 10 years coaching the Mount Lebanon High, Pa., and Mount Lebanon Aqua club programs, also guided the Greyhound girls to a state title, the program's 18th straight.

The boys' team, meanwhile, has won 11 state titles since 1990, including four in a row, doing so this season quite convincingly, outscoring Homestead 352-206 in the aforementioned March meet.

Burchill's goal, of course, is to continue that fine tradition.

How?

"Tom instills a strong work ethic in his swimmers both in and outside the pool. His kids are committed," Bucknell (Pa.) University coach Jerry Foley said on Carmel's website.

And that's the first step in understanding what it takes to be No. 1.

Bolles Girls Back on Top
When you've tasted the sweet morsels of success before, you want to taste them again and again.

Such is the case with The Bolles School, a private K-12 college preparatory school in Jacksonville, Fla. The Sharks' girls squad captured Swimming World's national high school titles from 1995-98 and 2000.

The Sharks have once again claimed that prestigious honor; they are the 2003-04 Swimming World national champions.

"We are very thrilled and honored to be crowned the 2003-2004 girls national high school champions," says Jeff Poppell, head coach of the Bolles Sharks.

Based on times compiled from high school meets throughout the school year, Lake Forest (Ill.) finished No. 2 on the list and was the top public school girls' program of 2003-04. Bolles amassed 116 points, while Lake Forest scored 84. Strong Leadership
Leadership was the tsunami on which the Sharks methodically rode to success this season. Namely, it was 14 seniors that set the tone for the squad, says Coach Poppell.

That got him thinking

" Next year's team will be a very young one," Poppell continues. "We just hope that our younger swimmers will strive, as always, to emulate the fine examples of leadership and swimming ability of the Bolles swimmers and Bolles teams that have come before them."

But before speculation on the 2004-05 season begins, it's time to take a look at the meets and personalities that made this past season a dynamic, unforgettable one for the program. It all culminated with a sensational showing at the Florida Class A State Championships in Sebastian, Fla., which is where the Sharks won their 13th straight state title, hardly a stroke of luck, and their 17th overall.

At the state championships, the Sharks shattered the national independent school record in the 200 yard medley relay (set in 1992 by Bolles with a time of 1:45.33 and replicated in 2000 by Germantown Academy, Pa.) by clocking 1:45.16. The record-breaking quartet consisted of Anja Carman, Katie McGraw, Katie Hanson and Yi Ting Siow.

And that was just the start. The "title march," as Poppell calls it, continued. Senior Stephanie Carr scored a victory in the 200 free, finishing in 1:49.50 (16th nationally), shaving more than a second off her previous best time.

Siow, a junior from Malaysia, earned a first-place finish in the 200 IM, establishing a school record with a 1:59.91, the fastest time by a high school female this season. And she won the 100 breast in 1:03.11, good for ninth nationally.

In the 500 free, Bolles' talent and depth made a big splash, as evidenced by a 1-2-3-4 finish led by Carman (4:44.63) and Carr (4:44.85), whose times ranked fourth and fifth nationally. Carman also took home a gold medal in the 100 back in 54.94, a school record and second-fastest time in the nation this year behind junior Margo McCawley of St. Mary's (Tenn.) Episcopal at 54.84.

In a fitting conclusion to their season, the Bolles foursome of Carman, Kate Skaggs, Carr and Siow won the 400 free relay in 3:30.16 (13th nationally).

Looking back on this special season, Poppell praised a trio of standouts for setting a standard of excellence for their teammates.

"The success of our girls' swim team this year at the national level fell heavily on the shoulders of three swimmers: Yi Ting Siow, Anja Carman and Stephanie Carr," he says. "These three swimmers established themselves as three of the top high school swimmers in the country as they posted some of the fastest times in the United States in their respective events."

Poppell notes that Siow, Carman and Carr have also posted long course times this year that rank in the top 25 in the world.

Knowing that his team consisted of several world-class athletes, Poppell was asked what expectations did the Sharks have before the season began?

"We felt that we would have one of the stronger girls' teams that we have had in a long time," Poppell states, "but we didn't realize how strong until after our season began and we posted some pretty fast times early in the season."

Poppell's Approach
As the leader of one of the nation's elite swimming programs, Bolles has been one of the top boys' programs, too, in recent years, Poppell's mental approach to his job does have a major impact on the team's success. He credits on-the-job experience and his predecessors with helping him develop his own unique style, that is, a winning formula.

"The system or style of coaching that I have developed consists of a combination of traits and behaviors that I have learned and inherited from the great coaches who I have had the opportunity to work with or be coached by over the last 25 years. That includes Jack Bauerle, head coach of the University of Georgia; Gregg Troy, head coach of the University of Florida and former head coach of the Bolles School; and Larry Shofe, former head coach of the Bolles School," Poppell says.

"All three coaches are very different in their styles and approach, but they have all been very successful."

And how big a role does reading/ongoing education play in Poppell's day-to-day duties as a coach?

"I do read a lot of books related to swimming," he says. "However, my coaching philosophy stems primarily from our swimming program's long-term athlete development focus that was instilled a very long time ago by Troy.

"Having been a coach at Bolles over the last 11 years and having had the opportunity to work with every ability level within our program, I have sought only to carry on the strong swimming tradition of our school by continuing to subscribe to that very same philosophy that has helped us achieve the high level of success that we have had as a program for so many years."

"If it ain't broke, why fix it," he concludes.

Certainly, nothing is broken at The Bolles School, except record after record in the pool.

Ed Odeven is a sportswriter for the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff, Ariz.