The swimming community for Evergreen Public Schools was one, big happy family.
Evergreen, Mountain View, Heritage and Union all practiced together at the Cascade Athletic Club as one.
But there was one problem that had been brewing for some time: the family started outgrowing its home.
“We were full. We had 80 girls at one spot in Cascade,” said Dave Shoup, the head coach of Heritage and Union this fall who previously had been in charge of all four programs.
They had staggered practices with one group going early in the morning and another swimming after school, which were mixed groups from all the schools.
“There were different groups that swim in the mornings and different ones who swim after school because there weren’t enough lanes for all of us,” said Mountain View’s Daria Samiee who is expected to be the team’s top swimmer this year.
They cheered for each other at meets, regardless of what school each individual represented. But despite the camaraderie that existed between all of the swimmers from the different schools, it came at the expense of space and also, spots on the swimming teams.
Earlier this spring, the school district announced that they would be splitting the two schools up. Mountain View and Evergreen would stay at Cascade, while Heritage and Union have moved to the newly renovated YMCA pool.
Shoup was the coach of all EPS programs since Heritage opened in 1999. He also coached Camas, Prairie and Battle Ground swimmers before those school broke away from the EPS program a few years ago. In his message to his team, he likened the process of the change to “ripping off a band-aid.”
“For some of them it doesn’t feel right yet because they’ve never had it this way,” he said.
Sarah Denney, a senior at Union, said she it wasn’t until the third day of practice that she felt something different.
“I’m really noticing today missing my Evergreen and Mountain View friends. Like, I really miss them now,” she said.
Back at Cascade, Evergreen and Mountain View have also had to adjust to a new head coach, local swimming coach Mark McBride.
“It’s been great, very positive,” McBride said. “Cheering each other on, getting to know each other. I think they like having the less crowded spaces, which has been nice. We can do a lot more individual work that way.”
Mountain View senior Megan McCollugh added: “I was really nervous, too. I didn’t know Mark at all. I was like, who is this guy? The first day wear good. it was way better than I expected.”
“Better than expected,” seems to be the feeling from many involved in the change.
Increasing program participation and growing the swimming programs at each school seems to be a goal of the new arrangement.
“It’s going to hurt for a while but it’s going to heal,” Shoup said. “After a while, people will start wondering ‘why did we used to have that? That just seemed silly.’ ”
Shoup, who has seen it all for these programs, said that for the first time in 14 years he has been able to go to Heritage and recruit swimmers to come out for the team.
“It brings a really big opportunity for Evergreen because we’ve had to cut people in the past because they just couldn’t swim,” Evergreen senior Heather Stewart said. “That was something girls would look forward to in joining the swim team was that they would learn to swim better.”
There is also a feeling that each individual school will have a renewed sense of pride in their school competing to win.
Now that the band-aid has been ripped, all four programs will move forward in their new homes, hoping to grow.
“This year will probably be a lot of the same as it’s been,” said Shoup in terms of participation. “But it’s going to start growing. And that’s good for girls, that’s good for girls sports to get more girls involved.”
