Playing in a State Championship game is the goal and a dream of every single high school sports team, and the dream of becoming a State Champion seems unattainable and almost impossible. However, the Walpole High School swim team was able to achieve the unimaginable, by not one, not two, but three State Champions — junior Katie Smith won her 100 freestyle race, Sophomore Hannah Phelan won the girls diving, and Senior Captain Doug Stewart won the boys diving State Championship.
Ever since Smith first joined the Walpole Summer Swim Team at age seven, she was a star. From her first days in the pool, it became evident to everyone she was extremely naturally gifted at the sport. At age eight, she began her winning career, winning multiple races in the A regional swim meet. Over the years she dominated the rec. swim team league scene — improving on her times each and every year.
Once she entered High School, Smith soon become one of the most valuable swimmers on the team. As only a freshman, Smith won many of her races and was one of the only freshman on the team to qualify for the Sectional and State meets. In her sophomore year Smith qualified for States in every race that she competed in throughout the regular season. At states she placed fourth in the 50 freestyle and 9th in the 100 freestyle.
After her success from sophomore year, Smith decided to take her swimming career even further, by joining a USA Swim Team, The Weymouth Waves. This team helped her improve even more, as this season Smith continued her winning streak and qualified for States in everything for the second year running. At Conferences, Smith swam the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke, coming in 3rd place for each. At sectionals, she again swam the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle, placing 4th and 3rd. However, at States, Smith won her first title in one of the most exciting races of the day — placing first in the hundred freestyle race, beating her personal records and the school record.
“The victory was very surprising,” said Smith. “But I was just happy to beat my best time.” Smith is Walpole Swimming and Diving’s first State Champion and received various accolades — Bay State League All-star, All American, and a Boston Globe All Scholastic team member — for her hard work. In the future Smith hopes to defend her title next season, and she hopes to one day to swim in college.
Joining Katie Smith as a Scholastic team member and State Champion is sophomore Hannah Phelan, who won the Division II girl’s diving competition. Phelan started diving just three years ago, when she heard one of her teammates from gymnastics talking about it. She has been doing gymnastics for almost her entire life, and this gymnastics background really helped her development as a diver. When Phelan joined the Rebels freshman year she quickly became one of the best divers in the league. She beat the school record and qualified for the Sectional and State diving meets, and placed second at the state meet last year.
However, this year was not without its obstacles for Phelan: practicing at Randolph was hard on the whole team, but especially the divers. The diving board was very old so the divers could not get much bounce out of it, which made practicing very difficult, and very painful at some points. All season Phelan had very bad shin splints and compartment syndrome that were so painful that many days she had to sit out of practice, due to the pain. In fact, the day after she won States she had to go right into surgery because of these injuries.
Phelan said, “I knew if I was going to win I had to push through them and get healthy as fast as I could.” Once Phelan won she said “it was a great accomplishment. It was a rough season for me with many obstacles and it was amazing to have all my hard work pay off.” In the future she hopes to continue diving in college, somewhere. Katie Smith and Hannah Phelan were not the only two State Champions of the day, as senior Captain Doug Stewart won the Boys Division II State Championship. Stewart joined the swim team in his sophomore year.
However, as he continued diving there were many challenges. But this did not stop him, as Stewart earned the schools boys diving record and was elected captain of his team his year, and qualified for states for the first time this year. He won the Conference and Sectional diving competitions. And at States Stewart dived completed unopposed, however, he still scored very well.
November 17 was a proud day for the Rebels even though the team may not have scored as well as a whole. It was the first time in Walpole Swim Team history that the school was able to produce a State Champion, never mind three.
