Sports
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Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
PHOTOS BY ANNA REED/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Silverton High School swimming head coach Lucky Rogers during practice in Silverton, Ore., on Friday.
With 80 swimmers, Silverton
builds a path to prominence
BILL POEHLER
STATESMAN JOURNAL
SILVERTON The perspective of the
number changes from pride to intimida-
tion and eventually to confusion.
Silverton High School’s swimming
team started this season with 80 swim-
mers.
For a program that was virtually un-
known for so long can go from 30 swim-
mers a few years ago to 80 is a source of
pride while simultaneously being intimi-
dating to opponents.
Eventually you start to wonder how
they can cram that many swimmers in a
six-lane pool for practices.
“It’s a little difficult, I’m not going to
lie, but the first couple weeks, we prac-
tice circle swimming,” said senior
Megan Brockamp, who swam in the state
meet in the medley relay last year. “And
now we have a specific order of the fast-
er to slowest. We’re spread out at our
own paces.”
It’s a problem most swimming coach-
es would love to have.
At the same time as the program’s
numbers have exponentially increased,
the team has improved greatly.
The girls team is 6-0 in dual meets this
season and the boys are 5-1 this season.
Both teams beat Corvallis, which is a
high-water mark for the team.
Before this season, Silverton has won
one district team championship in its
school history – the boys team won the
District 10 championship in 1990.
This is the first time in decades Silver-
ton has been a contender at the district
level.
“It’s fun to be relevant in a school
where basketball has dominated for so
long,” said second-year head coach
Lucky Rogers said.
Last season both Silverton’s boys and
girls teams placed third in the Mid-Wil-
lamette Conference, which was a huge
step toward relevance.
Within the school, the swimming team
is receiving attention.
“I think with Rogers’ coaching style,
and with him being a teacher at the
school, people know more about swim-
ming,” Brockamp said.
“And he’s also been really good about
advocating to get people to know about
swimming, like announcements and
posters and the new gear, everybody
sees the new gear when we wear it.”
Part of the challenge in building a pro-
gram in a specialized sport like swim-
ming is getting kids to try it, even kids
who don’t know how to swim.
When senior Jaiden Davis was a
freshman, not only could he not swim,
but he couldn’t put his head under water.
Assistant coach David Botieff works
with the beginners and every season
manages to take a novice and turn them
into one of the top swimmers on the
team.
Last year Davis was a district placer –
and narrowly missed out on qualifying
for state – in the 50 and 100 freestyle
races.
“I think it’s also when we switched
coaches to Rogers, we got a lot better,”
said junior Jason Orr, a state qualifier in
the individual medley last season. “It
jumped significantly.
“Rogers is a very well-liked teacher at
our school and people just kind of saw
that we were getting better so juniors
and seniors started to join up and swim.”
At Silverton, every other sport has
gotten more recognition than swimming.
With all the state championships and
deep postseason runs in sports like foot-
ball, basketball and wrestling, it is under-
standable.
When the swimming team got a poster
in the commons last year, it was a big
deal to them.
“In our pep assemblies, they would
mention us, and that was it,” senior Jai-
den Davis said of his freshman year. “It
was like, ‘Oh, go that Silverton swim
team. Go them. They’re doing good, I
think.’”
Whereas prior freshmen classes have
been filled with neophytes, this year’s
sizable group benefitted from a year-
round swimming program at the town’s
YMCA pool.
Silverton’s all-freshmen 200 medley
relay team of Samantha Zurcher, Marie
Tolmachoff, Maggie Kelley and Maddie
Broyhill has the No. 2 time in the confer-
ence this season, and those girls have
been consistent winners in individual
events in dual meets this season.
“Our girls team, we have a lot of really
good seniors,” Rogers said. “I knew we
had a really good core of freshman girls
coming in.
“In my mind the seniors were going to
lead the way and the freshmen were go-
ing to fill in the blanks, but the freshmen,
to be honest with you, have kind of taken
over. We’re solid.”
Rogers’ background in coaching is in
basketball, something he coached in the
community for 15 years until his chil-
dren were on Silverton’s swimming
team.
He spent nine years as an assistant
coach for the swimming program, and
took over as head coach before the 2015-
16 season.
One aspect of coaching basketball
that Rogers has brought to the pool is he
made practice fun.
“The other thing that’s kind of allevi-
ated is shoulder issues,” said Rogers,
who also spent nine years as Silverton’s
tennis coach. “On your freestyle stroke,
most practice is freestyle, if you’re not
stretching and you’re not doing the right
stroke, you’re going to hurt your shoul-
der.
“All of these drills emphasize the ro-
tation and the stretching of the shoulder
during the stroke so we’re not having
shoulder issues.”
Silverton has had a total of one state
tournament medal in the program’s his-
tory.
The only state meet medal – for plac-
ing in the top six at an event at state – a
Silverton swimmer has won was the 200
medley relay team of Hannah Beth Kear-
ney, Haley Rogers, Sierra Prior and Nat-
alie Tolmachoff placing sixth in 2010.
In most years, having one Silverton
swimmer make it to state was a big deal.
Last year they sent two relays along
with Jason Orr and his older sister Lind-
sey Orr, who has since graduated.
Though none of them advanced out of
the prelims, having that many Silverton
swimmers at state was a big step for-
ward.
“To see this now, a couple years later,
it’s really surprising and it’s really cool
to be a part of something that could pos-
sibly go to state,” Marie Tolmachoff said.
With as many swimmers as Silverton
has, it’s understandable that the team
has found some good ones.
Getting kids and keeping them moti-
vated can be two different things.
“My biggest strength for these kids is
motivation,” Rogers said. “I get them to
believe that they think they can do things
that they didn’t think they could do. I’m a
big cheerleader, rah rah guy. When kids
come out of the water and walk by me,
they get fourth and I give them a high
five, everybody sees that. I’m really
loud.”
Reach Bill Poehler at bpoeh-
ler@StatesmanJournal.com and follow
him on @bpoehler