At least 15 new Cottonwood club swimmers will travel with the Clippers to twice the meets, under new head coach Gretchen Wesbrock, that they did last summer.
“I grew up in the Valley,” said the Phoenix native, who is also the head coach for the Mingus Union High School swim team in the fall. “So there’s a plethora of teams to compete against down there.
“I tell my high school kids, the more you get to travel around the state and be around other kids that are around the sport, the more you can grow. There’s always going to be somebody faster and somebody slower than you.”
Summer face-offs in Prescott Valley and Needles, Calif., are among the additions to a more crowded summer schedule under Wesbrock, who will have at least 110 swimmers — including her daughter — on four teams through the first weekend of August.
“Other teams have been expressing interest in maybe wanting to make their schedule more robust,” Wesbrock said. “It’s like during high school season: Training is fun, but especially with recreational swimmers, even more fun are the meets.”
Wesbrock and new Clippers president Connie Calhoon hope the Friday, June 3, intrasquad Jelly Bean Meet will meet or exceed the record $1,300 it raised last summer for the four recreational club teams, individually coached by Wesbrock’s husband, John, and other former Marauders swimmers.
“I think it’s a great team-building activity,” Wesbrock said. “Then the dessert auction is when I know the board wants to be able to raise money for cosmetic improvements to the pool, like lane-line rollers, and whatever other improvements are needed to help the team.”
Wesbrock, who officially took over head coaching duties of the Clippers from Daniel Nevarez in December, has new help in the form of MUHS graduate Emily Dorris, who helps Kyla Furey coach the B team.
“Last summer, when Daniel was thinking it was going to be his last, he was saying, ‘You’ve got to come on board,’” Wesbrock said. “A lot of parents of the high school swimmers said it would be great to have you.”
Katey Williams and Amanda Wilber coach the C team, while the Wesbrocks handle the A and A Prep teams.
“With the experienced swimmers, it’s different from the little people,” Gretchen Wesbrock said. “They see so much progress from the start of the season, like, ‘Do you remember when you couldn’t even make it across the pool?’”
That kind of progress is important for Wesbrock to see Clippers swimmers make prior to high school, where returning club stars like incoming MUHS sophomores Dallin Gordon, Fletch Fangman and Gunner Tillemans have to adjust.
“A lot of my high school kids,” Wesbrock said, “including a lot of those who haven’t swam in the summer before, are swimming this summer.”
Including Anissa Zorrilla, training for her final season as a Marauders swimmer.
For the full schedule of Cottonwood Clippers meets, please see the Wednesday, June 1, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
