Chapman siblings are tough to beat in pool
Chapman siblings are tough to beat in pool
From practicing in a hot tub at home to competing in Olympicsized swimming pools and medaling at top high school events, Rosemary and Steven Chapman have developed into the top swimmers at Porterville High School and around the area.
From practicing in a hot tub at home to competing in Olympic-sized swimming pools and medaling at top high school events, Rosemary and Steven Chapman have developed into the top swimmers at Porterville High School and around the area.
In this season alone, they combined for 16 medals at both the East Yosemite League and CIF Central Section Division II swim championships. Records have been shattered by Steven alone or with his help, while Rosemary is just a little over a second away from breaking Porterville High School’s oldest school record.
A memorable season for these Panthers siblings caps off with them being named the 2016-17 Orange Belt Swimmers of the Year. Steven was also named the 2016-17 Orange Belt Boys Water Polo Player of the Year in the fall.
In his final season with the Panthers, Steven was nothing short of remarkable in the pool. The senior, who competes in two individual events and two relays, was undefeated in his individual events up until State.
In its three years of existence, Steven was only the second person in Porterville’s history to go to the State meet. The other was Kyle Grissom, who now competes for the University of Southern California.
Entering as 38th in the state, Steven swam a personal best of 21.09 seconds in the 50-free preliminaries before tying for 15th in the final. He did not qualify for the final in the 100 free, but jumped from 29th to 20th in the state with 46.80 in the preliminary round.
“I was happy,” said Steven. “I wish I wouldn’t have missed my junior season but things happen for a reason. I accomplished what I wanted to this year. I was hoping to win both Valley championships but we only lost [to Kingsburg] by nine in the swim one. But I finished the season undefeated with swimming and I got the times I wanted, so it was great. I’m happy.”
At Valley, Steven set the Div. II record in the 100-yard freestyle with a first-place swim of 46.82 and placed first in the 50-free with a time of 21.48.
And with Steven anchoring the 200 free and 400 free relay teams, not only did the Panthers win, but they also broke their school records with times of 1:28.76 and 3:17.03, respectively.
That 400-free relay, was Steven’s favorite this season. His coach, Lance Hyder, said that in the preliminaries, the Panthers had finished second after Kingsburg’s anchor had nearly a full body length on Steven. But the next day, all the guys improved their times to finish with a different outcome.
“We went in second on the championship day and I told all the guys they weren’t going to beat us,” said Steven. “Grant Snyder gave me just enough on the last leg so I could catch him and beat him. It was awesome, it was my favorite race.”
For Hyder, the nice part about Steven’s successful season was that it came both with the team and as an individual.
“He also got to be a part of the team doing really well,” he said. “That’s really nice when you can have everything hap-
pening at one time. It could be a different situation, right? It could be him being successful on his own. The part I enjoy the most is everything was able to happen at once and the team was able to be successful together, while he was having his individual success and getting his personal goals. That was really rewarding.”
In the other end of the pool, Rosemary, a sophomore, was also having an outstanding season and coming into her own. She competed in the 100 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 200 medley relay and 400 free relay; some of the toughest events in swimming.
Although she medaled in every event at Valley, ranging from fifth to sixth place, Rosemary said her best meet was at the EYL championships.
“I really thought that EYL was my best meet,” she said. “Overall all my of times were either my best times or close. All the other meets I had a good swim or a bad swim, like just weren’t my top performances I guess.”
At EYL, Rosemary dominated with firstplace finishes in the 100 fly (1:03.51), 200
medley (2:00.07) and 400 free (4:02.01). She also took second in the 200 IM with 2:26.20.
“She’s very dependable,” said Taylor. “Just being able to count on her for the big meets. I think at our City meet, I thought she did an excellent job. Same thing at our EYL meet. She’s just such a competitor it’s fun to watch her compete because you just know she’s going to give you everything she’s got.”
Steven echoed that sentiment, saying, “[She is] hardworking and an overachiever. Because she wants to be better at everything and she works really hard to do it. She accomplishes everything she puts her mind too.”
While Steven is headed off to Pepperdine University to play water polo, Rosemary’s mind is already on to next season where she intends to break the school’s 100 fly record of 1:01.32. According to coach Taylor, she is at 1:02.30 and doesn’t have much further to go.
“She’s got a bright future,” said Taylor. “I feel she can drop some more time in her butterfly, she’s close to getting our school record. The relays are now getting pretty solid. It’s great having her being a sophomore and just being junior next year, that’s good for us.”