It took a while, but the Fontana swimming legacy has finally touched all three Hamilton Township high schools.
The top freshman on the Hamilton West girls’ team is Shelby South, whose mother, Lori Fontana-South was a record-setting swimmer at Steinert while her aunt, Gina Fontana (now Valeri) set a few standards at Nottingham.
And while Shelby doesn’t share the Fontana name, she is definitely part of the bloodline.
“They’re definitely like assistant coaches,” South said. “They show up at all my meets. I come out of the pool, they see I’m frustrated, they want to help. They always want to be there for me and support me no matter how bad I do or what place I come in.”
South has done a lot of good things this year. The 9th-grader has been a top-three finisher in numerous Hamilton meets, and that’s without being a club swimmer. Head coach Kyle Schulke was impressed with South’s ability to keep up with the club swimmers. Initially, he wasn’t sure what to expect.
“I was excited that she was able to swim the 100 fly and 200 IM, the toughest events for me to fill in my lineup,” he said. “As the season progressed, and I saw her getting faster and faster in practice, I started to realize she might become one of the fastest girls on the team.”
Figuring out her best events has been Schulke’s biggest challenge. He started her in the fly and IM in order to fill the spots with someone who could handle the workload. As time went on, her work ethic in practice while doing the freestyle prompted the coach to move Shelby into the 50 and 100 freestyle.
“After getting longer practices under her belt, she has excelled in the 200 free,” Schulke said. “I think she’ll be really good in the 400 free once she has more experience from swimming it in meets. She is able to compete in any stroke event, but for now, freestyle seems to be her specialty.”
As of mid-January, South had swum a 2:36.44 in the 200 meters and 1:10.37 in the 100 free. Schulke hoped those times would be lower by the time the Mercer County meet came around on Jan. 31.
“I’m definitely happy with the 200, I’m adapting to it,” South said. “The 100 free is another good event. I’m also starting to like the fly.”
South said she enjoys the 200. She also likes the 100 free, and butterfly is growing on her.
Although she lacks a club background, South has grown up in the pool. She swam in the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association as a young girl and also swam competitively at her gym.
“I’ve been swimming since I was real little, with my mom and my aunt doing it, I was kind of next,” she said. “I’ve always found a passion in swimming. I love being in the water for two hours six days a week. It’s like freedom for me.”
There was never any question in South’s mind that she would be a high school swimmer. In fact, she was on a mission from the start.
“That was one thing I was so excited about going to high school,” South said. “I wanted to join the swim team. That was my number one thing when I came to back-to-school night. I wanted to find the swim team sign-up. I wanted to be on the swim team.”
Her presence on the Hornets has not only helped in the pool, but out of it as well. Her bubbly personality is infectious.
“Shelby is definitely an outgoing kid,” Schulke said. “She’s very friendly with the girls on the team and works with some of the other freshmen on learning the different strokes. She almost has more of a sarcastic personality than I do, so we have some interesting back and forth ‘discussions’ during practice and meets. She takes whatever technique advice I give her and works hard until she masters each specific tip.”
South is the proverbial sponge when it comes to learning swimming. She not only listens to the coaches but studies older swimmers both on the Hornets and other teams in order to learn a few things.
“It’s definitely a challenge to see all the club swimmers and to want to keep up with them knowing I haven’t swam club,” she said. “It’s definitely been a good learning experience, and it’s definitely giving me a chance to get to know some upperclassmen in the school and make some new friends.”
South also has the one quality that every athlete needs: the want to win.
“She is a very competitive and tenacious swimmer,” Schulke said. “She doesn’t like to lose and always wants to get better. She responds well to being pushed and has a strong drive to be as fast as possible. Setting goal times gives her something to strive for and she enjoys swimming faster than I expect her to.”
South’s ability to the level of her competition gives Schulke high hopes for her county meet performance.
All things considered, South is happy with her freshman year, but that competitive nature has her yearning to do so much more.
“I’m doing pretty well,” she said. “I wouldn’t say I am doing bad, but when I do a bad time, I beat myself up over it and the next time I know I need to do better.”
,
