Christian Devine had one goal when he started swimming: come out of the pool alive.
“I think I had my first lesson at around 4; that was just to learn how to swim and basically not drown,” the Steinert High junior said. “It was your basic ‘Go to the Y; learn how to swim; survive in a pool. It progressed from there.”
It wasn’t easy, however, as Devine wasn’t one of those kids who just took to the water.
“It was a struggle at the beginning, but you just kind of have to get comfortable being uncomfortable,” he said. “From there you progress and work harder.”
Once he progressed past not sinking like a stone, Devine has just kept getting better.
He looks to be one of the top breaststrokers in the Colonial Valley Conference this year after winning the B Cut race and finishing seventh overall in the Mercer County championships in 2016. Swimming for the Hamilton Aquatics Club, he made the New Jersey state meet this year and last summer he qualified for nationals in the long course (50 meters) breaststroke.
“I like the breaststroke, that seems to be consistently what I’m doing well at right now,” Devine said. “I dropped my most time recently in that event. Last year was a breakout year. That’s the event I seemed to be most comfortable with.”
Devine hopes to beat his personal best of 1:03.13 in a short course (25-yard) pool this season, and also looks to make the A cut in breast and improve his MCT finish. But he will be doing more than that for the Spartans, according to coach Jen Smith.
“He’s a utility swimmer, I can put him in anything and know he’s gonna do his absolute best,” Smith said. “He’s one of those kids where, if he doesn’t do his best, he’ll go back and do it over and over again until it is his best. You can’t really ask for anything more.”
Devine gained that attitude at an early age. After learning how to swim, he joined HAC at age 6 and quickly discovered that the world of competitive swimming was not the same as just trying to stay afloat at the Y.
“It was very different,” Devine said. “A lot more structured practices. We were going through technique, distance. I was nowhere near the top. I was constantly at the back of the pack when I started.”
He quickly realized the only way to move up was with old-fashioned hard work.
“I had some sort of drive, I guess you could call it,” Devine said. “I really don’t know what it was, but I just wanted to be in the front where everyone else was. So, every day, every second, I was just working toward getting better. It was from nothing to something.”
When he arrived at Steinert, Devine immediately gained a spot in the breaststroke but did not make an impact until his sophomore season.
“Last year, he really hit his stride with the breaststroke,” Smith said. “So we had him in the breast and the IM (individual medley).”
‘He’s definitely a leader. He’s naturally in the leadership role, gets everybody doing what they have to do.’
Devine spent much of his freshman year picking up team nuances from the veterans.
“I learned most prevalently that you lead by example,” he said. “You set the bar high and hold everyone to that standard. Don’t be rude, be helpful. You can usually get very far using those efforts. I try to do the best I can and help everyone else get better. This is really a team effort.”
Which is not the case in the individual-driven club environment.
“This team atmosphere is a little different than club atmosphere, and he seems to be enjoying this atmosphere, which is nice,” Smith said. “He’s definitely a leader. He’s naturally in the leadership role, gets everybody doing what they have to do.”
But not a leader who just barks orders and walks away. Devine leads in constructive ways.
“He’s a teacher, too,” Smith said. “He’ll come down to our lanes five and six, with our new swimmers, and wants to teach them everything he knows. He helps them with constructive criticisms.”
Devine is a team player in other ways as well. As Smith noted, while he enjoys the breaststroke, she can plug him into numerous other spots without getting a complaint. Smith feels having someone that versatile “is huge,” particularly this season when she has a slew of new swimmers and is trying to see where they fit.
“Once you find their niche, it’s kind of that chess game,” she said. “You can move him, because you know he’ll do well at a certain spot if I have somebody else that can function in another stroke.”
In the big picture, it does not matter to Devine what race he is in, as long as there is someone he is trying to beat in the lane next to him.
“I just love the competition, the race,” Devine said. “It’s a rush. Some of my most memorable races, you dive in and you don’t know what happens until you hit the ball at the end. You’re in a zone; it’s just different.”
Devine is in several different zones as he navigates his way through high school. Aside from swimming, he is a senior patrol leader in the Boy Scouts Troop 63 and has narrowed his Eagle project down to three options. As the guy in charge of the troop, he carries those abilities with him to the pool.
“I guess the leadership skills I learned and kind of honed there, I brought over here,” he said.
In the classroom, Devine has a weighted GPA of 4.57, which ranks him eighth in the junior class. Amazingly, he is only second among Spartan swimmers, as teammate Alan Sun has an even higher average.
It is a lot to maintain, but Devine manages it by not overwhelming himself with the big picture. He takes care of each little responsibility as it presents itself.
“It’s basically, whatever is happening at that time gets the full attention,” he said after the Nov. 28 season opener against Ewing. “I was in school today, so school had my full attention, and I tried to finish as much as I can and take advantage of the time. As soon as that bell rings, I come in here, get my suit, help the team get ready, set up for the meet; the meet is the priority at that point. And then after this I’m actually going to (HAC) practice, switch gears, go back over and start practicing. And then homework. It’s hard, but you just look at it as one step at a time.”
And each step seems to be a productive one for Devine.
Christian Devine,
