When coach Tiffany Brennan slips into the water beside her High School North athletes, they know they are sharing the lane with one of the world’s elite swimmers.##M:[more]## In July 2001, Brennan stroked her way across 25 kilometers of open sea just off Fukuoja, Japan, to take 10th in the world championship of long distance, open water swimming. Apparently Brennan’s years of dedication and discipline to this iron-personed event seem to be setting a standard for both the boys and girls of the Knights’ swim team.
Coming into their recent meet with the state-renowned Hopewell Valley team, the North girls boasted a 5-0 record and the boys held a 4-1 record, marred only by one closely fought defeat. “If every single member of this team swims as hard as they possibly can — as they have — we will beat this school,” said Brennan before the meet. Taking her encouragement to heart, the Knights trounced the traditionally powerful Hopewell Valley: boys 112-68 and the girls 109-61. It was a victory that both boys and girls are hoping will carry them far into the state competition.
The North swim team record stands as particularly remarkable considering the solid core of seniors who graduated last season. Of this season’s senior boys, Jimmy Qin in butterfly and Sean Woodward in the breaststroke have proved themselves consistent point scorers. Coming up just as strongly on the team’s younger side are freshmen Derek Chiao, swimming breaststroke and freestyle; and Edwin Chiu, competing in backstroke and breaststroke. Freestyler freshman Kenny Baker has also shown himself to be a surprisingly swift contender.
For the North girls the initial rebuilding challenge this season loomed even greater. Of the 22 team members only Meagan Cream, Whitney Handy, and Paris Thomas joined as returning seniors. But like the boys, the younger girls have brought home the points. Virginia Hung has exhibited great power in the 100 butterfly as has Raquel Riestra in the freestyle sprints.
“Think of it,” says Brennan, “our girls have a relay team consisting of one junior, one sophomore and two freshmen. We really are a young team.”
Brennan admits that this new and powerful freshman class comes as little surprise to her. “All last year, everybody was buzzing about this strong eighth grade class of swimmers,” she says. “I only wish a few more of them had come to North, instead of South.” Along with expert coaching, West Windsor and Plainsboro have established a very well attended feeder system that has recently brought the two high schools far up the state competition ladder. Having begun as early as age eight, the majority of swim team members race year round for the several local clubs. In fact, throughout the season, many of the top racers swim for both their club and high school concurrently.
Herself no stranger to a strong and early system of training, Brennan grew up in Bridgewater, swimming for clubs since childhood and leading her high school to state championships. Moving naturally into long distance, she set school records in the 500 freestyle. From l996 to l999, while earning her B.S. in mathematics at Rutgers, Brennan competed on the university team, but increasingly felt the lure of open water marathon races.
While completing a masters in education and a year’s coaching at Villanova University, Brennan competed in open water marathons, distances exceeding 5 1/2 miles. Distance swimming demands grueling, harsh training. The straps on a woman’s suit, after several hours dig into the shoulders and raise welts. Brennan constantly applied great quantities of vaseline to these friction points to ease the sores.
Swimming in the pool, Tiffany met Sean Brennan, also a top ranked national swimmer. They were married and moved to San Diego near the water so they both could train. Sean, who had lifted his sights above the water just slightly, was now competing for a place on the Olympic flatwater kayak team. In the early mornings, Mr. Brennan would paddle along side Mrs. Brennan as she swam across bay and ocean in her four-hour daily training sessions.
Tiffany Brennan continued to train, compete and often win marathon open water swims. With the exception of the arctic water endurance sessions, she braved all the same types of challenges as her famed predecessor, Lynne Cox. Just 18 months ago, Brennan retired from active competition, but if you drop by the North pool at 5 a.m., you can find Brennan ensconced in her daily 1 1/2-hour lap swim which she does “just for fun.”
Alas, Sean Brennan missed the Olympic kayak team by just one place, but he is far from out of sports. Sean voluntarily coaches both the boys and girls one or two practices a week. While the North administration had no idea they were getting coaches on the family plan, it seems to have been a boon for the Knights. “He’s like a foreign consultant,” says his wife. “I can say something five times and the whole team ignores me. Then he comes in from the outside, says the same thing, and the whole crew thinks it’s gospel.”
Brennan admits that certainly her husband holds some advantage with the boys, but this dual sex coaching has never proved an obstacle for her. Both boys and girls realize good advice from a renowned athlete and take it willingly. But Brennan herself has noticed a marked north/south division in New Jersey’s swim coaching policies. From approximately Middlesex County south, it is standard for one coach to handle both the boys and girls teams. “But up north, even in my home town of Bridgewater, they still don’t have one coach for boys and girls – they wouldn’t think of it.”
So in the end, has coach Brennan’s impressive history as a world class open water racer proved a benefit to her training the Knights’ young hopefuls of today? “Well,” she replies, “I think it keeps them from whining as much. They know that anything I am asking them to do is something I have already asked of myself many times.” Unfortunately, however, while Ms. Brennan has inspired her athletes to make stellar efforts, she has won few if any converts to the daunting path of open water marathoning.
“They like the races, the social aspect, and the accomplishment,” she says. “As for what I do, they just listen and think I’m kind of weird.”
