Photo courtesy of the HTHS swim team.
The Hewitt-Trussville High School swim team after a meet at Wald Park in Vestavia Hills in September. The team has doubled in size under the leadership of new coach Molly Cook.
Hewitt-Trussville’s swimming team has a new coach who’s going to great lengths to grow the sport’s popularity.
With a mix of experienced high school athletes and promising middle school swimmers, the team is setting high goals and aiming to make a name for the Huskies.
New head coach Molly Cook, who also teaches Spanish at Hewitt-Trussville High School, has brought energy and focus to the program and recruited a team of 25 swimmers, more than twice as many as last year.
"I grew up swimming in Trussville, and I loved the individual goal setting, competition and friendships,” Cook said. “When the opportunity to coach presented itself, I dove right in. Pun intended."
To accommodate the team’s growth, they added an assistant coaching position, filled by computer science teacher Amy Brown.
Although HTHS doesn’t have its own aquatic facility, the swim team trains at local pools, with many choosing the Trussville YMCA. There, swimmers are coached by Alex Mueller, a Hewitt-Trussville graduate and one of Cook’s former students. While Cook leads the varsity team and oversees the competitive season, which runs from August to November, Mueller handles the swimmers' training at the YMCA throughout the school year.
“Swimming for the high school helps to build endurance for other sports,” Cook said.
Freshman Amelia Creel, who is in Cook’s Spanish class, is new to HTHS and to swimming. She believes joining the team contributed to her positive transition into high school.
“Because of the swim team, I can walk past someone in the hall that I probably wouldn't know and tell them hi,” Creel said.
Senior Emily Rushing, the team’s co-captain who has been swimming since 2019, appreciates the supportive nature of the team.
“My favorite moment at a meet is when I’m on the diving block and there’s a silence before the announcer says, ‘Swimmers, take your mark.’ Then, I hear my teammates cheer me on before I dive into the pool,” Rushing said.
Hewitt swimmers support each other in and out of the water, she added.
“The swim team is a group of kids that enjoy having fun and having something to be a part of,” Rushing said. “It can get serious and hard at times, but you won't regret it. When someone is having a bad day, you have a team to support you no matter what.”
Senior and co-captain Joshua Starkey has been swimming for 11 years and is currently being recruited by multiple college swim programs. This month, he will compete in the 2024 AHSAA swimming state championships, where he hopes to win first place in the 200-yard individual medley. “
The Hewitt-Trussville swim team has grown very large these last few years, and I’m excited to see how our legacies will impact it,” Starkey said. “Being on this swim team has definitely changed me for the better.”
The team welcomes new swimmers in grades 7-12. To learn more, contact Cook at molly.cook@trussvillecityschools.com.
