Parents experience struggle, triumph with daughters
By NOREEN GILLESPIE
Saint Mary's Editor
UNIONDALE, N.Y.
When the members of the 2000 senior class walked out of the pool Saturday night, they said goodbye to four years of Big East victories, friendship in and out of the pool, and began to face a life without swimming.
In the stands, parents stood with tears of pride, also bidding goodbye to the sport they had spent the last two decades of their life supporting. For them, too, it would mean facing a life without swimming.
While the swimmers will remember years of training, hard-earned victories and sorrowful defeats, the parents' memories will differ. They will remember years of waking up at the crack of dawn to drive their daughters to early-morning practices, stocking cabinets with spaghetti for pre-meet nutrition, and cheering wildly from the stands, watching nervously for the finish.
They will remember their daughters' acceptances to Notre Dame, and they will remember watching their daughters step onto the podium as the Big East champions for four years running.
With that many memories, it can be hard to imagine anything else — exactly the reason that many of the 2000 womens' swimming and diving senior parents are having a hard time letting go as well.
"[When I was watching tonight] I was sad thinking that I wouldn't get to be here next year," said Shari Suddarth, mother of Shannon Suddarth. "This is her last swim at the Big East. ... I'm used to always having a competitor in the family, and now there won't be one."
For those families who watched their last meet this weekend, making adjustments to years of scheduling and annual meets will be a difficult adjustment.
"This thing has been an annual ritual this time of year for us," said Rick Barger, father of co-captain Elizabeth Barger. "It's going to be hard to stop that lifetime rhythm."
Having watched his daughter compete in meets from the age of 6, swim meets have dictated the calendar for several years in the Barger family.
Not that he minds the change. He did admit a cruise with his wife would be a welcome change instead of the annual journey to the Big East Championship. But he will miss cheering on his daughter.
"I'm her biggest cheerleader," he said. "I get so pumped when she swims. I swam in college, too, but I get far more nervous for her swims than I ever did for my own."
Sitting in the stands this weekend, many parents were biting their nails as their daughters pulled out the close races. Often coming down to the split seconds of a finish, leaning over the rails and screaming wildly isn't unusual behavior for a swimming parent.
But for Marie and Ken Ketlehohn, their fear while watching daughter Gina Ketlehohn compete is more deeply-founded. Having watched her compete in diving for nine years, Marie watches with pride and nervous anticipation.
"It's very nerve wracking," Marie said. "We're always very nervous, just praying she won't get hurt. With diving it's different — we're hoping she won't get hurt above anything."
While the swimmers will also leave friends from the pool, the parents also get ready to say goodbye to the friends they've formed over the years. After four years of donning blue and gold from the stands, the Notre Dame swimming parent contingent is a tight group.
"We're really going to miss the camaraderie of the parents here," said Bettie Newell, mother of Alison Newell. "We've become a very close-knit group through all of this."
But they won't say goodbye completely.
"We cook dinner at the girls' house together. We go to football games together," Bettie said. "In the fall, that won't end."
But as they stood together for the last time as a group, decked in Notre Dame t-shirts, green plastic hats and video cameras slung over one shoulder, there was only one thought on their minds — their daughters.
And that won't change.
"We are very, very proud," said Sue Shepard, mother of Laura Shepard. "We've shared all of the joys, the successes, and the disappointments with her. We've juggled so many things to support her. ... This is a grand finish."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 21, 2000
