Their parents, Brad and Nancy, took them to beginner lessons run by the town of Walpole simply “for safety reasons.”

“We all hated it,” Danielle said recently, as Jessica and Nicole laughed in agreement.

For the Sauve sisters of Walpole — Danielle, Jessica, and Nicole — all now competitive college swimmers, it was hardly a case of love at first swim.

Neither parent swam competitively, but they soon knew the girls were naturals in the water.

By the time they entered middle school, it was obvious to the girls, too, and each decided to take the sport seriously.

Now twins Danielle and Jessica swim competitively for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, where they are juniors studying chemical and biological engineering. Nicole, younger by 14 months, swims for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, an NCAA Division 1 program.


Their decade-long dedication to the sport began when they signed up for the Lightning swim club based out of the Hockomock YMCA. There, they met Sue Roycroft, who started coaching at the club 17 years ago and would provide a guiding hand for the Sauves until their collegiate careers began.

Roycroft first swam competitively at the Attleboro YMCA when she was 8 years old and continued with the sport before giving it up her freshman year at Franklin High School.

But a knee injury sustained playing softball her sophomore year led Roycroft back to swimming, which she used as a form of rehabilitation.

The rehab quickly turned into a passion, and Roycroft would go on to swim in the first NCAA Women’s National championship in 1982 representing UMass Dartmouth, then known as Southeastern Massachusetts University, where she is a member of the athletics hall of fame.

Roycroft immediately saw potential in the young Sauves, recognizing in them “a goodhearted sibling rivalry,” she said. “It pushed all three of them to be successful.”


Their talent and competitive drive yielded results. Every year of middle and high school, Danielle, Jessica, and Nicole all qualified for two events in the YMCA National Championships in North Carolina. Joined by Maeve McGowan of Mansfield, who currently swims at Merrimack College, they set team records in the 200-meter freestyle relay (1:41.14) and the 400 free relay (3:41.75).

The twins’ club careers attracted attention from a handful of Division 1 colleges, but drawn by their interest in RPI’s engineering program, coach Shannon O’Brien said, “They actually contacted us and decided they liked the team and where we were going.”

Their effect at RPI was immediate.

During her freshman campaign, Danielle took first at the Liberty League Championships in the 500-yard freestyle (in which she owns the school record of 4:57.93) and the 400 individual medley, while also earning second in the 200 free and third in the 100 free. She was named the Liberty League’s 2014-2015 Rookie of the Year.

Jessica took third in the 200 breast stroke and 400 individual medley at the league championship, finding a spot on the All-Liberty League Second Team in the 200 and 400 free relays.

After stellar freshman showings, they resumed training with Nicole and the rest of the YMCA club during the summer. Nicole, meanwhile, spent her senior year with the club without her older sisters. “It was fun,’’ coach Roycroft said, “for Nicole to have an opportunity to come into her own both personally and athletically.”


“Everybody had always referred to them as a group,” Nancy Sauve said of her daughters. Nicole “didn’t want to follow them to college.”

So the youngest Sauve elected to swim for Sacred Heart University, where she began to make a name just for herself. After a February week in which she won the 500 freestyle and took second in the 1000 free in a dual meet victory over St. Francis Brooklyn, she was named Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week.

In this season’s opening meet, a 129-127 win over Long Island University Brooklyn Oct. 15, Sauve took second in the 1000 free. The team record now stands at 5-1. Sauve is temporarily on the shelf recovering from knee surgery but should be ready Jan. 14 when Sacred Heart resumes competition at Manhattan College.

Meanwhile at RPI, the team headed into the Liberty League Championship at 4-1, looking to capture its first league title after having the best season in school history last year.

In its first undefeated regular season ever, the women swimmers set 10 new school records, with the Sauve twins contributing to half of them as members of relay teams.

At the end of that year, both sisters were recognized by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America, earning All-American Scholar honors after they achieved 3.5 GPAs.

For the three sisters, all of whom coach at the YMCA during the offseason, balancing sports and academics appears second nature. Their success at both might trace to what Roycroft saw in the trio all those years ago.


Swimming “brings us together,’’ Jessica said. “We spend so much time together because of it.”

“But,’’ Nicole said, “it’s always a friendly competition.”

Sam Boyles can be reached at samuel.boyles@globe.com.