FISHERSVILLE - Taylor Hubbard swam competitively for the Waynesboro YMCA's SMAC team for four years.

The Wilson Memorial junior loved it, but had to give it up this year. Hubbard takes classes at the Shenandoah Valley Governor's School in addition to Wilson, and she ran cross country in the fall. Her schedule was just too hectic to include swimming.

So when Hubbard heard that Wilson Memorial was planning to add swimming as a club sport next winter, she was thrilled.

"I think that the high school swim team would just give me another chance to swim again and not put in all the time requirements that the SMAC club team has," she said.

SMAC, short for Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club, requires 15 1/2 hours of practice a week over six days from its swimmers. Monday through Friday, the swimmers are in the pool as early as 5 a.m. They get to sleep in on Saturdays with practice beginning at 6 a.m.

Swimmers do it because they enjoy the sport.

"It really gets my mind off of things," said Wilson junior McKina Fitzgerald. "It helps me relax."

Her brother, Miles Fitzgerald, an eighth grader, said it also becomes part of your life after doing it for so many years.

A high school team wouldn't require quite as much practice as SMAC. The season would start in early November and run through early February. The current projections for practice would be three times per week for just over an hour each time, meaning the total week's practice would be fewer than four hours.

John Murie first approached Wilson athletic director Craig Flesher earlier this year about the possibility of adding swimming as a sport.

Murie has two daughters — Cameron is a sophomore at Wilson Memorial and Rachel is an eighth grader at Wilson Middle School — who swim for SMAC. He read a story in The News Leader about Waynesboro having the only swim team in Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County, and wondered why Wilson couldn't add one.

Waynesboro swimmers enjoy unique experience

He knew his daughters and some of their friends would join the team. Cameron Murie also wrote a paper for an English class in the fall about why Wilson should add swimming and she received positive feedback from other students after she presented it.

Cameron Murie wants to experience what it's like to be part of a high school team, but swimming is a year-round endeavor and that makes it difficult to focus on another sport.

"It would be cool to have the experience of being in a high school sport," she said.

John Murie also saw Flesher quoted in The News Leader's story saying that adding swimming had never come up at Wilson, but if it did he wasn't opposed to discussing the idea.

"I thought, "So let's have a discussion then," Murie said.

This past Thursday night, Flesher and Murie held a meeting in the high school auditorium for parents and athletes interested in swimming. Seventeen students ranging from rising eighth to 12th graders signed the form indicating they would like to participate.

The plan is to have another meeting in August or September once school is in session again and see how many students are still interested. If they can field a team of close to 20 swimmers, Murie feels like that would be enough.

The program would only be a club sport next year, meaning it would not fall under the umbrella of the Virginia High School League. The team won't be able to compete in the postseason, but can compete in regular season meets against other high schools at the discretion of the host school. Flesher and Murie would like to see the Hornets swim in three or four meets next year.

Practices would be held at Augusta Health Fitness pool in Fishersville with the idea now of practicing three times a week from 7 to 8:15 p.m. There would also be a few practices at the Waynesboro YMCA so swimmers can work on race starts since there are no starter blocks at Augusta Health.

There is no activity fee like varsity sports, but there is cost associated with the team. Murie estimated that individual swimmers would have to pay about $70 for equipment. There would also be a cost of approximately $2,000 for the team, including $1,350 for the cost of using the Augusta Health pool.

Most of the $2,000 would be covered through fundraising, although Flesher said some of it may come out of his athletics budget. At this time he can't commit to how much, if any, Wilson could contribute to the club.

Maura Stout, a Wilson Memorial teacher, will be the club sponsor. She swam in high school and has coaching experience, including volleyball and softball, at Wilson. Unlike varsity coaches, Stout will not get a stipend for sponsoring the club.

Depending on the strength of the team, Wilson Memorial officials would consider making swimming a varsity sport in the future. A strong program could also convince other Augusta County schools to explore adding swimming.

"I don't know if this is good or bad," Flesher said. "But it looks like Wilson will be the torchbearer for this."

Greg Troxell, Augusta County's director of athletics, has also discussed the team with Flesher, as well as Dr. Eric Bond, superintendent of Augusta County Schools, and Dr. Kelly Troxell, Wilson Memorial's principal.

"Dr. Bond's approach to any new sport is to start it as a club and if successful it could become a funded sport by the county," Greg Troxell said. "Dr. Troxell asked and received school board approval to do a swim club at Wilson."

Flesher said the goals in the first year would be for the athletes to have a good experience and to grow the program.

"Part of wanting the swim team is just the high school experience," Hubbard said. "That's kind of why I did cross country, so I could have that high school experience. Also, I liked running too. But swimming will just add to that. I think that's important."