Fox Chapel swimmers stay motivated to collect more medals

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, February 18, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Fox Chapel swimming coach Dan Taylor wants to make sure every year that the swimming team finds different ways to challenge its athletes.

Fox Chapel has a high percentage of kids who seldom leave the pool, taking part in club competition as well as high school events, so it is important to find different ways to keep swimmers engaged.

This year, Foxes assistant coach Matthew Mauclair has taken kids to the Cathedral of Learning to climb the steps. Last year, Fox Chapel’s swimmers started doing yoga together.

“They enjoy anything that is different from the same old, same old,” Taylor said. “We do a lot of dry-land work and use a lot of equipment. Last year, we instituted yoga as part of a weekly plan. It’s the second year of yoga and the kids love it. It helps them recover. It’s something different.”

Fox Chapel is a team that wants to stay motivated. The Foxes have a number of athletes who have hit WPIAL automatic qualifying times in several events and will be ready to chase individual and team success.

“When I look at the season and lay it out, we have to change relay combinations based on kids who graduate and try to find those with leadership qualities,” Taylor said. “We look at what we have and never do the same things twice.”

A commitment to solid training has set the Foxes on a path to being challengers for postseason success, both as a team and as individuals.

“We do have a lot of swimmers who can do multiple strokes,” Taylor said. “We have a lot of multiple qualifiers. I think we have kids that can slot into multiple races, and what is nice about the team is that we have every event covered.”

Sophie Shao, a multiple-time state champion in the 100 fly, and Sarah Pasquella have hit a team-high six automatic qualifying times.

Taylor said Shao has enjoyed a lot of the dry-land work Fox Chapel has been doing in training.

“Sophie has accomplished a bit in her high school career,” Taylor said. “You have to push different buttons to give new stimulus to stay excited and motivated.”

On the boys side, Christian Dantey has hit the automatic qualifying time in six events, and Owen Howell has hit the qualifying time in two events.

“We have a lot of motivated kids,” Taylor said. “We are excited to get to the WPIAL and state meets. Those kids who are coming back from last year are highly motivated to get back to that spot. They are goal-driven, and we know we are going to be competitive at the WPIAL level and I know kids want to get back to states.”

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