When Margie Clark-Kevan arrived at Conant High School as a young teacher she noticed something missing from the athletic department.
It was 1987, the only winter opportunity for student-athletes was basketball. So with permission from then principal Tom Brennan, Clark-Kevan got together a group of eight students to form the first Conant swim team.
“There were really no experienced swimmers,” Clark-Kevan said. “I knew all of them from class and I just said ‘do you want to try it?’”
They began practicing at the Bible Conference in Jaffrey in a pool that wasn’t regulation size and had no lane markers. But the facilities and lack of experience didn’t matter to Clark-Kevan – she just wanted to share her passion for the sport.
“I loved swimming so I just sort of assumed they would too,” she said.
In the second year, the team increased to 12 swimmers, and Clark-Kevan saw that the program had a chance to be sustainable.
“Even though 12 wasn’t a big number for the second year, it was 50 percent more,” she said.
And for the last 31 years, Clark-Kevan has led the Conant swim program, coaching all three of her children, Meghan, Katie and Josh, along with a number of students who stuck around the area only to have their kids be coached by their high school coach.
But this fall, Clark-Kevan came to the realization it was time to step down. It was one of the hardest decisions she’s ever made, but with teaching five biology and chemistry classes, all with labs, and an 18-month old grandson, Clark-Kevan knew something had to give in order for her teaching and family life to get the attention it deserved.
“I don’t like to do things that I can’t do well,” she said. “I’ve done it for a long time and I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.”
Her former swimmer and assistant last year, Joe Muhonen has taken over the program and will be co-coaching with Emalee Frady, a former swimmer and current student at Franklin Pierce University.
Without Clark-Kevan there might not be a Conant swimming program. It was her passion for the sport and decision to recruit kids into a sport that didn’t have a presence in the Jaffrey-Rindge area that allowed it to grow. As a way to get kids swimming competitively at an earlier age, she started the Jaffrey-Rindge Marlins, a summer swimming club, in 1995 and presided over it until handing over the reins a few years ago.
As interest grew in the sport, the numbers for the Conant program rose into the 20s and 30s and at that point Clark-Kevan knew it was a program that would stick around. She pointed to the addition of Nancy Miller and Sandy Twadell to the team in the early years as the turning point. Both swam competitively before and helped set a bench mark for how a student athlete should train.
“Just the way they practiced and modeled how it should be done,” Clark-Kevan said. “Eventually they the kids saw it as being a competitive sport.”
Over her career, she coached some high level swimmers, most notably the Pryors – Vinny, Michael and Katy. All three swam for a high level club team and went on to swim in college and only helped show others what it takes to excel at a high level.
She is now Katy Luscombe, but to Clark-Kevan she will always be Katy Pryor. Luscombe was a 2003 graduate of Conant and swam all four years for the school, setting numerous program records that still stand today. And Luscombe appreciated that Clark-Kevan understood her commitments to her club team.
“She helped me participate in both worlds of swimming,” Luscombe said.
And when things felt overwhelming and too much about times and places, Clark-Kevan helped remind her why she enjoyed competitive swimming.
“She gave you that spark to get excited about swimming again,” Luscombe said. “It got to a point where it felt like a job, but she made it fun. She was always good about bringing it back to the basics. She had a way of making you believe in yourself.”
But it was when Luscombe moved to Jaffrey with her family from Florida the summer before eighth grade that she first met Clark-Kevan. As the new kid in town, Clark-Kevan welcomed Luscombe to the Marlins, driving her to meets and making sure she felt part of the team. It soon became apparent to Luscombe that Clark-Kevan was going to be more than just one of her swim coaches.
After graduating and aging out of the Marlins, Luscombe spent four summers coaching the Marlins with Clark-Kevan and they developed a special relationship that continues to this day.
“She really holds a special place in my heart,” Luscombe said. “And that’s not something you get too often with a coach.”
Luscombe invited Clark-Kevan to her wedding and she also attended her baby shower, which just goes to show that the founder of the Conant swim program had more to offer than just breathing techniques and the best way to do a flip turn.
“She supported me in swimming, but also as a person and a student,” Luscombe said, who also had her as a chemistry teacher. “And she was like that for everyone.”
Katie L’Ecuyer graduated a little over three years ago after spending four years swimming for Conant. During her childhood, L’Ecuyer spent summers swimming for the Clark Sharks out of Winchendon, Massachusetts, but spent her last two years of eligibility swimming for the Marlins and Clark-Kevan.
Very early on in her time at Conant, L’Ecuyer realized her coach was going to impact her life well beyond the pool.
“My favorite thing about Mrs. C-K is that she wasn’t only coaching swimming,” L’Ecuyer said. “She was there if you needed life advice. Honestly I feel like I went to Mrs. C-K for everything.”
During her senior year, L’Ecuyer lost a close friend and Clark-Kevan was there for her. “She was so helpful. She allowed me to take the time I needed,” L’Ecuyer said.
When L’Ecuyer was pondering between accepting an offer to swim at Merrimack College or going to UConn to pursue engineering, Clark-Kevan helped walk her through the decision, pointing out the fact that an education will go a lot further than her swimming career would. And that was coming from someone who had so much passion for the sport that she started a high school program on her own.
Clark-Kevan grew up a military brat, but it was in Northern Virginia where she took to the sport. She swam summer, club and in high school and would have loved to in college, but there wasn’t a program. If only there was someone there with the initiative she had.
When it came to work in the pool, Clark-Kevan had a way of getting the most out of her athletes. She was never a yeller or a screamer, but used her years of experience to motivate each and everyone that joined the team – whether they be a state champion contender or a first-year swimmer.
L’Ecuyer enjoyed the fact that Clark-Kevan had a calm demeanor because it allowed her to focus on her next race. Instead of tearing down one of her swimmers when they didn’t do things the right way, Clark-Kevan would focus on what they could do better and how to do it.
“She wanted to help you improve,” L’Ecuyer said. “And she was always learning, always figuring out the best way.”
The program has come a long way since the day of bouncing around to different pools at the Bible Conference, Ricnick’s and then Crotched Mountain for a year before finally settling into the Clark Memorial YMCA in Winchendon.
Clark-Kevan won’t miss getting up on Saturday mornings for practice or having her Christmas vacation consumed with practices that limit family time. But she will miss the kids and the teaching part of coaching.
“I adore coaching so it’s nothing to do with coaching,” she said. “It was such a hard decision because of that and still is. I really liked seeing kids take on a challenge and be successful with a challenge. I liked seeing that kind of growth.”
Clark-Kevan said she will be available if Muhonen has questions or needs advice and plans to go to home meets.
For Muhonen, it’s a little bittersweet taking over. He swam for Clark-Kevan since fourth grade and learned everything he knows about swimming from her.
“Before this year she was the only coach I ever had,” Muhonen said. “And I think if I had a different coach I might not have been so passionate about swimming.”
Her enthusiasm for the sport was infectious.
“I think you’d have a hard time finding a coach that’s as passionate about swimming,” Muhonen said.
It will be a strange winter for sure, but Clark-Kevan knew it was the right time. She’s leaving the program in good hands and that was important.
But Conant swimming won’t be the same without her.
“She was one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” L’Ecuyer said. “And who knows if Conant would have ever had a swim team if she didn’t step up.”
For the countless students to swim for Conant, it’s a good thing she did.