By Kim J. Harmon

S

wimming is in her blood – it has been ever since she joined up with the Newtown Whales as a sixth-grader at the Newtown Middle School. Now, even some 25 years later as she gets set coach the Newtown High School girls’ swim team and prepares to coach the 140-member Newtown Torpedoes, it courses through her blood as strong as ever.

It is her dedication to the sport (not to mention her success as an All-State swimmer and former record holder at Newtown High) and her determination to get a Parks and Recreation program (now five years old) off the ground that brings Mary Atkinson to this moment.

A new inductee into the Newtown Sports Hall of Fame.

A Whale Of A Time

Mary (McQuail) Atkinson’s first taste of competitive swimming came back in the sixth grade – which, these days, is rather late in life. But the Whales were big (and good) and Mary fell in love with the sport right away.

Yes, she had the love.

But she also had the talent.

Just a few short years later, Mary was an integral part of a strong Newtown High School swim team. As a sophomore, she helped lead the Lady Indians (as they were known then) to a 7-4 record in the old Western Connecticut Conference (runner-up to Weston) and then helped the Lady Indians finish runner-up at the CIAC Class L championships for the third year in a row.

But the greatest season came in 1980 – during Mary’s junior year. The Lady Indians finished undefeated in the WCC and claimed the championship after the first-ever league swimming and diving meet. It was that year that Mary set two individual records (100-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle) and shared in two relay records (200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle).

The 400 freestyle relay team was second in the state and thus Mary earned her spot on the CIAC All-State banners.

Those records have since been eliminated from the board, however. Still, Mary gets a little chuckle out of remembering a photo in the pages of The Newtown Bee showing Kasey Keating – after setting a new backstroke record – peeling Mary’s name off the record board up at the high school pool.

“I have such fond memories of my middle school and high school years,” she said.

The need to work her way through college kept her off the team at the University of Connecticut, but Mary did swim intramurals.

Still, ever since the sixth grade swimming has been a part of her life. It became an even BIGGER part of her life just four years ago when she – along with Nancy Hubbard, Jane Maher, and her husband Glenn (who should not hold it over Mary’s head that he still has a record up on the Newtown High board) – got the go ahead from the Parks and Recreation Department to start up the Newtown Torpedoes age group swim team. That’s when Mary and Glenn’s daughter Abby, now 13, got involved. And soon came Emma, now 11, and Maggie, 8. It won’t be long, either, before Ellen, 5, is donning her Speedo.

For years, Newtown had been served by the Newtown FAST (Fairfield Area Swim Team) program, but once the program slipped away there was a little bit of a hiatus before Barbara Kasbarian, Park and Rec director, pushed for a revival.

That’s where Mary and Nancy and Jane and Glenn came in.

“We needed 45 kids to get started,” Mary remembers, “but we got 100. It was a real learning experience for us because we did not get a lot of information from the league and how things would run. At first, we thought this was a real bad idea.”

Once the team caught on, and got through that hectic first year, it became easier – but no less time consuming. Four years later, the Torpedoes will boast 140 swimmers for the 2001-02 season and imagine the four coaches having to sit down for five hours just to organize all the swimmers and fit everyone into the meet coming up that weekend.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Mary, “but we want to make sure the kids have a good experience.”

Although the four coaches split up the age groups to make the team a bit easier to manage, Mary said it still couldn’t happen without the wonderful support not only from the parents, but from the older kids on the team (this is the only place where a 15-year-old swimmer will compete alongside an eight-year-old swimmer).

“We have unbelievable parents on our team,” said Mary. “That has made this so much better. And I like how a lot of the older kids will come early and help the younger kids figure out where they are supposed to be.”

The Torpedoes boast divisions in 8-and-under, 9-and-10, 11-and-12, 13-and-14, and 15-and-over age groups and, oddly enough, it seems as if it is the youngest division which is one of the main strengths of the program.

“The kids can’t wait to get back,” said Mary. “It’s a great experience for them.”

And it’s been a great experience for her.

“Some parents will come up to me and say, ‘boy, I bet you can’t wait till this is over,’ ” said Mary. “But this is so much fun.”

So, while the Torpedoes attack another season in the Yankee Swim League, Mary will be putting on another hat this fall . . . the one that says Newtown High School girls’ head coach. It seemed only natural for Mary to once again coach many of the kids she saw move through the age group program.

Yep, swimming is in her blood all right – and no amount of transfusions is going to get it out of there.