State champion may be gone, but not all lost for Timberwolves

Published 6:28 pm Thursday, September 23, 2010

Drew Whorley, who’s entering his 12th season as head coach of the Jackson High School girls swim team, could be bitter that his star, Amber McDermott, moved to Texas, to train with the Longhorn Aquatics club team.

But Whorley, a seasoned coaching veteran in every sense, isn’t at all upset.

“I don’t really look at it like that,” said Whorley, who led the Timberwolves to the Class 4A state title last fall. “For Amber, she’s doing some really special things in the water right now. From a coaching standpoint, you’ve got to do what is best for the athlete.”

McDermott, a state champion in the 500-yard freestyle — she obliterated the 12-year-old state record last season by nearly 8 seconds — enjoyed a spectacular summer. The 6-foot junior took home first-place finishes in the 400-, 1,500- and 800-meter freestyle events at the U.S. Open swimming championships in early August at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

According to Whorley, McDermott and her family made the difficult decision to allow Amber to move to Austin, Texas, in order to continue to train with her club coach, Doug Rusk. Rusk, formerly the coach at Salmon Bay Aquatics Club in Seattle, was hired at Longhorn Aquatics in February and McDermott, an Olympic hopeful, followed in his wake.

That leaves Jackson with a big hole in its lineup, but again, Whorley isn’t worried.

The Timberwolves still have state champion Alana Pazevic, a back-to-back winner in the 50-yard freestyle. Also back are Courtney McDermott, Amber’s older sister, as well as seniors Ellen Dean and Karla Benson. Dean swims in the individual medley, butterfly and shorter freestyle events and Benson specializes in the distance freestyle. Courtney McDermott, like her sister, swam the 500 freestyle at last year’s state championships.

Whorley also noted that several freshman swimmers with club experience have joined the program, though he declined to name them because they’ve yet to prove their skills.

“We still have quite a bit of depth, it should make us pretty competitive,” Whorley said. “And we’re versatile in many different ways. … Every kid could do several things well.”

Jackson’s relay teams will be different this season with the loss of McDermott and last year’s seniors — Marina Pomar-Enders and Erin Holliday. The Timberwolves captured first place in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay at the 2008 state meet. Whorley said some of the younger swimmers are candidates to fill the gaps.

Contending for a district title with Jackson will be the consistently strong Shorewood squad, as well as Cascade, Snohomish and “you can never count Kamiak out,” Whorley said.

Despite Amber McDermott’s absence, area coaches still view the Timberwolves as a threat.

“They are going to be good,” Kamiak head coach Chris Erickson said. “I don’t know about state championship-good, but they’ll be solid.”

Mike Cane writes for The Herald.