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Jags Don Pink Caps To Support Ex-Coach

Tribune photo by KATHERINE SMITH

Emily O’Loughlin, Ava Batansky, Paige Russell and Taylor DeMesa are supporting former swim coach Mara Schultz, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, by wearing pink caps at meets.

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By KATHERINE SMITH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2008

TAMPA - Taylor DeMesa and Paige Russell had just helped their Academy of the Holy Names swim team finish fifth at the City Relays, but their work was far from over.

There were phone calls to make and miles to drive. All in a quest for bright-pink swim caps.

Less than 24 hours before the Sept. 6 event, the girls discovered that former Academy swim coach Mara Schultz had breast cancer.

"She helps us so much with everything we do," Russell said. "She's always behind us telling us we can do anything. We just wanted to do something for her."

Schultz, the Tribune's Coach of the Year in 2005, announced to the school she had cancer the day before the City Relays, an event she won four times as Academy's coach. The news came as a shock to the swimmers.

"When I first heard, I just stood there and thought, this can't be because I saw her that morning and she was completely fine," Russell said.

High school rules dictate no jewelry, so pink wristbands were out. So were pink ribbons on their swimsuits. The caps would have to do.

"It was a subtle way for us to say we support her," DeMesa said. "She had no idea we were going to do this."

The entire team walked out on the pool deck in the new caps and surprised Schultz, who was in the stands for the Jaguars' first meet of the season on Sept. 9. The girls presented their former coach with her own pink cap, which had been signed by the team.

"She was crying, and we were all crying," Russell said.

The girls thought it was the least they could do for a coach who made them better swimmers.

"Because she was a former swimmer, she could relate to us really well," Russell said. "She helped me to be able to think positively. If I didn't swim my best time, she'd tell me I would get it at the next meet and that I just had to push myself harder at practice."

Schultz, who stepped down in November after seven years as the swim coach but continued teaching, had surgery last Thursday, and by all accounts it was successful. She's expected back at the school in a couple of weeks, and she will be warmly welcomed.

But the Jaguars swim team isn't done honoring her. They are planning to participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in St. Petersburg on Oct. 4.

"We are so much more aware about breast cancer now," DeMesa said. "And now we want to work harder for her to show her how much she impacted us."

COLLEGE CANVASING: Jesuit's Vinny Donnelly got a taste of the college life when he visited FSU this past weekend. Donnelly attended the Seminoles' football game, met the swim staff and got to test the pool.

"The pool is really fast," he said. "I felt good in it."

Donnelly plans to visit Indiana this weekend and Clemson and LSU next month.

East Bay senior Tyler Ball will be taking official visits to West Virginia on Sept. 26 and South Carolina on Oct. 17. He also has interest from Clemson and the University of Tampa.

Ball has the county's top time in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:04.35) and the third-best time in the 100 fly (55.25).

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