Under new management
BUTLER TWP — Butler grew tired of looking for swimming coaches, so the town has grown its own.
Swim programs at Butler High and Butler YMCA are now in the hands of some familiar names.
"It's hard to find quality swimming coaches," said longtime Butler High diving coach Ken Bedford said. "I've seen a few come and go here."
Bedford, who's been the diving coach for a decade, has served with four different head swimming coaches: Dave Bocci, Amber Schmieder, Jeff Armstrong and Dacia Como.
Now he's assuming the reins himself.
"(Then athletic director) Curt Phillips told me they were having trouble finding a coach after Dacia left and asked me if I'd consider running the program," Bedford said.
"Diving is still my area. I think I can motivate kids and I love working with them," he added "But I've hired two former Butler swimmers to help with the swimming end of it."
The former Tornado swimmers are Sarah Clouse and Crystal Gregorovich.
"I'll go back and forth a little bit (between swimming and diving), but I know those two can bring our swimmers along," Bedford said. "I'm here more for stability."
One of those swimmers will be junior Matt Goettler, who placed third in the state in the 100-yard breaststroke this summer and advanced to nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last April.
Goettler was the Tornado team MVP last season, posting the top times in seven of eight events.
"Coach Bedford will be a great emotional leader," Goettler said. "He'll improve the work habits of a lot of swimmers.
"His assistants will be totally in charge of the swimmers and they'll relate to them well."
Three years ago, the Butler High team had 25 swimmers on the squad. Last year, that number ballooned to 60."We just blew up in numbers the last two years," Bedford said. "The number of kids getting involved in swimming is on the upswing again."The Butler Barracudas — the YMCA swim team — might have something to do with that. Their roster has shot up as well.Andrew McLaughlin is in his first year as Butler YMCA aquatics director. Alex Fertelmes, a former Knoch High and Butler YMCA swimmer, took over as Barracudas head coach this season after serving as an assistant for a few years."When (longtime aquatics director Pump McLaughlin) died, the level of interest in youth swimming around here suffered a bit," Fertelmes said. "Now the numbers are coming back."We had 130 swimmers or so on this year's Butler Y team — the most we've had in a while."A few of those youth swimmers — Breanna Keelan, Noah Donovan, Chad Cummings and Camryn Forbes — have fared well at the state level. Cummings took second place in the nation for the 12-year-old age group in the 50 breaststroke."We had an extra training pool session at Alameda this year," Fertelmes said. "It's for some of the more serious kids in the sport. Some of these kids train hard all summer long."Their efforts may might felt at the high school level soon."For a while, we had good senior classes in swimming and then it just stopped," Bedford said. "You can see the interest turning around."It's exciting to see some of the talent that's on the way."
