Gathy is the next Waterford High swimmer with plans for the military
Last summer, Waterford High School swim coach Brett Arnold's son Bennet wrote former Lancers' swimmer Asia Langley a letter while she was attending Basic Training prior to her freshman year at Army.
“He asked her, 'Have you fired a gun yet?' She wrote back, 'Today I fired a rocket grenade launcher,'” Arnold said. “My daugher Naomi drew her some pictures, too. … I guess we're a hotbed for military recruiting.”
With Langley swimming at Army and former Waterford diver Katherine Tsiouris at Marion Military Institute in Alabama in preparation for a career at the Coast Guard Academy, count current Waterford High senior Meika Gathy among the military types.
Gathy, who finished second in the 100-yard backstroke at last season's Class S state championship meet at Southern Connecticut State University and is a captain of this year's Waterford team, plans to swim at either the Coast Guard Academy or the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.
Gathy, the defending Eastern Connecticut Conference champion in the backstroke, broke the Waterford 100-meter backstroke record earlier this week in 1 minute, 8.91 seconds, competing in a dual meet against Ledyard.
“I just feel like I have a lot I can give back to the country,” said Gathy, who is 5-foot-11. “It's one of the ways I can best use my talent. … I was kind of thinking about (entering the military) at the same time as both of them (Langley and Tsiouris). Then, seeing them do it, it was like, 'If they can do it, so can I.'”
Meika's grandfather, Bruce Gathy, was an engineering professor at Coast Guard and her cousin Andrew Gathy played football for the Bears; she's been wandering around the New London campus since she was young.
Her dad, also named Andrew, said he believes the common thread among the Waterford athletes who are cut out for the military is their dedication to training for swimming.
“I've been training hard. I love training hard,” said Gathy, who has been known to hit the gym in between double-sessions for her summer club, the Nutmeg Swim Team out of East Lyme. “I just feel that to succeed, you've got to push hard. Hard work is kind of a cliché, but it's how I live my life.”
Arnold laughed, asked if his practices are conducted like boot camp, or what?
“She certainly raised a lot of eyebrows with her swimming, the times she was swimming outside of high school,” Arnold said of Gathy. “… Last year, I asked her, 'What do you think you did?' She had no idea. If anybody's eyes were opened (to how well she was swimming), it was hers.”
Arnold said Gathy has a more vocal-style leadership than Langley.
“She's exciting to be around,” Arnold said. “… She's a workhorse.”
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