School: Souderton
Water Polo, Swimming
Favorite athlete: Dara Torres
Favorite team: New England Patriots
Favorite memory competing in states: Becoming State Champion in the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays
Most embarrassing moment while competing in sports: Almost missing my race at a big meet freshman year.
Music on iPod: Pump-up pop music
Future plans: Go to Liberty University, swim and study elementary education
Words to live by: “For those who dream, there is no such word as impossible.”
One goal before turning 30: Make it to Olympic Time Trials
One thing people don’t know about me: I am a very quiet person until you get to know me.
When Souderton swim coach Todd Bauer asks senior Chloe Thomas if she’s going to win a race, his senior captain doesn’t say a whole lot.
“She just kind of smiles and nods,” the Indians’ coach said.
Rarely has a smile and nod been more powerful.
Thomas has quietly and without fanfare developed into not only a winning swimmer but also one of the top sprinters in the entire state. As a sophomore, she was part of two record-breaking gold medal relay teams at states, and last year she finished seventh in the 50 free at states.
This year she’s aiming even higher, and if her performance at Saturday’s Bucknell Invitational is any indication, Thomas – who finished first in the 50 in a meet that included 56 teams – has to be considered a serious contender for a state crown.
But don’t expect her to say a whole lot about it.
“My mother-in-law had Chloe in social studies and said you would never know she’s a good swimmer because she never talks about it, never says a thing and is very, very unassuming,” Bauer said. “Some of the best swimmers I’ve coached have had a little attitude about them.
“That’s one of the reasons they’re so good, but she doesn’t have that attitude. She might, but she doesn’t voice it. During the last four years, I could probably count on two hands how many times she has spoken up or said something during practice. She’s a really quiet kid but extremely motivated.”
And extremely good.
“The bigger the meet, the bigger she swims,” Bauer said. “She always swims her best meets against North Penn, at leagues, districts and states, and those are our biggest meets.”
Thomas is the undisputed leader of this year’s Souderton squad. She is one of just two seniors on the team and the only girls’ captain.
“We’re a very young team, and the heart of the team is sophomores,” Bauer said. “Chloe is certainly the leader of the pack.”
Making her ascent to the top of her sport even more fascinating is the fact that Thomas was not pegged for greatness as she progressed through the Souderton Aquatics Club program.
“Every year I have kids who I know their history and how fast they are,” Bauer said. “Chloe was not one of those kids, but something happened when she hit high school. She just became a superstar.”
It took absolutely no time for Thomas to get Bauer’s attention, and the Souderton coach – then in his first year – can still remember looking at her split on the scoreboard during an early season meet at Pennridge.
“I didn’t even know her name,” Bauer said. “I would have known it if I was reminded of it, but she wasn’t one of the kids I knew very well.
“I don’t know if I’d ever even talked to her, and she put a time on the board that just blew me away. From then on, I knew she was going to be pretty special.”
Thomas – who has been swimming since she was eight – admits she surprised even herself.
“I was always one of the contributors getting points for Souderton Aquatics, but I wasn’t anything real big or whatever,” she said. “Once high school rolled around, I started getting faster, and they started noticing me.”
Softball – Thomas’ sport of choice in her younger years – fell by the wayside when she was in eighth grade and made a year-round commitment to swimming.
Thomas set goals and then went out and achieved them. She advanced to districts as a freshman, and as a sophomore was a member of Souderton’s state championship 200 and 400 free record-shattering relay teams.
“That was crazy,” Thomas said. “We went into states, and we were talking about how we would have the opportunity to win if we really wanted to and put our minds to it.
“We just all wanted to get each other to that point and be state champions. That drive that each of us had just pushed all of us to become state champions. It was crazy.”
At 5-9, Thomas is a long swimmer, and she uses that to her advantage, but her success didn’t just happen.
“I think just working hard and seeing that if you put the effort forth you’ll be able to achieve the goals you set for yourself,” she said. “I think that is what has made me faster and also my coaches pushing me and trying to get me to do the best I can.”
According to Bauer, swimming may be all about talent when you’re young, but that can change.
“Gradually the balance between talent and hard work balance out as you grow older,” the Indians’ coach said. “Chloe is one of those kids that works really hard. She can’t maintain the practice regiment that some of the distance swimmers can, but when it’s time to get up on the blocks and race, she’s as fast as anyone on the team and probably faster than most of the boys. She’s very, very fast.”
Thomas has accepted a swimming scholarship to Liberty University, which has a varsity swim team for the first time this year.
“Chloe will probably go in as one of the top three swimmers on that team,” Bauer said. “They’re trying to build a program around sprinters, and she’s one of the pieces.
“Their coach told me that he thinks if he can get four sprinters to make a relay that goes to nationals, it can put the school on the map.”
Thomas caught the eye of Liberty coach Jake Shellenberger when she was a freshman, and her value only increased when she was part of the Indians’ record-breaking state championship relays as a sophomore.
“Once the recruiting process started, he was one of the first ones that called me,” Thomas said. “We just kept talking.”
A recruiting trip to the Liberty campus in early October sealed the deal.
“I just fell in love with the school,” Thomas said. “I loved the atmosphere. Everyone was welcoming. I loved the girls on the team. I could easily pinpoint who on my team is someone on Liberty’s team.”
Receiving a scholarship to compete in a sport she loves has been an unexpected ending for Thomas.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “Starting out, I didn’t know what kind of swimmer I would be, but then I heard all my friends on the team were getting scholarships for swimming in college.
“I was like, ‘That would be so cool if I could get anything at all.’ It was pretty exciting to be offered something.”
Thomas plans to major in elementary education, and although she takes one AP class, she has opted against taking a prohibitive course load.
“Swimming takes up a ton of time, and I want to make sure my grades are staying up,” she said. “I don’t go overkill.”
Thomas admits she values the camaraderie of her teammates more than the medals she has won.
“My team has been the one that’s been pushing me, and just getting to swim with them all four years and growing up with them has basically been the highlight of high school for me,” she said.
Thomas still has some unfinished business to attend to before she leaves Souderton.
“I would love to win,” she said of going for the gold at states. “Everyone would, but that’s basically my goal this year.”
Bauer acknowledges he has inherited a special athlete when Thomas came on board.
“There are a couple of things you can’t teach,” he said. “She’s a tall girl, and she’s very strong. Maybe she developed slower athletically, but all of a sudden she was an impact player, and she’s definitely the highest caliber swimmer on our team right now.”
The Souderton senior volunteers her time to coach the younger swimmer in the Souderton Aquatics program, and she also teaches swimming lessons. She is active in her church and has twice been on mission trips to Canada.
“Of the swimmers I have coached in years past, Chloe ranks in the top one percent in terms of both character and swimming ability,” Bauer said. “If you talk to her, she’s as competitive as the next kid, but contrary to come kids we’ve had in years past, she doesn’t voice it at all. She’s never going to tell you she’s going to beat somebody or what her goals are unless you ask her.”
And then the most you’ll probably get is a smile and slight nod, which – translated – means that Thomas is more than likely going to beat whoever is lining up on the blocks next to her.
