School: Upper Dublin
Swimming
Favorite athlete: Brady Quinn
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies!
Favorite memory competing in sports: Watching the pool deck during districts and seeing all of my teammates jump up and down when we won districts.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Right before a huge race, I witnessed a girl pee on the pool deck before her race.
Music on IPod: Lots of Taylor Swift, Glee cast music, Matt & Kim, and other upbeat tunes.
Future plans: Graduate from college with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and then travel through Europe
Words to live by: ‘The most wasted of all days is the day you do not laugh.’
One goal before turning 30: To compete in the show Amazing Race with my Dad
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m a huge yogurt fan. I especially like black raspberry yogurt.
Erin Regan battled asthma as a youngster. If she hadn’t, the Upper Dublin senior’s high school athletic career would have had a completely different ending.
Asthma, as it turns out, is the only reason Regan took up swimming when she was in third grade.
“My doctor recommended some kind sport that would help with the asthma so you can cope with it better,” the Flying Cardinals’ senior captain said. “He recommended swimming, so my parents sent me to lessons.”
An avid soccer player, Regan was less than enthusiastic about her new venture.
“I was the oldest girl in pre-team – I was seven or eight, and you usually start when you’re six years old,” she said of a program that helps children with their strokes while also building stamina. “I didn’t want to get in the water – it was too cold and stuff.
“Honestly, I really didn’t like it.”
Once she got a hang of the strokes, Regan began to enjoy it, and she was officially hooked after competing in her first meet.
“They finally moved me up to 8-and-under,” she recalled. “I wasn’t very good. I was in the last heat, but I was like, ‘Oh, this is really cool. I’m racing against people.’
“I liked the competition, and I kept doing it.”
Upper Dublin coach Brian Palme is certainly glad she did.
“She’s been an invaluable member of our team at practice, in the locker room, and at competitions,” the Flying Cardinals’ coach said of his senior captain. “She has been an incredible sportsman who promotes fair play and fun.
“She cares about all of her teammates and puts them ahead of herself. She has been an exceptional leader.”
On top of all that, Regan has developed into an elite swimmer and played a starring role for the Flying Cardinals in their recent run to a District One AAA title.
She finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.33 and was part of Upper Dublin’s record-shattering 200 medley relay that broke the meet record established by Souderton in 2009 (1:47.38) with a time of 1:47.33. She also was part of the 400 free relay that was second to Council Rock North (3:30.06) and also finished in a meet record time of 3:31.
Although butterfly is her specialty, Regan also swam the 500 free and medaled, finishing eighth and earning valuable points for her team.
“Over the season, I built up my endurance, and I kind of trained in the ‘mobster lane’ in practice,” she said. “We would do all distance work, and it built up my stamina and my agility.
“He (Palme) put me in it because he knew I wouldn’t give up for my team. I would just keep going. I had one really good (500 free) race prior to districts, and I knew if I could tap into that race then I could probably walk out with some points for the team. I have never medaled in two individuals. I was so excited.”
At least one person wasn’t surprised to see Regan excel in the 500 free.
“To be honest, where she finished is exactly where we thought she would finish,” Palme said. “I still think she has more left in the tank. She has a lot to offer.”
Regan isn’t big on talking about her own accomplishments, deflecting credit to others.
“Oh my gosh, I could never do it without my coaches and all 36 other swimmers that were on the team,” she said.
When the subject turns to her team’s success, Regan’s joy is unmistakable.
“It was just magical and inspirational,” she said. “It felt like I was in a movie because our team didn’t really win all of our meets this year. Our coaches did the best job of kind of showing us our competition before heading into districts so we’re not as intimidated, so we knew who we were racing. Some of the teams he put us against we lost by four points or we were one relay away from winning.
“Our mindset going in was – we know we can do this. We’re prepared. We just have to help each other out and encourage each other.”
And that is exactly what the Flying Cardinals did.
“Upper Dublin was on the sidelines cheering everyone on in every single race at districts, and that’s what made the difference – just knowing that even though we had a large team, we came together just as if we had a small team,” Regan said.
Success is nothing new to Regan, but the senior captain definitely saved her best for last.
“She has always done well, but you could always tell she wanted more after her district swims,” Palme said. “I think she was pretty excited after her freshman year when she just made it and everything was new. She was pretty excited after her sophomore year when she had even more success.
“Last year she would probably say it was a little disappointing – she probably wanted to go faster, but this year she just let it all hang out. She was in it for the team and the team’s success. She took all the pressure off of herself and put team goals ahead of her personal goals, and I think that’s what allowed her to flourish.”
Regan is competing in all four events at states this weekend.
“This is all just a bonus,” she said. “I’m just excited to be with the team and just put it all on the line because it’s my last week ever to swim at Upper Dublin.
“It’s sad, but I’ve really grown here.”
Regan has been swimming year round since she was 12 years old, competing with Upper Dublin Aquatic Club and – during the summer – the Fort Washington Sharks.
“I really wanted to get good because I wanted to be on the best relays,” Regan said. “I also started to make a lot of friends on the team, so I swam so I could talk to them at practice every day.”
By the time she arrived at Upper Dublin, Regan was an accomplished swimmer.
“I remember during the summer before her freshman year, I was at a swim meet where someone pointed her out,” Palme said. “She was already out-swimming the competition at that level.
“She came in pretty strong, and she was able to learn a lot under the senior leadership her freshman and sophomore years, and she really saw what it was like to be part of a team.”
Regan acknowledges that if it hadn’t been for the asthma, swimming would not be part of her present. Or her future.
“I probably would have stuck with soccer because I just loved soccer,” she said. “My school used to be a block from my house, and I used to go practice soccer there and never, ever would have considered swimming.”
Swimming helped take care of the asthma as well.
“I used to have to be on a nebulizer every night,” she said. “Now I’ve grown out of it (asthma), so I’m happy about that.”
Away from the pool, Regan is president of Upper Dublin’s Environmental Education Club, and she is also a British Exchange Ambassador. On April 12, she will leave with a group of 12 students for two-and-a-half weeks in England. The group will spend 10 days traveling, and Regan will also be spending 12 days in the home of a British student who visited the United States in October and stayed in her home.
“I’m really excited about it,” she said.
As for the future, Regan is looking to pursue a career in nursing – an interest that was sparked when she was a volunteer ambulance aid. Although she is still considering West Chester, Regan has all but decided to attend Mount St. Mary’s.
“Mount St. Mary’s offers a dual degree program – three years at Mount St. Mary’s and two at Johns Hopkins, and you get your nursing degree from Johns Hopkins,” she said. “I really want to do that.
“I had such a great season, but at the same time, I want to focus on school.”
Mount St. Mary’s is interested in acquiring Regan’s swimming talents.
“It’s a really small team again – only 16 girls,” Upper Dublin’s senior captain said. “I thought – this is just like my freshman year, and who knows what can happen in the future.”
According to Palme, the school that inherits Regan is inheriting a special student-athlete.
“She’s exactly what a team player should be,” he said. “She just embraced the girls as her own family.
“She keeps them together, she keeps them loose, she’s a peacemaker, she’s our ears in the locker room – she’s everything. We hope that the juniors were paying attention to what she was doing so they can model it next year.”
