HERMISTON — Tammy Fisher has been a swimmer most of her life. She has competed at several levels, coached swim clubs, and now has found a home on the pool deck with the Hermiston girls swim team.

“When this position popped up, it was the perfect fit,” Fisher said. “We get to practice in town, and I love working with young women.”

The Bulldogs have gotten off to a good start to the season with wins over Chiawana and Pasco. They will be tested Saturday, Sept. 23, when they compete against Richland, Washington, and Walla Walla at Whitman College.

“Richland is double our size,” said Fisher, who has 16 girls on the roster this fall. “We are excited.”

The Bulldogs already have two swimmers who have qualified for districts in their respective events, and senior Lili Teegarden, who excels in the sprint freestyle and backstroke events, has been the team’s highest placer.

The team is led by senior captain Kennda Murray, who swims the butterfly and individual medley.

“She is really valuable to our team because of her specialty in the butterfly and IM,” Fisher said. “Not a lot of girls swim those.”

Junior captain Reagan Stanek swims the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle.

“She dropped 20 seconds off her 200 free, and 5 seconds off her 100 butterfly from last year,” Fisher said. “Kennda, Reagan and Ryleigh Long attend a camp at WSU this summer, and we are expecting continued big times for us in all the meets.”

Freshman Gissel Gonzalez has been a nice surprise for the Bulldogs. She already has qualified for district in the 200 and 500 free.

“It is really impressive,” Fisher said. “Her 500, she swam it technically perfect last week. She has never swam competitively before. The future is really bright for her.”

Junior Grace Winebarger, who is in her first year of competitive swimming, has met the district qualifying standard for the 100 free.

“She is a phenomenal sprint freestyler,” Fisher said. “She will continue to improve and set the tone for her team to improve.”

The Bulldogs were able to showcase their skills for the home fans Thursday, Sept. 21, during a Homecoming event at the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center. Among the events were a watermelon crawl, and the football coaches had a belly flop contest.

“For the first time, the girls were able to swim at home in front of a crowd of their peers,” Fisher said. “We are thankful for the city of Hermiston for collaborating with us, and thankful for the support of Hermiston Athletics.”

A swimmer’s coach

Fisher (nee Tangney), who is in her seventh year of teaching at Hermiston High School, is a 2002 graduate of Pendleton High School, where she swam for the Bucks.

She is part of the 200 free relay team, along with Jennifer Thomas, Ryndi Scofield and Elizabeth Newhouse, that holds the school record with a time of 1 minute, 45.52 seconds. The record was set in 2000.

“I grew up in Pendleton and swimming was my whole life,” Fisher said. “I swam and competed at Pendleton and Whitworth College.”

She left Whitworth and finished her degree at Eastern Oregon University, where she coached the La Grande swim club for the remainder of her time in college. She also coached with the Pendleton swim club.

“I recently started competing again about a year ago,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed competing again recently in addition to coaching and being a swim mom. I competed at the US Masters Swimming National Championship in Sarasota, Florida, this summer and was top 10 in all of my events. The best thing about swimming is that it truly is a lifelong sport. There were 90-plus-year-old former Olympians at that meet still competing fiercely.”