Crown Point High School head swimming coach Bryon Angerman looks down at the pool during practice, giving instructions to the boys’ team’s top swimmers. Seconds later, the boys bounce off the wall of the pool and take off. While he was talking though, another group forms just two lanes over. Angerman makes his way over to the group of girls who are now waiting on him.
This is a rarity in high school sports world. Taking over for former boys’ swimming coach Doug Norris two seasons ago, Angerman is now in charge of both squads. And, with similar, but not matching schedules, having one coach can be both a blessing and a curse.
On Thursday, Angerman and the girls’ team left for the state meet, leaving behind the boys’ squad a few days before sectionals.
“We got the girls out down to the state meet like we wanted to,” Angerman said. “Our goal is the last meet of the year, kind of like the world series in baseball. We’re going there Saturday and we’ll see what we can do down there. Our goal is to finish in the top ten as a team and hopefully have some girls bring home some medals … I’ll be gone three days for the state meet and it puts a lot of responsibility on your assistant coaches.”
The blessing of a having a coach who oversees both squads comes in the form of having a common leader, a team builder and coach who helps bond the teams closer together while at practice.
Each team has seen rousing success under Angerman’s command. The girls’ team is sending several swimmers to state and the boys’ team is preparing for a chance to win sectionals after finishing a strong third behind Valparaiso and Chesterton in the Duneland Athletic Conference meet in early February.
“I think it has improved our practice quality a lot because it’s an equal time range so if people who are fast for girls don’t have anyone to compete with for the girls then they’d practice with the boys which is giving them better practice efforts.” senior swimmer Joey Karczewski said.
Angerman served as the girls’ head coach for over a decade before taking the job to cover both squads. The shortlist of coaches who oversee both the girls and boys swim teams in the region includes Munster head coach Matt Pavlovich and Chesterton head coach Kevin Michael Kinel.
“Munster does and Chesterton does (have the same coach for both swim teams), obviously they have a little bit bigger of a pool over at Munster it’s probably a little bit easier then. It’s hard, but it definitely works out good to a point when you can mix in some boys and girls in the workouts to challenge each other, so it’s tough, it’s a long season, but if the girls and the boys get along then usually we can make things right for both teams,” Angerman said.
For nearly three decades, Angerman’s career has involved swimming in a meaningful way. He was a member of Lake Central’s state champion teams in the late 1980’s, and he attended and swam at Fordham University afterwards.
After college, Angerman was right back in the Region, coaching Merrillville swimming throughout the mid-1990’s.
In the end, Angerman is adamant that despite its challenges, coaching both squads has its upsides as well.
“We all have the same philosophies and we all know the goal is sectionals, conference sectionals and state,” Angerman said. “We train the athletes in similar ways and then diversify based on their ability levels. It can be good and bad. I think the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. We just have to keep focusing on what works.”