Enjoy swimming for CVCC team
By Zoe Crain, Special Writer
For the Cherry Valley Country Club swim team, three is the lucky number.
Standout swimming sisters Catherine, Kristina and Caroline Mullen led the team to a third place finish in Division 2 in late July’s PASDA Championship Meet. Twelve-year-old Catherine placed in the top three for each of her four races, with a first place finish, two second place awards, and a respectable third place. Following her elder sister’s example, 7-year-old Caroline also placed in the top three for her four races, boasting two first place awards.
CVCC head coach Allyson Schieve said that Caroline’s outstanding performance at the PASDA meet was not any sort of surprise.
”She shows the dedication of a much older swimmer and is very focused for a little girl,” Schieve said. “Caroline is definitely going to continue to excel at the sport. She’s one of those kids who always asks at practice, ‘What can I do now? What can I do next?”
According to Schieve, the Mullen family is an integral component of the team’s success.
”The Mullens lead by example,” she said. “They’re quiet girls, but there’s no question that they’re leaders. I know the other girls who race with them are excited to be part of the same team, because they know that the Mullens are going to be focused and do well.”
Catherine and 11-year-old Kristina face a unique predicament, as they both compete in the 12-and-under division.
Schieve says the pair handles the situation well, and their close ages have actually benefited the team. The two swam the 200-meter freestyle relay, with Kristina swimming the first leg, and Catherine anchoring the race. The duo nabbed a third place finish for the group.
”It’s fun to swim the relay together,” commented Catherine. “I know Kristina will make the relay better, so it’s nice to swim it together. She’s definitely helped our relay a lot.”
Added Schieve: “I thought it would be weird for them, but it actually is really helpful, because I can stack that 12-and-under age group and use them in the relay. They compete really well with each other.”
Although Catherine is the oldest of the three girls, she lets her sisters develop their individual careers on their own.
”I think they’d rather figure it out on their own, than have me help them,” she said. “When I say stuff to them, they get more nervous, so I try to let them just swim their own races.”
All three sisters show consistent support for each other in and out of the water.
”We like to watch each other race and cheer each other on,” said Kristina.
Caroline finds the more lax summer swimming a nice change of pace from their ultra competitive winter club.
”It’s a little easier than the big USA swimming meets (we) do for the Princeton Tigers Aquatics Club,” Caroline said.
In her first year of coaching this team, Schieve was pleasantly surprised by the results of the meet.
”We brought only a handful of kids, so I was expecting to place much lower than that,” Schieve said. “A lot of the kids we brought were really dedicated, year round swimmers, so that was really helpful. They had a lot of meet experience.”
”Experienced” certainly can be used to describe the Mullens. Catherine began competitive swimming at age 5 for a team in Pennsylvania. As she began to swim with winter clubs, in addition to summer teams, her family, and younger sisters, began getting involved as well. Since then, swimming has been a family affair for the Mullen women.
The experience has also helped calm the jittery nerves that can sometimes occur before meets.
”We aren’t as nervous, now that we’ve swam in so many meets,” Catherine said. “You perform so much better when you’re relaxed.”
Kristina agreed, chiming in with: “We just rest before the meet and just try to have fun.”
Schieve, herself, is no stranger to the sport of swimming. She began her coaching career with a position at Rutgers University, where she coached pre-competitive swimming. In addition to her summer position with Cherry Valley, Schieve coaches the varsity swim team at the Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison.
Although the team’s record this season will bump them down to Division 3 swimming next year, Schieve anticipates the same level of dedication and commitment from her young team.
”I don’t think our record is in any way reflective of how competitive our club is,” she said
Looking forward to the next few years, Schieve believes that Cherry Valley will continue this competitive drive.
”It was my first year as a coach, so I believe there was some learning curve, but now I believe that myself and my assistant will have a better handle on how to go about winning more,” Schieve said. “Winning is good.”
In spite of an increasing dedication to swimming, the Mullen girls lead well-balanced lives. All three attend Stuart Country Day School, where they each have individual hobbies. Catherine’s interests lay in sports, as she also plays field hockey and lacrosse. Kristina has a passion for theatre and acting and Caroline enjoys playing the violin.
”They each have other unique activities for themselves, so they all have something that’s their own,” said their mother, Joan Mullen. “And then the nice thing about swimming is that it’s an activity that they can all do together.”