Food consumption is a hobby for the McGuire family.
Fenwick senior swimmer Mickey McGuire said his parents take turns making family meals. Considering the amount of calories that are burned by twice-a-day swim practices during the season, Fenwick swim coach Luke McGuire wants his family well fed.
“You take care of your kids’ basic needs,” Luke McGuire said, “it makes them a lot more pliable.”
Luke and Katie McGuire’s three children learned how to swim shortly after walking.
Luke McGuire recalled the summer of 2002, when the family moved into their new home in Oak Park, and youngest child, Molly, now a Fenwick sophomore, was just a baby.
“I took the three kids to the pool every day to give mom a break,” Luke McGuire said.
Their middle child, Mickey, is now is one of the top swimmers for Fenwick’s boys team coached by his father.
“Swimming with dad has been great all four years,” said Mickey McGuire, a senior. “He has supported me a lot. We wake up early (for practice) and he makes breakfast. While we eat breakfast, he makes lunch. He feeds me a lot. As a swimmer, he says, ‘You need to eat a lot of things.'”
Mickey McGuire and the Friars finished second with 316 points Feb. 6 in the Metro Catholic Aquatic Conference Meet at Fenwick. Fenwick returns to its pool Feb. 20 for its sectional.
With sophomore Tommy Bartecki, seniors Chez Daggs and Cavan Smith and Mickey McGuire as anchor, Fenwick won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:39.77.
“That was our first race of the day,” Mickey McGuire said. “We were all pumped up. We started out the meet in a good way. Hopefully we can build off that.”
Mickey McGuire placed sixth in the 100 free (49.96), second in the 200 free relay (1:29.73) with Daggs, Ryan Clark and Smith, and fourth in the 400 free relay (3:16.28) with Smith, Clark and Liam Hutchinson.
Mickey McGuire is the latest Fenwick swimmer representing one of the school’s largest aquatics families. He is a third generation swimmer for the Friars, following his father Luke (Class of 1990), uncle Matt (Class of ’82), and grandfather John McGuire (Class of ’57). Mickey McGuire’s older brother Tommy graduated in 2013 and plays for a club water polo team at San Luis Obispo. Molly McGuire is a swimmer and water polo player at Fenwick.
Twitter @geomwilcox