Coming full circle
Published 10:30 am Friday, March 10, 2023
- Former prep swimming star turned coach Aaron Ghiglieri, center, poses with James Geraghty and Eleanor Geraghty with their age 11-14 state championship medals.
James Geraghty probably had no way of knowing the full background of the guy churning out a pretty serious workout in the pool at Superior Athletic Club.
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But it was a fairly empty time at the club, and the young swimmer was looking for any tips he could get.
“He saw me there swimming and figured I knew what I was doing and we just began to talk about swimming,” said Medford’s Aaron Ghiglieri of the chance encounter in 2019.
“After that, every once in a while I would give him some technical advice, probably like once or twice a week max.”
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Turns out, that was a pretty good source of information for James and eventually his older sister Eleanor, who was already well-established as a top competitor on the youth circuit.
Ghiglieri was a three-time state champion at Cascade Christian High after his own stellar upbringing on the youth circuit, and went on to swim for the University of Michigan.
In 2019, Ghiglieri set three state records during the Oregon Masters Swimming State Championships, helping the Southern Oregon Masters Aquatics club to a second-place showing.
At that time, Ghiglieri broke a 19-year standard in the 50-yard freestyle (21.28 seconds), a 20-year record in the 50 breaststroke (26.74) and a 36-year mark in the 50 butterfly (23.09).
So, yeah, he had a few things to contribute — and it wasn’t that difficult to relate to the Geraghty siblings.
“It’s pretty easy to put myself in their position since I was there,” said Ghiglieri. “It feels like not that long ago but I guess it is.”
The Rogue Valley has already enjoyed steady coaching from the likes of Siouxha Tokman and Robin Brickenden, and plenty of quality swimmers like Ghiglieri, Breanna Sapienza, Marcus Reyes-Gentry et. al.
The Geraghtys appear to be among a group of this area’s next up-and-comers with the likes of Brie Chamberland and Genevieve Miller.
In the recent age 11-14 state championships in Corvallis, 11-year-old James Geraghty won three gold medals, earned silver in two others and bronze in a sixth event while 13-year-old Eleanor Geraghty placed first in two events, was runner-up in two others and third in a fifth event as each swam unattached.
Ghiglieri certainly doesn’t take credit for all the swimmers’ successes — they were already on a steady path through work with previous coaches — but about six months of devoted individual coaching had to have helped even a little with their standing.
“When I first started working with them, I just taught them what I learned from the very basics of what I learned throughout high school and swimming at Michigan,” he said. “I saw what worked and what didn’t and I thought, well, what if I were to go back and do it the way I know now. What would I do for myself and also what can I see in both of them that I would want to correct. I thought about it from that perspective.”
Last year at this time, James Geraghty qualified to swim in one event at the state meet and this year he was a top-3 performer in six.
He placed first in the 50-yard backstroke in 31.81 seconds, first in the 500 freestyle in 5 minutes, 51.45 seconds and first in the 100 backstroke (1:10.00). James Geraghty was second in the 50 freestyle (28.09), second in the 200 freestyle (2:09.97) and third in the 100 freestyle (1:00.42) to cap a busy weekend at the Osborn Center.
“James has developed a better feel for the water and also he’s grown a lot as an athlete and a person,” Ghiglieri said of the bump in results. “Literally, he’s grown maybe six inches since I met him. When he was at state, he was taller than a lot of kids behind the blocks that he was competing with. That by itself is a big advantage, plus he’s a hard worker and gives it his best.”
Last year at this time, Eleanor Geraghty was one of this area’s top competitors at the same event, with Chamberland and Miller shining in the 10-and-under meet, when she scored top-5 marks in five events.
Eleanor Geraghty repeated as state champion in the 100 (53.72) and 200 (1:58.08) freestyle races, this time among the 13-year-old swimmers, while finishing runner-up in the 50 free (25.19) and 500 free (5:18.39) and third in the 100 butterfly (1:01.82).
“Eleanor’s been at the top of the state for a long time and just getting better as far as rank-wise and time-wise relative to her peers,” said Ghiglieri. “She’s changed some things with her technique that’s made her better, and she’s also grown and gotten stronger.”
“Mostly with her it’s been more of a technical change that has helped her a lot,” he added. “She had some certain fundamentals down pretty well.”
The blend of being able to swim the 50 and the 500 freestyle events so well says a lot about each Geraghty, according to Ghiglieri.
“You’re talking about a distance event in the 500 so it takes a lot of endurance,” he said, “and the 50 is, of course, a sprinter’s event and as short as it gets so your freestyle needs to be really good in order for you to have a chance at both and in order to be good at both.”
The Geraghtys will next be competing at the Pacific Northwest Regional in Federal Way, Washington, beginning Thursday to conclude the short-course season.
That gives Ghiglieri a little more time for tweaks, but not much more than that as he’s learned since turning to coaching.
And, boy, has that been an adjustment as he’s come full circle from being the elite swimmer on the blocks to the person providing guidance to elementary and middle school-aged athletes.
“The hard part is that you have to kind of verbalize everything that you’re seeing in a way that they get, something that can be super technical but you have to explain it in a basic way,” said Ghiglieri. “It’s easy to overcoach because then you start talking about everything in such detail.
“If you throw too many things at an athlete at once, when they just really can only change one thing at a time, it can be overwhelming and it’s easy to overcoach. I’ve learned to focus on one part and once they get that down then work with them on the other parts and let them work out their older habits slowly. It’s taught me a lot of patience, as well as that knowledge is super valuable for athletes and technique is really important.”
It’s also taught Ghiglieri that remaining involved in the sport as a coach may just be something he could get used to moving forward.
“It’s been really fun and I like to pass on the knowledge so I can see working with them for a while, for sure,” he said of the Geraghty siblings. “I like to be able to focus on athletes individually because you can really help correct and give them everything they need to succeed. With large groups, sometimes things go unnoticed, and I don’t want to see that happen.”