Five-year-old Chloe Howell struggled on the deep water swim test at Highland Swim Club in Scotch Plains. 

“I wanted to swim with my big sisters in the deep end and go off the diving board,” she recalled. “And I remember I would try every single day they offered the test and I would never be able to pass. It was two laps of swimming, and I’d always make it to one wall but couldn’t get back to finish the whole 50.  So I was always so disappointed—I’d get out of the pool all sad, but then I remember when I did pass it, I was so proud.”

Nearly 13 years later, she’s committed to swim Division 1 at the University of San Diego. 

Once she passed that deep water test, Howell claimed she had to get stronger in the pool since she couldn’t touch the bottom, but moreover, being in the water got to be more fun. 

She was hooked. 

A few years later, Howell began to swim for the prestigious Fanwood Scotch-Plains YMCA (FSPY) swim team. 

“I did play soccer. I did gymnastics and then I joined swim because a friend of mine was on [FSPY] and I said ‘I’ll join too,’” Howell said. “I think I just like fell in love with it. It was just fun to be in the water and race and you’re always having fun. Being in the water is such a special feeling; it clears my mind.” 

Over the years, Howell found that the structure of swim—the demanding six days of practice per week, sometimes two practices per day—helped her to become more organized and placed emphasis on time management. After all, if she didn’t complete her homework before heading to practice, calculus problems could become outright torturous after a tiring set. Beyond that, though, being a swimmer has given her real-world self-confidence. 

“I think swim is really a mental sport,” Howell said. “It is a team, but you’re the only one racing unless it’s a relay. You have to handle your improvements; in practice, you’re the only one that can make yourself go faster. You have to push yourself to be your own motivator, and that [has made me] an independent [person] in and out of the pool.”

When Howell visited San Diego’s campus in September 2021, she felt at home; she knew it was where she wanted to be. The only problem? She needed to shave a few seconds off of her best times to make it happen. 

“[All the swimmers at the University of San Diego] were always chit-chatting and having fun, even when they were like lifting,” Howell said. “They were having a ball, all of them were smiling the whole time and they just wanted to get better. Everything they said about the team and Coach Mike was also positive and that’s just that’s what made me want to work so hard to get there.”

With her goals in mind, Howell put her all into swim, and the moment she was got the times she needed for San Diego, she emailed the coach.

Soon thereafter, she was a committed Division 1 athlete. 

“I was so happy,” she said. “It was kind of like a sigh of relief because even though I’m not done working—I still want to get faster—I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to college.”

With SPFHS girls swim team looking ahead to sectional championships on Tuesday, Feb. 15, Howell is looking forward to continuing to compete for the team, and moreover, for that sense of comradery to continue at the collegiate level.

“At high school meets, we’re all competing as one; we’re all doing it for the team,” Howell said. “At FSPY, we’re all happy for each other if they do well, and sad if they don’t do well, but it’s more of an individual thing. For high school, the main goal isn’t for you to drop time, it’s for the team to succeed. I think that’s what I think college is going to be like, and I think that’s exciting.”

As she looks ahead to the next chapter, Howell feels confident in knowing that her passion for her sport will continue to be a light in her life. 

“I like putting in the work and seeing it pay off in an objective sense,” Howell said. “I like to see my time and if I dropped, I know that my work paid off. That [sense of assurance] has helped me in all parts of my life.”