Cameron Buonocore ’20
Photo courtesy of Hadley DeBruyn ’20
December girl’s Athlete of the Month is junior Hadley Debruyn ‘20. Hadley is currently commencing her fourth year as a varsity member on Episcopal’s Swimming and Diving team. The freestyler had a bit of a rough start to the sport, “When I was 3, my mom took me for swim lessons at the Y. I was terrified. It was so bad that they gave my mom her money back because they thought it was detrimental to my psyche. Later though, when I was 7, I was trying to teach myself how to swim butterfly at the pool over the summer and my mom made me join the swim team. I’ve loved it since then.” Debruyn quickly advanced her skill level and made sure she was seen as a valued asset as soon as she dove into the pool for the first time. “She has been on the varsity team since 8th grade, where she made an immediate impact.” explains Coach Quincy Hyson. He continues, “During her freshman season, Hadley won the 500, in one of the most exciting races I’ve ever witnessed during my time coaching at EA. This helped to solidify the girls Eastern’s Championship.”
As it is Debruyn’s first season as an upperclassmen, she is now not only viewed as purely a point scorer on the team but a role model as well. The training for swimming is rigorous and takes a significant amount of effort every practice, but being a leader, Hadley makes sure she puts her all into the practices to show that incredible times such as hers are gained from fortitude and determination. “Hadley is a very hardworking and committed teammate. What makes her so great is how she is focused brings a great mindset to each practice. She knows what she wants and never settles for less,” States fellow swimmer Chelsea Liu ‘20.
Hadley is humble in her approach towards this winter; her objective for the season is to be a leader and support the team rather than strictly focusing on herself. She aims to give back to the team that aided her development throughout the years. “I think my biggest goal for this season is contributing to this team as much as possible. The coaches, Coach Quincy, Coach Lear, and Coach Kline, have always been there for me and done so much for me while I’ve been at EA.” explains Debruyn.
The upcoming season looks promising for the star swimmer as Episcopal Swim Coach Hyson points out. “Not only is she one of the top swimmers in the Inter-Ac, but she is extremely versatile. Giving us the ability to move her around to fill any holes that we may have in our lineup. I’m confident that Hadley will continue to be one of our leading scorers, and she should continue to bring home plenty of hardware from Easterns. This will hopefully help us to win another Easterns Championship.”