HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING: NOTRE DAME LAUNCHES PROGRAM

Fast-growing Notre Dame High School has added various sports in recent years and the latest is swimming for both boys and girls.

While the girls won't have their season until the spring, the boys are getting ready for their inaugural campaign. And the Bulldogs are apparently excited.

"It's very exciting, but also kind of scary to start a new team," said Notre Dame coach Lenny Kuper, whose wife Pat serves as the Bulldogs co-coach along with her husband. "But I think everybody is looking forward to getting things started."

The Bulldogs will field a very young squad, with only one senior among their 16 competitors. And Lenny Kuper said that just a handful of those 16 have any kind of previous competitive swimming experience with various local club teams.

"We're not going to be a threat to many St. Louis teams, but we just want to build the program and get the interest up," he said. "We actually have a lot more girls interested so we could have a pretty decent team this spring.

"But the boys have been super cooperative and willing to learn. We're all learning together."

Notre Dame's lone senior is Kurt Glastetter, who has competed with the Cape Girardeau Gators for several years.

There are no juniors on the squad and just two sophomores: Jordan Kuper, the son of the coaches who has quite a bit of club-level experience, both with the Gators and in Jackson; and Mark Lester, who has been with the Gators.

The rest of the Bulldogs' swimmers are freshmen. The ones with previous club experience are Stephen Hime, Josh Lester and John Fisher.

"All the other freshmen are new to swimming but they have improved a lot," Kuper said.

Notre Dame practices and will hold its home meets at the Cape Central Pool, also the home of Central High School's swimming teams. Said Kuper, "Doug Gannon with the (Cape) Parks and Recreation Department has really been good with scheduling us in."

The Bulldogs open the season Nov. 30 at Clayton, a St. Louis suburb.