EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2012 graduates of the Twin Lakes Thunder Bolts swim team have stuck together for more than a decade. This team has broken many pool and DeKalb County summer swim league records. The following is Part 6 of 7 in a series of features about these accomplished swimmers.

Meeting at the pool during summer break had become the routine for Stephanie Field.

Field said she enjoyed coming back to Twin Lakes Pool for Thunder Bolts practice every summer. She said the bond formed with her six fellow classmates was something that could not be broken by time apart.

“I can’t imagine not doing it because we are all such good friends,” Field said.

The recent graduating class of Field, Meredith Gage, Rishi Kowalski, Garrett Stanley, Matthew Williams, Jason Arne and Michael Eriksen broke many records while swimming with Twin Lakes.

Field, a Lakeside graduate, has been a part of the coaching scene at Twin Lakes for the past three years. She said watching the young swimmers learn about the sport has been rewarding.

“I started out doing stroke clinics at the beginning of the year,” she said. “Watching the kids progress through the clinics was really great.”

Field said she has enjoyed following some of the swimmers she helped coach as they are breaking pool records now.

“It is great to know that you helped them get their start,” Field said.

Field did not swim at Lakeside, but she played volleyball. She said there are differences in the two sports, but she has enjoyed competing in both.

“You have to be self-motivated and you have to want to improve your times,” she said. “And you have to encourage your teammates. I really like how we are training together to help each other to get faster, but I know that you have to be motivated yourself to get faster.”

Field began swimming with Twin Lakes when she was 9. She said she did not do as well as she would have liked the first year, but she came back and started hanging out with Gage more the next season. She said that season was when all the fun started.

“That was the year we won county,” she said. “I took swimmer of the year that season, which was awesome. And we just started to grow up and become closer as a friend group. The guys started to break records. Now we are really close, so it has been fun to watch everyone grow up.”