Good Sports: Powell says commitment, pushing through pain, produce swimming success

Cape Girardeau Central swim coach Dayna Powell, right, high-fives Elias Theall during a swim meet at Central Municipal Pool earlier this month.

TYLER GRAEF

Good Sports is a weekly feature that appears in the Southeast Missourian, as well as online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows our readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way.

Today: Dayna Powell. Powell is the founding coach of the Cape Girardeau Central boys and girls swimming and diving teams. Earlier this month, the Tigers' boys squad finished a close runner-up in the 2019 Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 1 state championships held in St. Peters, Mo. The Tigers finished behind champion Glendale, 247 to 222, snapping Central's run of three consecutive state titles (2016-2018). She has also had success with the girls team, finishing fifth at state, just out of trophy range, on three occasions during her tenure. Powell has coached the Tigers since the inception of Central's program in 1990.

You're from the Bootheel, aren't you?

Yes, born and reared in Kennett. Dad worked for Baker (Farm) Implements and my mom worked in a government farm office.

How did you gravitate to swimming?

My late mother, Jeannette Miles, had been a good swimmer and told us she'd been invited to the Olympic trials. In her mid-20s, she was in a bad traffic accident. A disabling one. But in the water, in the pool, she could move great. She got stronger and stronger and eventually threw her crutches away. You could say that swimming saved Mom's life. She gave swimming lessons and started the Kennett swim team. I coached that same team for six summers as a young adult.

Your mother is your inspiration.

I wouldn't be here today without her. If she hadn't regained her mobility in the water and showed what it means to triumph over adversity, I mean.

Did you swim in college?

Dayna Miles (Powell) started the Cape Girardeau Central swimming and diving teams. She is shown here in 1990. Southeast Missourian Archives

Yes, at Southeast. Our team won the state title all four years. I decided to study physical education. After grad school, I was hired as coordinator for Central's municipal pool. I was still working that job when Central High started the swim program in '90.

The swimming landscape was different back then?

Oh, yes, you have to understand that there were no local high school programs at that time in our area. Any competition we entered meant long bus trips, often to St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri.

You've had boys and girls teams from the very beginning. What's the difference in coaching the genders?

I've had more overall success with boys. Swimming is painful and I'd have to say that boys tolerate the pain better. Girls who do not have club experience, who are high school swimmers only, are often surprised at the amount of pain.

Explain why swimming is painful.

You use every single muscle. In order to be competitive, you use the core muscles extensively and your cardio is taxed. You hurt all over during and after a meet.

What does it take to be an elite swimmer?

Commitment. It's year-round now. Very few can compete at the top levels of swimming only during a high school season, which lasts three-and-a-half months. Central has a great relationship with Jason Cravens of River City Aquatics, a club coach. MSHSAA now permits dual participation -- both club and high school -- and our best swimmers are in the water six days a week and all 12 months.

You can't do other sports and be an elite swimmer?

It's tough. We do have a few who wrestle or run track. They can't play football, though, because the boys' swimming season is at the same time in the fall.

Is the size of your teams roughly the same?

Oh, no. We get many more girls. The girls season is underway now (the boys' season ended at the Nov. 14-15 state meet) and it lasts through the winter. We'll have anywhere from 40 to 70 girls but we have 15 to 25 boys. The social aspect is more important, as I said, for women student-athletes. They invite one another to join. Boys are a little more individualistic about the sport.

What are the benefits of swimming?

Beyond lifelong fitness, which seems obvious, it's a way to belong to a close-knit group. We travel a lot which encourages relationships. You become a family. The skills of swimming can lead to employment as a lifeguard. Because to be competitive you have to push through pain, you learn to deal with adversity. Even though swimming is technically an individual sport, you learn how to sacrifice for the good of the team. My swimmers will tell me, "Coach, put me where you need me in order for us to win," which is particularly the case in relays. This 2019 team likes to win so much that they're willing to try ideas that are outside the box.

You are bullish about the Central Municipal Pool.

I am. It's a great pool. Opened in 1980, for a long time it was the only indoor long-course (Olympic-sized) pool in the state of Missouri.

There's a lot of talk about renovating the municipal pool and adding a leisure pool at Jefferson Elementary.

We really need the 50-meter pool, which is what we've got now. The Bubble is a busy place. In the evening, it's hard to get a lane thanks to the success we've had at the high school level and the demands of club swimming. And, of course, the community is entitled to use it too. The Bubble is a great location, with fifth- to eighth-graders next door (at Central Junior High). Swimming is an important part of a P.E. program and it can be a feeder for up-and-coming high school swimmers. I'd like to see a splash pool, a cool-down pool and we need more bathrooms especially because of the big meets we host.

What's on the horizon?

We've had families move into the district because they want their kids to swim for Central. That's gratifying. I'm excited to say we've got some girls coming on who will probably comprise one of our best girls teams ever during the 2020-21 academic year.

Forgive the pun, but, what are you putting in the water at Central to produce such good teams?

(Laughs) The coach at Kearney High School asked me that a couple of years ago at the COMO Invitational. I answered, "It's the (Mississippi) river water!" Look, it's the kids who do the work, who put in the time, always trying to do better than the last time they were in the water. I'm very proud of all of them. I pray for them all a lot. I ask the Lord to allow them to use their God-given talents to the best of their abilities.

You've been coaching a long time.

Yes, and I presume your question is, "When will I step aside?" I honestly don't know. If I stop having butterflies, if the adrenalin ceases to flow, then I'll know it's time to call it a career. That time hasn't come yet.