Cougar swimmers connected by more than school alone

College of Charleston swimmers Bucky and Randy Buchanan, Preston Parrish and Bailey Clark are all from Mount Pleasant and all went to Wando High School, and while that may not seem an unusual connection, it's not where the story begins.

Here's where it gets rather bizarre: All four began swimming for the summer league team at Snee Farm before the age of 10.

What are the odds that four kids off the same club would wind up not only swimming at the college level but doing so at the same school?

Snee Farm swim coach Jason Kreutner isn't sure about the exact mathematical probability, but admits it's unusual.

"It's very rare," said Kreutner, who also serves as headmaster at University School in Mount Pleasant. "I've been coaching for 20 years at Snee Farm and a handful of kids have gone on to swim in college, so this is a fairly incredible development. All of them started swimming for Snee Farm from the seven to eight age range, so it's a testament to the level of swimming they've achieved."

Bucky Buchanan, a senior, concentrates on the freestyle and sprint events, while brother Randy, a sophomore, swims the breaststroke, freestyle and individual medley. Parrish, a senior, swims freestyle, backstroke and butterfly.

Clark, a sophomore, concentrates on the freestyle for the women's team.

College of Charleston swim coach Bruce Zimmerman rates it as an odd coincidence that all four came from the same summer league team.

"When I'm recruiting, I don't look at summer league swim events," he said. "That's a very distant level of competition from where we are. I'm looking more at their high school results and the year-round club teams they swim on. But most of the kids in the Charleston area also swim on a summer league team. That's usually how they get started in the sport of swimming."

All four were instrumental in helping maintain Snee Farm's run of 19 consecutive Coastal Carolina Aquatic Association titles. The CCAA is comprised of approximately 24 teams in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties.

"We've just had great coaches over there who have put together a lot of great swimmers," said Parrish. "You have to give a lot of credit to Jason Kreutner."

Kreutner gives the credit right back. "It's all about helping develop excellence in others," he said. "All four have worked a lot with our younger swimmers, so they were very instrumental in the success we've had, and not just based on their individual accomplishments. They did an incredible job in helping us sustain it."

It's possible none of the four would have wound up at the College of Charleston if it hadn't been for a chance encounter Bucky had as a freshman. "This guy on the street basically talked me into walking on," Bucky said.

Bucky soon proved not only a valuable addition, but a valuable recruiter.

"Preston actually went to South Carolina," Bucky said, "but he called me about halfway through the year and said, 'I'm thinking about transferring.' I said, 'Bring it on.'"

The next year, Bucky's younger brother Randy joined the fold, along with Clark.

"I'd known those guys since I was about eight years old," Clark said. "It was a comfortable decision."

Randy decided on Charleston for a familiarity that went beyond joining his older brother and former teammates. "I probably knew about half the people on the team already," Randy said.

Charleston has four swimmers on the men's team and four on the women's team with Lowcountry roots.

"The Charleston area has a tremendous pool of swimmers," Zimmerman said. "Right now in the senior high school class there are at least a dozen kids in the Charleston area who will compete somewhere at the collegiate level next year. Just getting those initial few to come here kind of piqued the interest of others. Hopefully, we'll have great swimmers from our area for years to come."

Reach Charles Bennett at cbennett@postandcourier.com.