Donavan Jeng ’23 recently broke the school record for the 100-freestyle.

Peddie swimming is continuing to make waves. 

The program, already known for its rich tradition, has seen “something in the water” this season. Continuing to see growth, the Peddie swimmers impressed at the Speedo Winter Junior Nationals East in Greensboro, North Carolina, in December.  

Senior girls captain Sara Plunkett swam lifetime-best times in the 50-freestyle (23.31, 33rd place) and the 100-backstroke (55.37, 45th). 

Donavan Jeng ’23 notched a 20.59 in the 50-freestyle (36th place) and 44.32 in the 100-freestyle, which broke a school record, and was 18th-best in the event. To top it off, Jeng swam a 1:39.79 in the 200-freestyle (37th place).

Princeton Junction native Tomaz Chevres, a junior boys co-captain, accomplished lifetime bests in the 1,650 freestyle (16:01.90, 49th place), 200-freestyle (1:43.40, 86th place) and the 500-freestyle (4:37.78, 79th place). 

“We’re getting back to some golden routes that we’re proud of,” Peddie coach Emmett Walling said.

Ivy League offers for Jeng and Plunkett

Next fall, two swimmers are off to Ivy League schools to advance their swimming careers. Both originally from Long Island, Jeng is committed to Brown, and Plunkett is headed to Yale. 

“I think you look at Peddie’s history, especially Peddie swimming history, you’re talking about perhaps the sport with the richest history of all of Peddie sports, gold medalists that have swum at Peddie,” Thad Lepcio, Peddie Director of Athletics said. “I think Sara [Plunkett] and Donavan [Jeng] exemplify what Peddie athletics should be about, the true student-athlete. Two students that swim at a very high level but also excel in the classroom. And that’s being recognized with their opportunities to attend Brown and Yale, so I could not be more proud of them.”

Jeng started swimming around the time he was eight years old.

“It really started because my parents wanted to make sure that if I was ever thrown in a body of water, I wouldn’t drown,” he explained. “I think they promised me one day, if I got good at swimming, they’d let me swim with the dolphins. That was also another motivation. I still haven’t swam with the dolphins yet. I started swimming competitively in fifth grade, and that was when I moved to Shanghai because of my dad’s job. That’s really when I started training seriously and started to show good results.”

The Roslyn, Long Island native, said swimming was a big aspect of wanting to attend Peddie.

“I used to come in the summers to California to train and have the United States environment, and then we realized that the competition is way more competitive in the U.S.,” he said. “So when we were researching ways to swim in the U.S., a lot of our friends’ families were telling us to try Peddie swimming, because they have a really long history with experienced coaches and a really fantastic environment to work around.”

“Trust the process.”

They may be about to attend Ivy League schools, but Jeng and Plunkett learned many crucial lessons, in and out of the classroom, as members of the Peddie swim program. 

“Definitely trust the process,” Jeng learned. “Results don’t happen early on, but what Peddie has taught me especially is that if you’re confident, that you’re training hard and that you’re doing the right things and that you’re doing them to the best of your ability, that something is going to come from it. My experience has been mostly good, especially with recruiting, so absolutely trust the process and just keep going.”

Plunkett echoed her teammate. 

“I would definitely agree with Donavan on ‘trust the process,’” she said. “With swimming, you don’t always know what you’re going to get. If you keep working hard, you usually end up where you want to be.”

She explained that Peddie swimming also taught her about balance.

“Being at a school like Peddie, you have a lot of academic commitments. And then, being a part of the swim team, you have a lot of swim commitments. You have to be up in the mornings and back in the afternoons. Learning how to do all of that before you get to college is very helpful. Especially at Peddie, one thing that is super nice is that all of your friends are in one place. Coming from Manhasset, Long Island, I had my friends on my club team. I had my friends that swam on my high school team. I had my school friends and friends in my classes. At Peddie, that’s all sort of in one place. It gives you a great insight into balance and being around the same people all the time, balancing your school and balancing your swim. And even communication, because you have to communicate with people around you to know what’s going on. That’s a really big thing that Peddie swimming has taught me.”

Walling explained that work for Junior Nationals started several months ago and ‘marginal gains’ are important. He tells his athletes that success doesn’t grow overnight and that keeping each other accountable is key. He said the biggest piece of the team’s success right now is the ‘grittiness factor,’ along with swimming all-year round to achieve what they want to achieve and stay serious about it.

And the Peddie swimming program runs deep. The team has a couple of dual meets in January before sectionals in March. Then the team is off to Mission Viejo, California, in mid-May for the TYR Pro, a long-course meet. 

“One of the oft-forgotten things about Peddie swimming is how many former Peddie swimmers and coaches are still in the field of swimming and are also coaching at high levels, Harvard, Yale and other places,” Lepcio said. “So Peddie swimming has left its mark certainly in the USA swimming world.”