KDSN RADIO News
Central Iowa swim club sets national record for longevity
A high school club in central Iowa is now listed as the nation’s oldest synchronized swimming group.
The Sharks are marking a century at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, fostering a community for young women, both in and out of the water.
Club director Katherine Gamble says her family has been involved with the Sharks for decades, as her mom, aunt and sister were all members, which made her becoming the director an easy choice.
“1926 is when the Sharks became a club. It was the first club at Roosevelt that women could join,” Gamble says. “My whole thing is, okay, I’m part of this legacy now. How do we honor the past and then make sure it’s there in the future.”
The club has more than 20 members. The juniors and seniors write the routines and teach the choreography for pageants.
Shark member Aristella Tempero has been a competitive synchronized swimmer since she was five. Tempero says she admires what the club has meant to the generations of women before her.
“A club that was started by women, for women so long ago, 100 years now, has just continued and stayed so strong and so true to its main beliefs of giving women a place to be.”
The Sharks became a club decades before Title IX became law to prevent sex-based discrimination in educational settings. Gamble says the story goes that the club began in 1926 when the Roosevelt girls asked for an activity to promote swimming, diving and water safety.
“We’ve just been here a really long time, and that’s because of the girls,” she says. “It’s because of the alumni and it’s because of the girls in the program that never give up on it, that want to put on a good show.”
The club members are raising money to refurbish the pool auditorium, which dates back to 1962. They want to make sure the next generation of Sharks can make waves of their own.
