Swimmer Regan Looks Back at Career, Prepares for What's Next

Erin Regan has spent plenty of time in the water, swimming past competitors during four years at Upper Dublin High School.

Someday she'll bring the fight to land, battling challengers on a quest around the world, hopefully with her father, Mike.

The second-oldest of five kids will accept the sleep deprivation, odd local "cuisine" and arduous tasks for clues, hoping to win the million-dollar prize on The Amazing Race.

While Mike Regan laughingly agrees to participate on the popular reality television show, an excited Erin describes the idea with unwavering exuberances.

"I so want to do that," Regan said. "I love to travel and my dad needs to get out in the world more. He's funny, but crazy. It would be fun to be on with him. We'll train hard, but we'll need to plan out an audition."

Luckily for Mike, Regan has other things to accomplish.

She graduated in June as the Suburban One American Conference's 
Player of the Year -- as voted on by coaches -- and led the Lady Cardinals to their first PIAA District 1 Class AAA championship since 1993, the year she was born.

At districts, Regan finished second in the 100 butterfly and swam the third leg on Upper Dublin's record-setting 200 medley relay team -- with Alex Wheatley, Emeline Leyens and Lindsey Schmidt -- that also established a meet record with a time of 1:47.33.

"She was the complete package," Upper Dublin swimming coach Brian Palme said. "She came in as a freshman and immediately contributed at an elite level, and continued to progress to the point of captaining our district champion team. She's been a pleasure to coach."

She also hated taking swimming lessons as a kid until she got to use flippers. That, combined with her self-admittedly poor soccer goaltending skills, pushed her toward the water.

The Cardinals benefitted from more than just Regan's elite talent; with her increased confidence came leadership.

"There were tons of instances where we would tell her to get a swimmer ready to go or get them to shake off whatever may have happened at a meet," Palme said. "Anyone who watched her learned, if you work hard and believe in what we're doing, anything is possible."

Including winning districts in Regan's final season.

"Oh my God, that was great," Regan said. "We knew we were good, but we didn't expect that. It was magical. The best part was getting the trophy and jumping in the water together. It has been a long time."

When dry, Regan served as president of Upper Dublin's Environmental Education Club, and spent 2 1/2 weeks in England with 11 other students as British Exchange Ambassadors. The group travelled for 10 days and Regan lived in the home of a British student who had visited her home in October.

She plans to study nursing at St. Mary's College, and finish her coursework at Johns Hopkins University. Embarking on a serious career path will allow less time for youthful antics, such as when the swimming teams united in a colorful way.

"We're the crazy ones who dyed our hair vampire red when we made it to districts, and the boys dyed it bleach blond," said Regan, a natural brunette. "It stayed in for a good three weeks, long after districts. It was an accident waiting to happen."