Olympic Gold Medalist Takes Over Portsmouth Swim Team

PORTSMOUTH, NH - Portsmouth's Cannonball Swim Club has found a leader in Rhi Jeffrey.

With her bright purple hair, high-fives, and big smile, Rhi Jeffrey may not look like your typical swim coach. But the woman who won Olympic Gold in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay at the 2004 Olympics has been coaching swimming for more than 10 years.

Jeffrey joined the Cannonball Swim club —with members from southern Maine, Portsmouth, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Brentwood, and Exeter—last April.

The 2017–18 winter season ended last weekend at the TSSA Championship meet. CSC swimmers established five new meet records—a quarter of all new records over the weekend—and, despite being the second smallest team competing at UNH’s Swasey pool, finished 5th overall.

Three members of the team—Sophia Dmytruk (12), Harper Levitsky (8), and Kenzie Patch (14)—achieved maximum points. The team had 18 first-place finishers and came second in the “average points per swimmer” calculator—they were beaten by Dover’s SSA by just 0.26.

It’s been an extraordinary year for the team. In the 12 months since Jeffrey took over, they’ve won firsts at all their meets and seen more than 12% of the team qualify for the New England Age Group competitions (swimming’s Junior Olympics). This weekend, Kenzie Patch and Sophia Dmytruk will be swimming at the Eastern Zone SC Championships in Webster, NY (a competition open to just the top 2-3 swimmers in each event from the New England area).

“Swimming is a lifetime sport,” Jeffrey said. “You can teach technique and build endurance, but if a kid’s not enjoying it, they’ll be burned out by the time they’re 14. Not every kid is going to be an Olympian, but every kid can do well and have fun.”

Courtesy Photo / Tony Baldasaro for Cannonball Swim Club - (L to R) Coach DJ and Coach Rhi with swimmers Lizzy Baldasaro, Meg Rocha, and Kaelyn Patch.