When it comes to elite-level swimming in Nashville, you have to mention Harpeth Hall. The all-girls private school tucked away in Green Hills has long been home to the dominant swim program in the area.
The Honeybears — or the Bearacudas, as the school’s swim team is nicknamed — have won 15 state championships, two independent school national titles and back-to-back overall national championships in 2008 and 2009. At one point, the Bearacudas won 25 consecutive region crowns.
Harpeth Hall swimming first hit the international stage at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when the legendary Tracy Caulkins took home three gold medals, becoming one of the preeminent stars of that year’s Games. But Caulkins represented Harpeth Hall in the pool in name only; she was really a product of the prestigious Nashville Aquatic Club. The Harpeth Hall swimming dynasty started in earnest with the arrival of coach Polly Linden, a math teacher and former collegiate swimmer from Massachusetts.
Alex Walsh
“At that time, if you swam for Harpeth Hall, you just kind of represented Harpeth Hall at the big meets, but they didn’t necessarily have a team outside of that,” Linden tells the Scene. She essentially had to start the program from scratch.
Linden has had at least one athlete swim at every U.S. Olympic trials since 2000. In 2021 (the Games were delayed a year due to COVID-19), one of Linden’s swimmers finally reached the Olympic podium: Nashville native Alex Walsh won the silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley, one of the same events Caulkins medaled in 37 years earlier.
“We were absolutely elated for Alex,” Linden says. “Just to see her dream come true. … I feel like when the Olympics come around, everybody gets Olympic fever, and every small kid wants to be an Olympian when they grow up. So to see it happen is amazing.”
Three years later, Walsh is returning to the hallowed Olympic grounds after making it through the cutthroat U.S. swimming trials in Indianapolis in June. But this time, Alex will have a special person by her side — her younger sister Gretchen, who qualified in record-breaking fashion.
Gretchen Walsh
“She pretty much shocked the entire world,” Alex said at a press conference after Gretchen broke the 100-meter butterfly world record during the trials’ semifinals. “Regardless of what happens at this meet for me, we’re both Olympians now. It feels really cool to just say that.”
Gretchen would go on to qualify in two more events: the 50-meter freestyle and the 4 x 100-meter relay, while Alex will once again be swimming in the 200-meter individual medley at the Olympics.
“I’m still in shock,” Gretchen said following the 100-meter butterfly final at the trials. “Making the team was the biggest goal, but getting a world record was absolute insanity.”
Making the Olympics was especially satisfying for Gretchen: not only because she was previously known more for her short-course abilities rather than the long-course events that take place at competitions like the Olympics, but also because she had to watch from the sidelines in Tokyo while Alex was able to live out her dream in the pool. Now, following a dominant stretch of collegiate seasons at the University of Virginia — which includes leading the Cavaliers to four straight team national titles and winning a combined 13 gold medals at the 2024 NCAA Swimming Championships — the Walsh sisters will be able to swim together on the biggest stage possible.
Gretchen Walsh
“Alex and Todd [DeSorbo, University of Virginia swimming coach] have been with me every step of the way since the last trials,” Gretchen said at a press conference following her Olympics-clinching performance. “This is a full-circle moment for me and for them. This whole journey has been full of ups and downs, but I’m really happy to be on such a high right now and have them alongside me.”
A pair of sisters in line to potentially win multiple medals for Team USA in one of the most popular Olympic sports? It’s a recipe for legit stardom, and companies have already come calling. Thanks to the NCAA’s relatively new name-image-and-likeness policy, the Walshes have already been able to capitalize on their stardom by inking several high-profile brand deals. Now they can advertise everything from swimwear to energy drinks without jeopardizing their amateur status.
“It’s definitely a privilege,” Alex told SwimSwam earlier this month. “Obviously, it comes with the pressure to perform, but I think that we’ve handled that really well.”
Come August, you might even see these two on a Wheaties box.
Profiling the Walsh sisters and others heading to Paris, chatting with past Olympian Shawn Johnson East and much more
