Former Olympic Gold medalist and Baylor School graduate Geoff Gaberino will return to his alma mater along with a host of other swimming elite on Friday April 11, for a celebration of Baylor's strong swimming and diving tradition.
Gaberino will be joined by other alums, patrons, and friends of Baylor's swimming program in a relay meet with swimmers on the current Baylor team. School officials say the event is being held to celebrate the school's tradition in swimming that has included 26 state championships and over one hundred All-American or Honorable Mention All-American swimmers and divers. The event is also an opportunity to apprise alumni and friends of the needs and direction of Baylor's swim program over the next several years. The national governing body for high school swimming has determined the Baylor pool to be too shallow for competitive dives from starting blocks, officials say.
Among those expected to attend are 17 former collegiate swimmers, 14 high school all-Americans, 11 collegiate all-Americans, three NCAA champions, one world record holder, three American record holders, a Pan-am game gold medalist, a U.S. Masters champion, two masters national record holders, one world masters silver medalist, and two inductees in state halls of fame.
A 1980 graduate of Baylor, Gaberino won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in the 800-meter free relay. Prior to that he was a four-time individual collegiate national champion on the University of Florida swim team, a gold medalist in the 1981 Pan Pacific International Games and 1983 Pan American International Games. A standout swimmer at Baylor, he was a 15-time All-American and helped lead the 1980 team to an Eastern Prep School Championship.
"Swimming at Baylor gave me a sense of belonging in a very competetive environment," says Gaberino. "If Baylor didn't already have a strong tradition in swimming it wouldn't be necessary to keep it alive in the first place. But we do have that tradition, and I think there is a responsibility of the institution and our alums to keep it alive."