ABOUT US...
We are the swimming & diving team for Austin High School, the oldest public high school in the state of Texas. Our campus is located in the heart of downtown Austin, just underneath the MoPac bridge on the beautiful banks of the Colorado River. Austin High continues today as the crossroads of the Austin Independent School District. With 2400 students, it continues to be the exception to the rule that “old schools aren’t good schools”. A rigorous academic program operates alongside career-track experiences for all students. More than 350 National Merit Semi-Finalists are listed since the program began in 1956. “Everybody is somebody at Austin High” is our school motto, and “Loyal Forever” - the title of the 1942 school song - is more than an idle phrase.
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From 1881 to the 1930’s, we had no particular mascot. We were the "Maroons" because our athletic team "colors" became maroon and white somewhere around 1920. By the 1930s, some Texas high schools decided they needed an animal mascot, but we resisted the trend until 1953 when two new high schools were formed in Austin. The students of the new schools chose to be the "Knights" and the "Rebels." Some began to ask "What’s a Maroon?"? To answer that question, then and now, we just tell them that a "Maroon" is someone who wears maroon and supports Austin High with spirit and passion.
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The "Mister Maroo" Mascot was officially adopted by the Student Council in 1965-66 during the administration of President Grady Rylander. Mr. Maroo is a symbol. He doesn’t speak - you have to look him in the eye to see if he's your friend or your foe. He often is drawn wearing Adidas or Nike tennis shoes. And the beanie…beanies at one time were the traditional headwear for a freshman. Since Maroo never goes to class, he’s still a freshman, more than 50 years later. Everyone draws Mister Maroo their own way. That's the way we get so many designs. Each of us has our favorites. The school archives has a collection of more than 100 different versions. But essentially, the Mascot is supposed to be the "embodiment of the Maroon Spirit."
In 2019, one of our Maroon swimming parents helped us create our own version or Mr. Maroo, complete with a cap, goggles and fins, to represent AHS Swimming.
Head Coach
Ryan Goodwyn grew up in Plano, TX, where he swam for the City of Plano Swimmers club team and Plano Senior High School. He was team captain of the 1991 PSHS team that won the state championship and was named the best public high school team in the nation that year. In college he swam for Texas A&M University under Mel Nash and Jay Holmes where he specialized in distance freestyle and backstroke. He was a coach with the Aggie Swim Club in College Station for 22 years, where he worked with everything from novice swimmers to Olympic Trials qualifiers to Masters world record holders. He also spent 20 years at A&M Consolidated HS in College Station, with 15 years as the head swim coach. During his time as head coach, they had 13 All-American Swimmers, he was named District and/or Regional Coach of the Year 6 Times, won 14 District team championships, won 3 Regional team championships, made 14 consecutive State appearances, and had 5 top-5 team finishes at the UIL State Meet. In his spare time he enjoys training for various athletic challenges. He believes that if educators want to inspire their students and athletes to dream big, set lofty goals, and achieve them, then they should never stop modeling that in their own lives. He has competed in three full Ironman-distance triathlons, dozens of smaller triathlons, and over a dozen marathons. He has placed in the top 10 for his age group at the US Masters Swimming National Championships, and in 2017 he rode his bike across the state of Texas with his 65-year-old, cancer survivor father. He is also one of fewer than 2400 people in history who have completed a solo swim across the English Channel, covering 44k in exactly 11 hours. Growing up, he lost a lot of races to Coach Calver.
Drew Calver grew up in Dallas, TX, where he swam for City of Richardson club team and Jesuit Dallas HS as one of the nation’s top high school swimmers. A four-time All-American, he was named Jesuit’s team MVP all four seasons and was a team co-captain his last three years. Calver never lost an individual event at the TCIL State Championships, sweeping both the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley four years in a row. In 1990, he was a member of the U.S. Olympic Festival West Team. The following year, he was selected to the USA Junior National Team. In 1992, he won the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the USA Swimming Junior Nationals, establishing meet records in both events, an accomplishment which got him featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd." After Jesuit, Calver attended the University of Virginia on a full athletic scholarship. During his time with the Cavaliers, Calver was an All-American and two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) selection. As a freshman, he was the ACC champion in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, setting an ACC record in the 200. He was also on the winning 200 and 400-yard medley relay teams. For three straight years, Calver was a finalist in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 IM. He spent 15 years as the head coach of Austin High swimming, producing numerous state qualifiers and state record holders, before handing the head coaching reins to Coach Goodwyn in 2019 so that he could have more time for his young daughters while still being involved with the program he built.
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