Elite swimmer Jack Deppe vows to stay away from dabbing in other contact sports until his career ends. Playing soccer with friends, the South River High senior tripped and broke his elbow in February. That injury almost kept Deppe from competing in a huge meet—The Speedo Sectional Championships in Buffalo, New York, that featured 29 teams from 11 states up and down the East Coast.
But Deppe’s determination to compete in the meet came through.
Eleven days after the injury, Deppe returned to the pool and after three weeks of swimming, he was back in peak form.
“I would say it’s about obsession and resilience,” Deppe says. “My teammates were all blown away that I got back so quickly.”
Deppe’s quick return to compete in the meet—in which he swam in seven individual events and four relays—even stunned Annapolis Swimming Club Coach Stephen Henderson.
“I thought it would be three or four months before he would be able to compete again,” Henderson says.
Deppe’s success in swimming jumps out. He won an individual county championship in the 100-yard butterfly earlier this year for South River.
For Annapolis Swim Club, for which he has been swimming for 10 years, the highlight came when he qualified for the Futures Championships in Richmond in July. He advanced to the finals in the 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley.
“It’s a national-level meet,” Henderson explains. “To qualify for that meet, you have to be among the top five percent of high school swimmers in the country.”
The 6-foot-1, 172-pound Deppe also expects to represent his club team at Junior Nationals in Southern California in August. He’s a half a second from qualifying in both the 200 free and 200 individual medley. Deppe has slashed his time by about three seconds in each event in the past 11 months.
“He is one of the fiercest competitors I have ever coached,” Henderson says. “He really loves to race and hates to lose. He has that killer instinct. He’s also very athletic, talented, coachable, and really studies the sport.”
The 17-year-old will be swimming in the fall at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania on an academic and athletic scholarship. Deppe plans to major in electrical engineering, carries a weighted 4.3 grade-point average, and by the time he finishes high school, will have completed 10 advanced-placement courses.
Deppe has competed for the Annapolis Swim Club for 10 seasons year-round. He really looks forward to the Speedo Maryland Long Course Championships every August. Deppe had his best state meet last summer in St. Mary’s County. He placed second in the 100 free among 50 participants and missed winning the event by one-tenth of a second. And he took second in the 400 individual medley among 30 competitors.
At South River, Deppe has swam on the varsity for four years and showed his promise as an underclassman by placing second in the county in the individual medley in 2021. He holds school records in five events: 200 free, 200 individual medley, 100 fly, 100 free, and as part of the 200 free relay team.
South River Swimming Coach Laura Falsone coached Deppe for four years at the Annapolis Swim Club until he was 10 years old. Falsone now works as assistant coach for the Naval Academy Aquatic Club.
“When he was younger,” Falsone says, “I used to do this freestyle kicking challenge for them. He was way behind everybody else. But he kept working at it, and what I admire about him is that he is not someone who lets something that is difficult limit him.”
Deppe’s biggest swimming challenge might be his practice schedule. He practices more than 18 hours per week between his club and high school teams, which includes four two-a-day practices a week. Three practices a week for his club team start as early as 6 a.m.
It’s not easy balancing life outside all the hours in the pool and a rigorous course load. “I get invites from my friends to go out fishing or sleep over,” Deppe recalls. “But I need to go to morning practice, so I need to be asleep by 10:30 p.m. or I won’t be on my A-game. I really have to plan out my time.”
Want to nominate a local athlete? Email us at editor@whatsupmag.com
