Even when the Haddon Township High School swim team experiences lopsided losses against much bigger schools, the vibe remains upbeat and positive — a core value that Maura McDermott, the head swimming coach, instilled in the swimmers. Now, after 21 years with the program, including 19 years as head coach, she is retiring.
“It was always fun,” said senior Ryan Quinn, 17, one of the team’s standouts. “Even if we got crushed by 100 points, I was still making jokes with the guys. The bus rides to and from meets were so fun.”
For Quinn and fellow star Shelby Hutchinson, a 15-year-old sophomore, that sense of togetherness and team spirit while striving to do their best has characterized their high-school experience as much as their individual success as nationally prominent club swimmers outside of school.
Quinn, who will continue his swimming career at the University of Notre Dame next fall, will leave Haddon Township as the owner of all eight boys’ individual records.
A two-time South Jersey Swimmer of the Year (2025 and 2026), Quinn captured New Jersey state titles in the 100-yard butterfly in both 2025 and 2026, setting a state record in the event, and earned first-team all-state honors in the 100 butterfly in 2026. He also finished second in the state in the 100 backstroke in 2025 before winning the state championship in the event in 2026. This year, Quinn earned National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) All-American status in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.
“We will have students come out for the swim team who have never swum be- fore,” said Maura McDermott, Haddon Township High School’s head swimming coach. “Some of them became major contributors to the team by their junior and senior years.” McDermott is retiring after leading the boys’ and girls’ teams for nearly two decades.
Remarkably, many of Hutchinson’s accomplishments have mirrored Quinn’s — and she still has two seasons remaining in her high school career. Already the holder of six of Haddon Township’s eight girls’ individual school records, she also captured New Jersey state championships in the 100 butterfly in both 2025 and 2026, setting a state record in the event. Like Quinn, she rebounded from a runner-up finish in the 100 backstroke in 2025 to claim the state title in 2026, while earning first-team all-state honors in the 100 butterfly.
Hutchinson earned NISCA All-American status in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 100 butterfly. During the week of the New Jersey Meet of Champions in March 2026, she posted the third-fastest girls’ 100 backstroke time in the nation and was later named High School Swimmer of the Week by SwimCloud after breaking two meet records in the butterfly and backstroke.
McDermott noted that both swimmers posting nationally ranked times is a rare achievement for a program of Haddon Township’s size.
Win or lose, Haddon Township’s swim team has always been about more than results — a culture that McDermott has fostered. Her coaching philosophy has centered on development, building a program where beginners can grow into key contributors and where team culture is as important as performance.
While her teams have consistently been represented at state meets, McDermott said the moments she is most proud of are often those that never appear in the results.
“We will have students come out for the swim team who have never swum before,” she said, noting they have taught them to swim and “some of them became major contributors to the team by their junior and senior years.”
One unique challenge McDermott has navigated is the lack of a home pool. Much of the team travels to Camden for early-morning practices, while Quinn and Hutchinson train separately year-round with the South Jersey Aquatic Club (SJAC) in Voorhees, a nationally competitive USA Swimming–affiliated program.
However, for Quinn and Hutchinson, competing for their high school alongside classmates offers a welcome contrast to the rigors of club swimming: a team-first, supportive environment shaped by McDermott’s leadership.
“It’s an outlet to compete more,” said Hutchinson. “Everyone really cheers for each other and supports each other.”
For McDermott, Quinn and Hutchinson are leaders whose presence elevates the entire team.
“She’s already a role model,” McDermott — also a math teacher at the high school — said of Hutchinson, whom she also taught in the classroom. “She’s a hard worker in the pool and out, and she’s really nice to everyone. She does not have an inflated ego.”
Quinn, she added, has a similar impact.
“What these two bring to our team is not only their talent,” McDermott said. “They bring togetherness.”
That dynamic is especially evident in relays, where individual success gives way to collaboration, something McDermott encourages through ongoing communication with her “elite swimmers” about lineup decisions and strategy.
McDermott praised Quinn’s willingness to prioritize team needs over individual preference.
“It was never, ‘I want to swim this,’ or, ‘I will only swim this,’” she said. “That really made him easy to coach.”
For Quinn, collegiate-level swimming wasn’t something he always envisioned, despite growing up in a family steeped in the sport. His mother, Janelle Quinn, swam at Penn State University and qualified for the Olympic Trials, while his father, Gavin Quinn, swam at Gettysburg College.
“I started getting faster, dropping a lot of time,” Quinn said. “Then I saw Division I programs following me on social media, and I thought maybe this was a possibility.”
Recruitment intensified, and when Notre Dame reached out, Quinn visited the South Bend, Ind., campus and realized how real the opportunity had become.
Hutchinson also comes from a strong swimming pedigree. Her parents, Amy and Todd Hutchinson, both swam competitively with the Jersey Wahoos Swim Club in Mount Laurel. (Quinn’s parents did too.)
“My parents know what this level of swimming is,” Hutchinson said. “They’ve just been there the whole way.”
As a rising junior, Hutchinson is beginning to look ahead to the college recruitment process, which officially opens later this year.
For both athletes, success in the pool is accompanied by the discipline needed to manage demanding schedules outside it.
Quinn relies on study halls and structured routines to balance academics and training, using any available time during the school day to stay on top of his work.
“Even if it’s just a little at a time, I make sure I’m always getting something done,” he said.
That approach has helped prepare him for Notre Dame, where he plans to study economics and pursue a career in business.
Hutchinson, meanwhile, remains focused on continued growth.
“I’m just going to keep working hard and representing the school,” she said. “We’ll see where that takes me.”
As for McDermott, she said the connections between teammates, families, and competitors mattered most during her time with the Haddon Township High School program. Previously, she was a swim coach at Sterling High School in Somerdale.
“I’m very tight with a lot of the coaches in South Jersey,” she said, “which doesn’t happen in a lot of sports.”
Each year at the Meet of Champions, she said, South Jersey coaches and swimmers rally around and cheer for one another.
With retirement on the horizon, McDermott said she is ready for a change of pace, joking that she won’t miss the meets that stretch late into the evening or the all-day Saturday meets.
She is looking forward to the free time she has not had in decades, including taking a long-awaited winter ski trip and exploring her as-of-yet undecided “second act,” adding that she’ll stay in swimming “as a fan only.”
“I love the sport,” McDermott said. “I love these kids. I’m going to miss all these swimmers.
“I’m going to miss all the camaraderie we have on the pool deck.”
