THREE-DIMENSIONAL

Annie McElwain, Shelley Copley and Breezy Long are Hart High girls’ swim team captains who do more than just stay afloat.

Although none of the three is among the Indians’ best swimmers, they all qualify as high-water marks at Hart.

“It’s a leadership role that they take,” Coach Steve Neale said. “They take it around the pool and away from it, too.”

McElwain, a senior breaststroker, has been recognized as a National Interscholastic Coaches’ Assn. scholar-athlete, an honor given to selected sports participants with at least two varsity seasons of experience and a grade-point average of at least 3.8.

She is vice president of Hart’s French Honor Society, a member of the school’s mock-trial team and the California Scholastic Federation. McElwain also is an accomplished actress who goes on an average of four auditions a week.

“I just found my passion for acting,” McElwain said. “You get to discover so many motives and personalities, and you learn a lot about yourself, too. It’s amazing.”

The UCLA-bound McElwain has appeared on TV in “The Young and the Restless,” in which she played a college student, and in “Seventh Heaven,” in which she played “a snotty girl.”

On the swim team, McElwain, Copley and Long are the only seniors and they take their roles as tri-captains seriously.

They enjoy buying and distributing pre-meet gifts such as hair ribbons, fruit baskets, candy and other snacks to teammates, and then sharing post-race hugs and words of encouragement.

“I absolutely adore my team,” McElwain said. “Just being part of a team, and a winning team at that.”

Copley shares the same feelings, as well as a packed schedule.

A freestyle sprinter in her first season of varsity competition, Copley carries “only about a 3.8” GPA, compared to 4.6s boasted by McElwain and Long.

“I’m kind of embarrassed to say,” Copley joked. “I’m like, the stupid one.”

Copley hopes to go into politics and has already started.

She is Hart’s Associated Student Body president, a role she has unofficially shared with soccer player Becca Gould.

“We both really wanted to be president and neither one of us wanted to see the other one not get to do it,” Copley said.

“So I ran as president and she ran as vice president, but we let everybody know we were going to do things as co-presidents.”

The system has worked well. It allowed Gould to concentrate on soccer during the winter and has helped free up Copley to captain the swim team.

“I don’t mind that I’m not one of the star swimmers,” she said. “I just try to motivate and set a good example.”

Copley, who will attend Illinois, was the school’s ASB secretary as a junior. She served as commissioner of activities as a sophomore, and was an executive board member as a freshman.

“I really enjoy planning what my school’s going to do,” she said.

Long swims the 500-yard freestyle and 200 individual medley, but makes a bigger splash in another arena.

A cadet colonel in the junior ROTC in Santa Clarita, Long frequently participates in volunteer work and community-service projects.

Recent ROTC projects included putting a new roof on a building that houses Pleasantview Industries, an organization that provides jobs to the developmentally disabled.

“It’s a great way to make a difference,” said Long, who was recently accepted to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. “It helps you mature so much. I wish everyone could have at least some sort of a corps experience.”

Like her fellow tri-captains, Long--who was named after the title character in the 1974 movie, “Breezy,” starring William Holden and Kay Lenz--manages to find time to swim.

“It’s tough to fit it in, but I love the sport,” Long said. “I love the smell of the pool. And more than anything, I love the team.”

The feeling is mutual.

“They do so much for us,” said Christine Castellano, a junior who has qualified for Southern Section Division II preliminaries in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. “It’s such a pleasure having them as captains. They put their hearts and souls into it.”

Meaning that swimming is just like any endeavor for McElwain, Copley and Long.