FEATURE TRACY CAULKINS AND ALEX WALSH
Making a splash
Though they come from different eras in athletics, Olympic swimmers Tracy Caulkins and Alex Walsh are connected through the mark they have left on the world stage and at Harpeth Hall by Jessica Bliss
knowing that the very same flag appeared on television screens across the country where her family, teammates, friends, coaches, and school communities watched and celebrated. “The medal ceremony in Tokyo was surreal,” Alex said. “For me, thinking about how hard I worked — especially in my first year at college — to get to that moment was very emotional.” Alex, who is now a sophomore at the University of Virginia, first dreamed of being an Olympic medalist as a little girl. She started competing around age 8, and she remembers seeing swimmer Missy Franklin win gold at the London 2012 Olympics. “That made me want to go to the Olympics and win medals just as she did,” Alex said. As Missy inspired her, the legacy of another Olympian — one from a generation prior — also began to align closely to Alex’s own swimming career. That athlete’s name was Tracy Caulkins. Like Tracy, Alex moved to Nashville as a young student and attended Harpeth Hall. Like Tracy, Alex excelled in the individual medley — arguably one of the most challenging disciplines as it combines all four swim strokes into a single race. And when Alex Walsh and her sister, Gretchen, trained for meets, they did so in the Tracy Caulkins Competition Pool in Nashville.
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lex Walsh’s eyes danced as she stood on the podium in Tokyo holding up her Olympic silver medal.
In that moment, the 19-year-old Harpeth Hall alumna reflected on all the people who had helped realize her Olympic dream. Her years of training and competing had been both exhilarating and stressful. Yet each time she dove into the pool in Tokyo, she focused on why she was there. She raced not only for herself, but also for her support system at home and for her country.
Though their experiences come from different eras in athletics, the stories of Tracy Caulkins and Alex Walsh intertwine through the mark they left at Harpeth Hall and the achievements they made and continue to make on the world stage.
“Being a part of something bigger than myself, though daunting, actually directed my energy towards my pride and gratitude as opposed to my nerves,” Alex said in an interview for Hallways.
The journey begins in 1969, just a few years before the passage of the landmark Title IX legislation that changed athletics for girls and women, when Caulkins’ family moved to Nashville from Winona, Minnesota, with 6-year-old Tracy in tow.
In the Olympic finals of the 200-meter individual medley, Alex touched the wall in 2:08.65 — just .13 seconds behind the winner — and claimed a silver medal. Later, as she stood on the podium and the American flag rose in front of her, she felt pride
Harpeth Hall archivist Mary Ellen Pethel, Ph.D., captures what happened next, as told in an excerpt of her new book Title IX, Pat Summitt, and Tennessee’s Trailblazers: 50 Years, 50 Stories.
28 | HARPETH HALL HALLWAYS
