Fallston swimming co-coach Sheri Huppenthal will never forget the phone call she received from Cougars swimmer Nick Tomechko on the morning of Nov. 26.
"Coach Sheri, when you see me this afternoon, I'll be walking," he said.
Tomechko had been seriously injured Sept. 10 when he lost control of his car and slammed into a tree. The senior dislocated his left hip and broke his left pelvis, which required three plates and nine screws to repair.
After the accident, Tomechko, who last year swam on Fallston's state title-winning 200-yard medley relay team and finished third in the 100 backstroke, made it perfectly clear that he intended to return this season and again swim at a high level.
The first step was taking those first steps in late November. The culmination of a long and painful recovery process will come tonight, when Tomechko will help the Cougars boys try to win a second consecutive Class 4A-3A state championship at the University of Maryland.
Three months after beginning to walk again, he's nearly back at full speed and will be swimming in the 200 medley relay, 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke.
"I knew that I was going to try my hardest to get where I am right now," Tomechko said.
"I wasn't really sure how possible it was, but now, looking back on all I've accomplished, this is just a huge blessing on my part that God looks on me like this. It's unbelievable. It's a miracle."
Tomechko had four other students in the car with him when the accident occurred. He suffered the worst injuries and was transported from the accident scene to Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
He underwent surgery two days later and spent 10 days in the hospital.
He started undergoing physical therapy three days a week, and in mid-November, he began pool therapy.
Tomechko's recovery has amazed his family and teammates, many of whom didn't think he was being realistic in his quest to get back into the pool this season.
His mother, Robin Tomechko, certainly had her doubts. She remembers exactly what the doctors told her husband, Jim, the night of their son's accident.
"[He said] to the doctors that 'My son's a swimmer, and he'd like to keep doing that,' " she said. "But they just cut him off at the knees and said, 'Sir, we just have to get him walking again and walking without a limp.' "
Said Jim Tomechko: "We had kind of thought he didn't understand the severity of his injury. I told Nick that I hope it happens, but I don't think it's going to be as easy as you think. The next thing you know, he was up on crutches, and then the next thing you know, he was putting weight on it and moving right along.
"There was no doubt in his mind he was going to do this."
Nick Tomechko, 5 feet 10 and 225 pounds, wanted to live up to his role as one of the Cougars' four team captains, so he made sure he was with the team when it started practice in mid-November. He helped at practice, and Huppenthal, co-coach Jeff DeHart and Tomechko's teammates held meetings at Tomechko's grandparents' house, where he stayed during his recovery.
"He would come to practice on crutches, and we'd set him up by the pool deck," Huppenthal said. "He'd time the time trials. We'd get him to help some of the other kids with stroke techniques in the beginning. He came almost all the time even though he wasn't back in school yet."
Tomechko, who began his recovery in a wheelchair before advancing to a walker and then crutches, eventually made it back into the pool for practice Dec. 3.
Huppenthal -- who also coached Tomechko at the Bel Air Athletic Club when he was in elementary school and whose son, Bradley, is a close friend and teammate of Tomechko's -- was pleasantly surprised at how good he looked and immediately placed him with Fallston's second-fastest group.
Tomechko quickly started to look like the swimmer he had been his first three years at Fallston. On Dec. 20, competing in his first meet of the season, he won the 100 backstroke.
"I was shocked, to be honest with you," Tomechko said. "Words just can't express what I felt. I was just so happy to be in the pool."
Many of his teammates were bowing to Tomechko in respect as he walked around the pool deck after that race at North Harford Middle School. Several of his teammates cried, as did his parents and some in the crowd.
"I honestly thought he was going to hurt something," Robin Tomechko said "I was just watching to see if he'd be able to get out of a pool. I just saw the emotion in his face, and I just lost it even more."
Nick Tomechko went on to have strong performances at the Harford County championships, in which he was a member of the first-place 200 medley relay team, took second in the 100 backstroke and placed third in the 200 individual medley; and the regionals, in which his 200 medley relay team again finished first and he was second in the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley.
Tomechko, who has started driving again, was told by doctors that problems with his hip could resurface. Still, he hopes to continue his swimming career in college. He is deciding between Ohio State and Marymount (Va.) and considering going for a doctorate in physical therapy, in part because of the care he received after the accident.
As Fallston makes its bid to repeat as state champion, Tomechko's recovery continues to serve as inspiration.
"I think it's a big help to every single swimmer on the team that he's been able to come through everything that he has," Bradley Huppenthal said. "It makes us swim harder at practice, and we give 110 percent every day because of what he's done."