The Thumann triplets \u2014 Cade, Cole, and Caitlin \u2014 arrived together at Colorado College as a family.<\/p>\n
They added a second one by joining the Tigers\u2019 swimming and diving program.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoosing to go to the same school was one of the best decisions that I have made,\u201d says Cade Thumann \u201922<\/strong>. \u201cWe have the same group of friends. All three of us have been close forever. It\u2019s what we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been a few family connections over the years under Swimming and Diving Head Coach Anne Goodman James in her 13 years at CC. But it\u2019s gotten even more notable over the past two years with two-thirds of a set of triplets competing for the Tiger women \u2014 Alma \u201920<\/strong> and Selma Jukic \u201920<\/strong>.<\/p>\n James is pleased to have all three Thumann fraternal triplets in her program.<\/p>\n \u201c[All three have] very different personalities but yet some of the qualities they bring have been so valuable to the team,\u201d James says. \u201cThe way [Cole and Cade] support each other whether in training or competition is palpable. You feel it. The joy they take in each other\u2019s success is really fun to watch. But you also see them bring that to the whole team. They are those people in practice who are encouraging everyone else, trying to lead the lane, being there when things are tough, and being a wild cheerleader when things go well.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Caitlin isn\u2019t currently cheering wildly from the water \u2014 the former high school swimming standout put her competitive career on hold due to shoulder injuries \u2014 she is a student assistant manager.<\/p>\n \u201cI absolutely love the sport and it is a big part of my life, so I didn\u2019t want to completely leave it,\u201d Caitlin says via email while in Paris for a French philosophy course. \u201cSo, I decided to become the manager. Managing is a good job with good hours and good pay. Plus, I love the people and the coaches. If I ever decided to change my mind and join the team, I know that I am always welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n The triplets have made their mark in academics and athletics.<\/p>\n Cade won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men\u2019s 500-yard freestyle after setting a school record in the preliminaries while Cole placed third in the league\u2019s 400 individual medley finals and swam on the third-place 800 freestyle relay with Cade.<\/p>\n \u201cThey do it in different ways,\u201c James says. \u201cCade told me, \u2018I want to be the fastest and most mentally tough swimmer out there.\u2019 Cole wanted to bring positivity and set a great example. The more you get to know them, you see how that fits their personalities. [Caitlin] is a littler quieter. They\u2019re all different.\u201d<\/p>\n Schoolwork is important to all three. The brothers garnered league academic honors as first years and were part of the well-regarded program\u2019s classroom success. The College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America named both Tiger squads to its Scholar All-America team for Spring 2019 \u2014the 11th semester in a row for CC.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point we both realized that if we joined [an NCAA] Division I program that swimming would be our life and that had already been our life in high school,\u201d says Cole, referring to the lengthy high school and club practices required of aspiring college swimmers. \u201cAcademics are far more important to both of us. We knew we weren\u2019t going to the Olympics but we both wanted to be part of a team experience in college athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing it since we were 6 years old. We didn\u2019t want to cut that out of our lives,\u201d says Cade, a business and pre-med major. \u201cColorado College had exactly what we wanted \u2014 great academics and an up-and-coming swimming program that has a lot of potential. We could see ourselves getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodman James has found the right balance for success in and out of the pool at CC. She trimmed the standard twice-daily practices (four to five hours) to one intense session of about two-and-a-half hours. It\u2019s paid off with all the men\u2019s and women\u2019s competitors recording personal records in 10 of her 13 years.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look on our wall, the first set of plaques are for our swimming and diving All-Americans and our next set is Scholar All-Americans and there are a lot more of those,\u201d Goodman James says. \u201cIt is something we take a lot of pride in.\u201d<\/p>\n The Thumanns embrace that balancing act and the Block Plan.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople might think it\u2019s harder but it is a great way to detox every day,\u201d says Cole, a physics major. \u201cYou have a set period of time saved for practice \u2014 clearing your head and grinding out any pent-up energy you may have from sitting in class for three hours. You get to socialize with your friends. It knocks so many things out at once.\u201d<\/p>\n It also gives the athletes a chance to be an active part of the CC community. Cade is an accomplished singer in the co-ed a cappella<\/em> group Room 46. Caitlin, who is studying molecular biology to become a physician\u2019s assistant, performs in the femme and non-binary inclusive a cappella<\/em> group Ellement. Cole works for the Office of Admission.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, we were not planning on going to the same school, but towards the deciding deadline, we talked about it and said, \u2018Oh, that would be cool if we went together,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cNow, three semesters later, I couldn\u2019t imagine going to school without them. It\u2019s important to all three of us that we continue our relationships as not only siblings but also as friends.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Thumann triplets \u2014 Cade, Cole, and Caitlin \u2014 arrived together at Colorado College as a family. They added a second one by joining the Tigers\u2019 swimming and diving program. \u201cChoosing to go to the same school was one of the best decisions that I have made,\u201d says Cade Thumann \u201922. \u201cWe have the same…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1388,"featured_media":14878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-15072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2019","tag-athletics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2019\/12\/CC-BUL-WIN19-12_Triplets.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15072"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15336,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15072\/revisions\/15336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}