Triplets Make Splash in Pool for San Marin

isn’t bold enough to believe she should be scripting the future of Marin County Athletic League sports, but the sophomore has a suggestion nonetheless.

Coed water polo.

Before you laugh at the concept, consider this: Few athletes are more qualified to make such a seemingly outlandish suggestion than Campbell.

You see, the 15-year-old, a second-team All-MCAL performer as a freshman last season, isn’t just a good water polo player. She’s almost attached at the hip with two other water polo standouts who just happen to be boys.

Yep, Megan, Louis and Campbell — all water polo players at San Marin — are triplets.

“I could play with my brothers,” insisted Megan, who is one of the fastest swimmers in MCAL girls water polo. “If we had one coed team, I would be interested to see how we could all work together and see how that works. I wouldn’t limit myself to any restrictions to what I can and cannot do.”

The Campbells have never played on the same team before, but they’ve practice together enough over the years to convince the boys that Megan, who had four goals in her first three MCAL games this fall, can hang with whatever foe swims up alongside.

“She’s a very fast swimmer, which is a strength in water polo,” Ryan boasted. “She’s pretty strong, she has a good arm and she has a lot of experience.

“Yeah, I guess I’m surprised how good she is.”

Added Louis, “My sister is an amazing water polo player. She’s great. She plays every position. She’s a great all-around athlete.

“We (the brothers) don’t take the credit. She works hard to get what she wants. We all help each other, but we all work hard.”

And they all get along, which is critical being that they not only often find themselves in the same class at San Marin, but also surrounded by the same friends.

“There’s a special bond between us,” Louis assured. “We love to be around each other. We like to go to the same places. We move like a wolf pack.”

Just a little faster, especially in water. Megan recorded second-place finishes in last year’s MCAL Swim Championships in the 100-yard butterfly and 200 IM.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s speed — he was part of a winning medley-relay team at the MCALs last spring — complements Louis’ defensive prowess to the point where Ryan notes, “We play very well together. He’s the peanut butter and I’m the jelly.”

Observed their father, Dennis Campbell, “Typically, with their swimming ability, they are in the game the whole time. Last year, Megan played every minute of every game except when she got a bloody nose and had to come off for a couple of minutes. Then she went right back into the game.”

Neither dad nor Megan say they are worried about the roughness of the sport.

“The fact that she’s played water polo and watched her brothers play a lot, she knew what to expect,” Dennis said. “Having people hanging on you, holding you, pushing you, kicking you … that type of physical play takes a while for the kids to get used to. But she already had experienced all that.”

Added Megan, “It can get rough at times. Some players get frustrated and that definitely adds to the toughness of the sport.”

One thing that wouldn’t frustrate Megan would be some opponent saying: “You look like a boy.”

Even with triplet brothers, Megan knows that’s not true.

“No one has ever told me I looked like my brothers before,” she claimed. “A lot of people do mix up my brothers. But I do not look like my brothers.”

Noting that a lot of water polo players look alike in the water with their caps on, and that his children stand 5-foot-10 (Ryan), 5-7 (Louis) and 5-2 (Megan), Dennis Campbell noted that really only one person has had a tough time telling them apart.

“A couple of years ago, the boys had a coach who would only put one of them in at a time,” he recalled, “so he could call them, ‘Campbell.’”