Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Fort Dodge junior Teagan Loots competes in a swim meet earlier this season. Loots is also on the Dodger tennis team, doubling up as a two-sport fall athlete.

Fort Dodge junior Teagan Loots wasn’t sure what to think when the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union moved tennis to the fall season alongside one of her other main sports: swimming.

Loots has been with the swim program since she started in high school, and played tennis last spring. She said she couldn’t see giving up either of them.

As such, Loots noted the decision to participate in both at the same time was easy.

“Before either sport started, I was contemplating if I should do both or not,” she admitted, “but the thought of making it to state for swimming and being on varsity tennis drove me to be involved in both. As soon as I started both sports, I knew I couldn’t quit because I was already committed to the team.”

Loots played most matches as the No. 5 singles player for FDSH this fall. She won a doubles match at regionals.

The Dodger also has her sights set on qualifying for the state swimming meet. Tennis wrapped up last week; regional swimming is Nov. 8.

Loots said she’s had to juggle practices for each sport, and only had one incident where there was an overlap in her schedule. On Sept. 2, Loots prevailed during the squad’s tennis match against Des Moines Hoover. She left for the swim team’s season opener at home against Marshalltown, and was on a winning relay later that evening.

“Both of my coaches were understanding. I played a singles match for tennis at 4 and then went to my swim meet, which started at 5:30. I was lucky that both meets were at home so I could make them,” Loots said.

Tennis practice started in early August before school and swimming both got going. Loots said that helped. But she still had to juggle where and when to go for practice as both seasons continued.

“When swim practices started, I would go to those on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, because most of my swimming meets were on Tuesday and Thursday,” Loots explained. “During August, I would go to swim and then work separately with Manu (Rodriguez) on tennis to keep practicing a few times. But during school, I would rarely be at tennis practice. I constantly had to message my coaches, letting them know if I could be at practice or not.”

“Some may say there aren’t enough hours in the day, but clearly they haven’t met Teagan,” said Dodger tennis coach Julie Astor. “Between practices, meets and matches, she has managed to excel in all her activities. She is an excellent communicator.

“From the beginning, I asked her to keep me in the loop as to what she was going to do or if a conflict arose. She never made excuses as to why she couldn’t do something. She always gave 100 percent.”

Sharing athletes during the same season is commonplace at St. Edmond. The four-time defending North Central Conference champion Gael tennis squad, which also switched its season from spring to fall, had to find a level of immediate compromise under head coach Shawn Neverman.

“On our team this year, out of 14 girls (on the roster), we had seven play volleyball, two run cross country, three cheerleaders and a football manager,” Neverman said. “That’s almost the entire team trying to balance a lot.

“The good thing about the tennis season is that it started at the beginning of August and most of our meets were in August, so we were able to avoid having meets on the same days as the other sports. And it’s kind of like track in a way that the lineup is set by challenge matches to earn the spots. If someone has to miss practice for another sport or activity and a player thinks that they deserve a varsity spot, then it’s settled on the court during a challenge match.

Loots said her teammates were very supportive in both sports.

“Any time I would come back to swim practice after a tennis meet, they would ask me how it went and congratulate me if we won,” she said. “My tennis teammates were also very supportive when it came to staying late after practice so I could practice, too.”

Neverman added patience and understanding was imperative in navigating the new schedule.

“Being flexible as a coach helps,” Neverman said. “We had some special early practices for players who have other activities scheduled at the same time as our practice. I know Coach (Mike) Szalat has also done this for the two tennis girls who run cross country.”

Loots had to balance her school work with the busy schedule as well. She missed time for road tennis meets and road swimming events several times during the school year.

“I spent a lot of time on the bus rides doing school work, and I stayed up late a lot to get all my work done,” she said. “My fifth period is an online college class, so that allowed me to get my work done during the weekend.”

Loots did have to give up one activity. She had previously been in the fall play, but state swimming is scheduled for the same time as the performances, so she decided not to audition. She’s still involved in band, choir, speech, and the FDSH musical.

Now that she’s been through the entire process this fall, Loots has no hesitations about doing it again in 2026.

“Although this season is busy, it has been so much fun and I wouldn’t change anything about it,” Loots said. “It (will be) my senior year (next fall) and I’ll do what I have to do.”