Still Making Waves

by George Diaz

Clay Parnell was allotted 15 minutes for his speech when he was honored recently as a new member of the Lake Brantley High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

He spoke for 42 minutes.

“I’d had a couple glasses of wine, I was a little nervous, and I had a lot to say,” says the 69-year-old Clay, who retired at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. “I wanted to make sure I got through it because it was an emotional deal.”

The cornerstone of the Lake Brantley Patriots swimming program for decades, Clay had earned the right to steal a few extra minutes. After all, he has given so much more over the past 44 years.

He led the girls’ team to state championships in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2001, and 2003. And in 1997, his boys won the state title. At the Hall of Fame ceremony this past fall, presented by the Lake Brantley Athletic Boosters, the girls’ championship teams from 1989 and 2001 were also inducted alongside their coach.

Clay is beloved by the students he has coached over the years, so much so they threw a surprise party for him at the Lake Brantley pool during the Hall of Fame weekend. Some traveled from across the country to help celebrate Clay and his accomplishments.

Like Father, Like Son 

But there is one swimmer who stands out from all the rest among Clay’s cherished memories: his son Gabe. In 2025, Gabe was appointed head coach of Lake Brantley’s swimming program, succeeding his father.

Gabe, 25, is already building on the Parnell coaching legacy. Last year, he led the boys’ team to its first conference championship in 19 years. 

“I wasn’t groomed into coaching,” says Gabe. “But swimming has been such a guiding anchor in my life. It just had such a good effect on shaping me and keeping me focused and disciplined.”

Those qualities reflect the coaching and parenting style of Clay. The father of four boys, Clay only had one family rule, says Gabe: “You’re going to learn how to swim, you’re going to do the summer swimming program, and when you’re 10 years old, you can quit and try something else.

Gabe and his brother Cole would stick with swimming, both winning individual events at state championships while competing for Lake Brantley. Both also went on to                      swim collegiately. 

Building Blocks of Success

Clay began swimming competitively at the age of six. He would go on to swim at Auburn University for two years before coming back home and swimming for the University of Central Florida, which only had a club team at the time. 

After graduating from UCF, Clay started his own club swim team at Westmonte Park in Altamonte Springs, which eventually led him to coach at Lake Brantley.

Clay’s sons are part of his legacy, of course. And there have been plenty of other building blocks over Clay’s 44 years at the school, from his first day of coaching in 1980.

“It seemed like 20,” he says. “It went by so fast.”

He mentored thousands of swimmers, from club team members to elite athletes. They included Hunter Kemper, who competed in four Olympics in the triathlon event; Brad Bridgewater, who won the gold medal in the men’s 200-meter backstroke at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics; and Sarah Bateman, who represented Iceland in two Olympic Games.

Come On In, the Water’s Fine

Even though Clay retired last school year, he has still been poolside at Lake Brantley this school year, serving as Gabe’s volunteer assistant coach.

“The first year of high school coaching, there’s a lot that you have to learn,” says Clay. “It’s not just the coaching part – it’s the schedules, it’s the purchase orders for suits and the paperwork involved, it’s the traveling and other things.”

Now, however, Clay is leaving everything in his son’s capable hands. And Gabe is ready.

“Swimming under him for years and years and years was essentially a mentorship on how to coach,” says Gabe. “It taught me what is required to teach these kids, along with my own personal experience.”