Isabel and Stella Fairbanks are sisters from Michigan who are getting through a school year unlike any other. Their commitment to their sports – and to the University of South Dakota – remain unwavering in the meantime.
 
Isabel is a junior and Stella is a freshman and they are both part of the swimming and diving team at USD. The weird part is that Isabel is a swimmer and Stella is a diver and neither of them, by their own admission, is any good at the sport their sister does at an NCAA Division I level.'
 
"We get that question all the time," said Isabel, who earned All-Summit League honors a year ago for her third-place finish in the 100 IM. "When we were growing up our parents thought, because we were so close in age, that it might be a good idea to play separate sports. They didn't want us to have to compete within the family with all that drama."
 
So Isabel became a swimmer after realizing, "I had no hand-eye coordination whatsoever and could not play any other sport."


 
Stella's first love was gymnastics, which has nothing to do with the water. It's part of the background of a lot of divers, however, so when she decided to try it, she was very good at it very quickly.
 
"My mom told me she thought I'd enjoy it," said Stella, who has been named the Summit League Diver of the Week twice. "I'm thinking, 'Well it's kind of similar to gymnastics, why don't I give it a try?'"
 
They're on the same team in a manner of speaking, but they don't play the same sport. It's the best of both worlds in some ways.
 
The bonus for the Coyotes, in addition to their individual contributions, is that having two sisters on a team can make everything a little more fun for the rest.
 
That's the case with these two sisters, anyway.
 
"We've had a number of sisters on our teams over the years," said head coach Jason Mahowald, in his 16th year with the Coyotes. "It's a fun dynamic for the rest of us to have them around."
 
The Coyotes, who face SDSU at the DakotaDome in a dual meet on Friday, had to recruit Isabel first, obviously. It's a 12-hour drive from their home in Highland Township to Vermillion, so it was a long way from an automatic they'd get either of them on campus.
 
"My former assistant coach, Steve Mohs, did most of the leg work on Isabel," Mahowald said. "He convinced her this would be a good place for her to go to school and swim. I was just the one who was lucky enough to call and offer her a scholarship and invite her to become part of the team."
 
When it was Stella's turn to make a decision on college, Isabel played a role in bringing her onboard. No. 1, when you have an older sister who is enjoying her college experience, that can be a big selling point. No. 2, Stella went to a few Coyote meets and saw the interaction between teammates. It looked intriguing. Obviously, diving is an individual sport, but there is a lot of time between dives. You have to enjoy what you're doing when you're on dry land.
 
"You see them talking to each other before a meet," said Chris Pape, the Coyotes' diving coach. "You see how they're checking in on each other, making sure the other one is ready to go. It's a great dynamic that is going to pay off down the line. They're both going to make their teams stronger."


 
Both are excellent students headed for careers as health providers and both are appreciating the roles that swimming and diving are playing in their lives. They're also big fans of having the other with them on campus.
 
"College swimming is 10 times better than club or high school swimming," Isabel said. "You get the opportunity to excel at the events you're good at...And I love having a sister here. When she was being recruited, I was like 'Come on, just look at us. I know you'll like it.' It's like a little piece of home having her around while we're out here."
 
Separately, both were asked which would be better at the other's sport. Would Isabel be a better diver than Stella would be a swimmer? Or would it be the other way around?
 
Isabel thought about that for a few seconds and imagined how horrible a diver she'd be.
 
"The extent of my diving would be to maybe do a front dive," she said. "Even that would be pushing it. I don't even think I could do a front flip. And they get to do diver relays at some meets so I would definitely say she'd be better at swimming."
 
Stella wasn't so sure about that.
 
"I know she says she's not the most coordinated person in the world but if she tried I think she'd be pretty good at it," Stella said, laughing. "Swimmers are always diving into the water."