Boys’ swimming: Senior ‘pushes over limits’ into a sea of success

“Races are won by one one-hundredth of a second. That really is just a fingernail,” senior Ian Burns said.

Some may find frustration with sports like swimming, in which athletes endeavor to improve their times by seemingly trivial amounts—what’s a tenth-of-a-second difference, anyway? However, for swimmers at Burns’s level, every hundredth counts.

Burns has been swimming for most of his life, but he started swimming competitively at the local Santa Clara Swim Club in the fifth grade.

Through his “hard work and perseverance,” Burns has trained himself to the point of consistently placing in the top eight at CCS in his best events, which include the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard butterfly.

In addition, Burns is close to qualifying to go to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials from June 25 to July 2 in Omaha, Neb.

“Last year I was a few tenths of a second off of my Olympic Trials cut,” he said. “I’d like to at least get those times. Even if it’s not in time for the Olympic Trials [for the 2012 London games], I’d like to reach those goal times.”

Currently, Burns plans to attend the University of Arizona to study psychology or art.

“Right now they’re the fastest team in the country, and they’re trying to win the NCAA championship, but they have a really large team, so I’m only going in as a walk-on,” Burns said. “What that means is I get all the benefits of a regular team member, just my education is not being paid for.”

Swimming, like all sports, is no walk in the park. In order to achieve his current level of skill, Burns had to struggle both physically and mentally.

“[The hardest aspect of swimming is] the fact that it’s not only physical; it’s also mental,” Burns said. “The way you’re pushing your body, you’re using every single muscle, down to your toes [and] your fingers.”

He added, “[The key to success is] perseverance and hard work, because there are a lot of swimmers that have a lot, a lot of talent.”

Still, the rewards of the sport outweigh the challenges for Burns.

“I really love trying to go as fast as I possibly can and pushing myself over limits that some people think they have,” Burns said. “Pushing yourself past physical limits, yes, but [also achieving] times that many people think they can’t go. I like to show them that it is possible to do that.”