Sophomore plans to continue swimming career

The ice cold concrete bites at sophomore Bradley Newton’s toes as he runs onto the dark, empty pool deck. Rubbing the drowsiness from his eyes, he and his teammates listen to the warm-up set and get ready to take the first plunge. It is 5:30 a.m.

Newton attends morning swim practices with his club team before school three times a week for an hour and a half, as he and his teammates train for upcoming meets and improve their strokes and their speed. He swims about 16 hours a week, including mornings and Saturdays.

Newton has been swimming since the time he started walking, at around age one and a half. According to Newton, his mom pushed him toward the sport.

“[My mom] started me in swimming when I was little and I liked so I just stayed with it,” Newton said. “I enjoyed doing it.”

At age 5, Newton started swimming competitively, and he has since become a considerable force. At his club, De Anza Cupertino Aquatics (DACA), Newton swims with the National group, the most elite swimmers at the club.

Newton specializes in long distance freestyle events, particularly the mile, which is about 66 laps total. However, since the mile is not an event in the high school league, Newton said he swims the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle events.

Last year at CCS, Newton placed 14th out of 52 swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle and was the fastest 500-freestyler on the school’s team.

Because swimming takes up so much of his time, Newton has to manage his time well. He hopes to continue on to college as both an athlete and a strong student.

“I definitely care about academics as well as swimming. Swimming will definitely help with getting into college, but [I] definitely [want] a balance of both.”

For the school team, Newton hopes that more swimmers will qualify for CCS this spring. Though several swimmers attended the CCS meet last year, Newton hopes that number will increase by the end of the season.

With many strong swimmers alongside Newton this season, such as seniors Cameron Borch and Sasha Samoilov as well as senior Janey Heyman, junior Yayla Sezginer and freshman Stefanie Ting, the team hopes to improve in ranking this season.

The team swam their first meet on March 13.