SWIMMING: Taking off the pressure

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 4, 2015

Taking off the pressure

Freshman makes it easier on seniors

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Bryan Fitzgerald’s addition to the West Bend co-op boys swimming team wasn’t a burden lifted off some of the veterans.

Instead, it was more of an improvement and a motivator.

“You don’t want to lose to someone younger than you,” senior Colten Lawson joked.

All kidding aside, Fitzgerald has opened eyes this season, sticking with some of the top swimmers in the state, which was evident at the West Bend Invitational on Jan. 24.

The East freshman took fifth in the 400-meter freestyle, with a time of 4:26.32, putting him right up against powerhouses Madison Memorial and Arrowhead.

“It was really cool to be next to them,” Fitzgerald said.

It’s no fluke he’s there.

He will likely contend for a Wisconsin Little Ten Conference championship at Saturday’s meet at Riverside Middle School in Watertown.

“I just wanted to be a part of the team and see where it went,” Fitzgerald said. “I didn’t know how good I was going to be compared to the other kids.”

Fitzgerald’s consistency to be near the top of the board in the distance events for West Bend has made things easier on swimmers like Lawson and Mike Smale.

“He elevated it a lot,” West Bend co-coach Jim Sachse said of how Fitzgerald has improved the distance events.

That’s not a dig on Lawson, Smale or other swimmers. Lawson said he’s fine with a freshman filling in on the distance events.

Last year, when the West Bend co-op was split, Lawson was forced to compete in some of the distance events. Ultimately, it took him away from concentrating on his marquee events — the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

With the 400 or 500 freestyles out of the picture, Lawson believes he is a stronger swimmer in his best events. That bodes well for the West Bend co-op.

“They didn’t feel like they had to be the guys on the block that are dragging everybody along and putting pressure on themselves that shouldn’t be there,” co-coach Chris See said. “As seniors, they want to be able to go to state. By adding Bryan’s experience and talent, that took a little bit of pressure off of them, that way they can swim the way they swim. They don’t have to over-extend themselves.”

Fitzgerald hasn’t been intimated, but he admitted he was intimidated early in his swimming life.

He got into swimming by doing lessons at the YMCA about five years ago and saw there was a club team in West Bend.

“I thought it’d be fun,” Fitzgerald said.

It was fun, but a bit intimidating. One of the older swimmers Fitzgerald looked up to was Ryan Zamzow.

“He was kind of scary,” Fitzgerald said with a smile. “He was scary because he was big.”

“They were always in the lane next to me going really fast,” he added.

What kept the wide-eyed Fitzgerald involved was how Zamzow, who was three years older than him, welcomed him to the club.

“He was always nice to me,” Fitzgerald said.

Once over the intimidation, Fitzgerald’s progression began and it went up in a hurry. He used what would’ve been intimidation and turned it into a challenge.

“He never takes a challenge and says, ‘I can’t do that,’” See said.

In 2011, Fitzgerald won the state championship in the 400 freestyle, the 50 butterfly and the 100 butterfly at the 12 and Under State Swim Championship in the 9-10 age group. He was also second in the 200 free, and fourth in the 50 backstroke and the 100 freestyle.

With each year, he continued to be right there with the state’s best at his age level.

Now in high school, he’s swimming against guys two or three years older than him, which makes his performance more impressive. In the 400 freestyle at the West Bend invite, he was the highest-finishing freshman, two sophomores and two juniors finished ahead of him, and two juniors finished behind him.

“It was very impressive,” Sachse said.

Fitzgerald was also second at an invite at Shorewood earlier this season in the 500.

“He’s coming in as a very good freshman,” Sachse said. “He’s a state champion and he brings that experience. ... He’s doing very well.”

In the latest state swim coaches rankings, Fitzgerald is 24th in the 500-yard freestyle.

“I just try to swim whatever the coach asks me to swim; just fill whenever he needed me,” he said.

Sachse was one of Fitzgerald’s club coaches, so he knew the kind of ability he had.

“The drops he’s making is very good, with what he started with in club,” Sachse said.

Sachse and See envison the drops continuing. However, they wouldn’t compare him to Matt McHugh, who won the 100 butterfly state championship in 2013.

At the same time, each believe Fitzgerald is on the right track.

“The guys who are really good (at the 500) look like they’re sprinting the whole thing,” See said. “And the fact that he doesn’t even realize it, I think that says a lot about his talent and a lot about how hard he works and I think it sort of a sign of where he’s going to be able to go.”