When asked why she enjoys swimming, senior Breanna Hickson’s reply was, “I like the rush of competing.”

Breanna has been swimming since she was two.  “Living in Australia, especially next to the beach, you kind of needed to know how to swim,” she explains. In second grade, she started swimming competitively in an annual school swim meet. Then, when she came to Berkeley Carroll in ninth grade, she started swimming with the BC swim team, but only went to practices to get a feel for it. That way, she would know what to expect in the years to come. “When it came time for the swim season in tenth grade, I knew what I was in for,” she says. Although the practices can be extremely difficult workouts, she believes that it is worth the effort: “Ultimately, I love to compete, so as much as I hate practices, getting to compete in meets outweighs them.”

Obviously, competing is one of Breanna’s favorite aspects of the sport. “When you hit the water, it’s just you and the person next to you; the ultimate goal is to stay ahead of them,” she explains. Even more than the thrilling competition, she loves the team atmosphere: “Everybody on the team is so supportive of one another! No matter how good you are at swimming, every single person on the team is walking along the side of the pool, cheering for you, and when you get out they’re ready to congratulate you, even if you didn’t swim your best.”

During the most recent season, Breanna competed regularly in meets. Her staple events were the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, and she also anchored the 4×200-yard freestyle relay and the 4×400-yard freestyle. Throughout the season, she set multiple personal records. While swimming the 500 against Nightingale-Bamford, about halfway through the race, she took over both of their swimmers (the coaches didn’t like that very much) and ended up with a personal best of 7:09. Furthermore, at champions, the 4×400 relay team (senior Olivia Scott, sophomore Rebekah Hickson, senior Allie Korbey, and Breanna) beat its previous record with a time of 4:41. “It was a great race to end the season!” Breanna exclaims.

Breanna is unsure of what her future holds in terms of swim. Even if she decides not to swim competitively in college, she won’t be through with the sport: “I do love it, and I will continue to swim for fun.”

Throughout her high-school swim career, Breanna has been an invaluable member of the team. As teammate Allie Korbey says, “Breanna is the most trustworthy and versatile athlete. If the team needs her to win, she will win her event. If a girl on the team needs a friend, she will be that friend. She can do everything and she does it flawlessly.”

Swim coach Brooke Rea agrees: “Breanna was one of our biggest assets this year, without question. As a leader, role model, and competitive swimmer, she brought so much to the team. We relied on her for every single meet to swim two of the longest and most difficult events—the 200 free AND the 500 free (that’s 28 laps—racing)—plus 1-2 relays in which she swam an additional 50-150 yards. To watch Breanna do this every single meet was truly an inspiration, and she will be sorely missed next year.”