By Jessica Jimenez — Staff Writer
Swimming is not for the faint of heart. It takes passion, endurance, drive and many other qualities to be able to push yourself both physically and mentally in the pool.
San Jose State senior Brenna Bushey is familiar with it all. Her contributions to the SJSU swim team are noticed by taking on a leadership role, while also breaking personal records.
Bushey was in third grade when she discovered the sport, and was swimming competitively by fifth. As she grew into her teen years, she be- gan devoting more of her time to the pool.
“I wasn’t really focused when I was younger,” Bushey said. “I got to the point where I really loved it and wanted to compete and win. It kind of grew into a dream where I wanted to swim in college.”
Bushey was originally recruited as a freshman to compete in 100-meter backstroke. That changed when she was a sophomore and swam the 100-meter butterfly at an event where she broke SJSU’s team record, clocking in at 53.77.
“Breaking the 100 fly (record) was really awesome,” she said. “It was a last chance meet and I was kind of just going for it. I didn’t know that I was going to break it.”
Fly is now her go-to event. The desire to swim fly, the stroke she never practiced heavily, suddenly shifted toward the end of her high school career.
“I think it kind of chose me,” Bushey said. “Until my junior year of high school, I was actually a distance swimmer and having some shoulder issues kind of changed that. I had to change the way I trained and I was swimming freestyle and back-stroke more and then all of a sudden, my fly just got really good.”
She grew confidence in her swimming abilities when she made it to the Junior Nationals Championships for the 100 backstroke. She figured out the level of pain she could deal with while pushing herself outside of her comfort zone.
This confidence helped her recognize what she could deal with physically, and at the same time gave her the idea that she could be a part of a Division I athletics program.
Head coach Sage Hopkins believes Bushey has what it takes to be a phenomenal leader no matter what the circumstances are.
“Whether someone is watching her or she’s all by herself be it academically, athletically, socially or morally — that’s a hugely valuable thing when you have arguably your best athlete on the team who is also one of your best students, best leaders, best people it’s a great example to follow,” Hopkins said.
Senior Taylor Lehr agrees with her coach.
“She gives the team her all and you can tell that she really cares,” Lehr said. “She would do anything for them.”
Bushey’s leadership skills stem from being part of a team she truly cares about. She is a leader that has mentored the freshmen in a big sister, little sister type program.
Hopkins appreciates how Bushey has adopted the upperclassman role.
“She’s somebody that is very much admired by the underclassmen, looked up to and takes a lot of her time to look after them, help them and really just assimilate them to college,” Hopkins said.
Ranging from her team, to her friends and parents, she is grateful to have a close-knit group of people who encourage her to be the best athlete she can be.
With this support, she sets personal and team goals. Knowing it’s her final season on the team, the senior is enjoying every moment with no regrets.
“If you get too caught up in that it gets a little sad but I was trying to have fun with everything,” Bushey said. “That was my big goal for the year.”
Through Bushey’s swimming journey, leading by example helps her continue to push on completing goals she has for herself.
At the Mountain West Championships in Minneapolis in February, Bushey once again accomplished a personal goal by breaking her 100 fly she previously set as a sophomore, clocking in at 52.76.
“Going under 53.00 was a goal that I had for a really long time and getting to that point was really, really, really hard,” Bushey said.
Although it is hard to compete under sore muscles, aches, pains and strains, Bushey pushed through it and the hard work paid off. This success led her to receive All-Mountain West awards and other accolades.
The senior’s awards are a nice honor to accept, but swimming for her team has pushed her to be a better swimmer.
“I won’t remember All-Mountain West awards in five years,” Bushey said. “I’ll remember how I felt tying with my best friend or finally breaking the time I’ve been gunning for.”
Competing on the team throughout the years, Bushey was able to accomplish her goal of participating in the 2016 Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb. with her fellow teammates, despite having injuries at the time.
Her teammates were screaming for her as she touched the wall making the event that led her to trials. Going to trials were the biggest experiences of Bushey’s swimming career.
“Getting to see all of the big names in swimming and getting run over by Michael Phelps in the warm up lane is the kind of stuff I’ll never forget,” she said. “Being there was a big honor and that definitely was a big game changer for my confidence. It was cool to see I could do that despite everything I had been through.”
As her collegiate swimming career comes to an end, Bushey revealed that it is hard to narrow down five years into one moment.
The championship where she recently broke her own record in the 100 fly was the most fun she has had with her team.
“It was really fun getting to see my teammates, my fellow seniors and myself do well,” Bushey said. “It was validation for all of the hard work we had done and all of the hard things we have gone through. It was just the cherry on top of the season.”
Follow Jessica on Twitter @jessicajim06