BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Swimming takes tons of work and lonely laps in the pool to get better. Now imagine not having your own pool and starting early in the morning just to get your work in.
"Take your mark," Brookfield Academy Head Coach Larry Lanza says.
At 5:30 a.m., three mornings per week, this is where you'll find Adrian Bellido.
"I knew right away that he was special," Coach Lanza says. "In fact, at the first assembly we had after his freshman year, I said he's a prodigy swimmer and I stick to that."
Coach Lanza sees it and Bellido felt it in a race when he was 10.
"And by some miracle, I won the 50 breast," Bellido says.
Now Bellido preps to defend his state titles in the 50 free and 100 fly.
"The ultimate goal would be to break the state record in the 50 free," Bellido says. "Which would be a 20.3, I'm pretty sure. And then go just a little bit faster in the 100 fly."
"Barring anything drastic, I think the sky's the limit," Coach Lanza says. "He's very versatile. He currently is ranked I think number one in at least three or four events in Division Two."
All the more amazing when you consider Brookfield Academy has eight swimmers and rents early morning pool time at Brookfield Central and East.
"This is my home, I guess," Bellido says. "This pool is where BA has always been. This and Brookfield East. I never really saw an issue with not having our own pool since the Brookfield schools have been so generous in giving us time."
And while Bellido aims for individual wins, he wants Brookfield Academy to truly be a team.
"For me, it wasn't really seeing how well I could do," Bellido says. "It's seeing how much energy I could feed off of them doing so great and dropping time every meet and that point really pushes me."
"We also have some new goals with the team with qualifying some relays, which has never happened in the history of our school that I'm aware of, at least on the guy's side," Coach Lanza says. "We've never had a relay qualify for the state championships."
Bellido says his teammates also help him stay motivated with community and camaraderie since laps in the pool can be tedious and lonely.
