Spring Break
Top Ram swimmer aims for additional success
Keith Robertson
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Sports
Breann Fuller steps into the arena, the tiles slick and comforting on the soles of her feet. The familiar feeling reassures her as she prepares for this race as she has every other race in her freshman-swimming career. But this race is special.
Fuller is the first Ram to travel to the NCAA championships since 2004.
The 5-foot 6-inch Colorado native followed her breakout season by finishing with record times in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke the Mountain West Conference Championships, earning her an automatic bid to the NCAA's in College Station, Texas.
"Every day I'm getting more and more excited," Fuller said a week before the meet. "I'm expecting more than one swim."
But it didn't pan out for her. Fuller finished in 48th-place in both events, a spot that did not allow her to get that second swim opportunity.
"I'm disappointed in how things turned out," Fuller said. "I would have liked to have done better. I don't think I did very good."
Anything could have contributed to the lack of success in the meet -- the crowd, the competition, the first time at nationals, but Fuller isn't making any excuses. She said that she will treat this as a learning experience and put the blame on herself.
Fuller, who says she feeds off pressure, was not the only one to notice that she had little experience competing at that high of a level.
"She had a little bit of the freshman jitters," said head coach John Mattos after the meet. "Her first swim in the 100 backstroke was a very nervous swim. She didn't look at all like she normally looks."
Mattos, who expected Fuller to finish in the top three of her heat, was surprised at how the atmosphere affected her.
CSU's most successful swimmer really had no plans of being a Ram a little over a year ago. She earned six letters in four years at Brighton High School, but after getting tendonitis, Fuller believed her time in the pool was over.
A meeting with coach Mattos and a trip to CSU changed her mind, Mattos knew she could be great.
Fuller is the first Ram to travel to the NCAA championships since 2004.
The 5-foot 6-inch Colorado native followed her breakout season by finishing with record times in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke the Mountain West Conference Championships, earning her an automatic bid to the NCAA's in College Station, Texas.
"Every day I'm getting more and more excited," Fuller said a week before the meet. "I'm expecting more than one swim."
But it didn't pan out for her. Fuller finished in 48th-place in both events, a spot that did not allow her to get that second swim opportunity.
"I'm disappointed in how things turned out," Fuller said. "I would have liked to have done better. I don't think I did very good."
Anything could have contributed to the lack of success in the meet -- the crowd, the competition, the first time at nationals, but Fuller isn't making any excuses. She said that she will treat this as a learning experience and put the blame on herself.
Fuller, who says she feeds off pressure, was not the only one to notice that she had little experience competing at that high of a level.
"She had a little bit of the freshman jitters," said head coach John Mattos after the meet. "Her first swim in the 100 backstroke was a very nervous swim. She didn't look at all like she normally looks."
Mattos, who expected Fuller to finish in the top three of her heat, was surprised at how the atmosphere affected her.
CSU's most successful swimmer really had no plans of being a Ram a little over a year ago. She earned six letters in four years at Brighton High School, but after getting tendonitis, Fuller believed her time in the pool was over.
A meeting with coach Mattos and a trip to CSU changed her mind, Mattos knew she could be great.
Be the first to comment on this story