DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff After two frustrating
seasons at UCLA, swimmer Brighid Dwyer finally got
on track. Now, the senior is an organized co-captain of the 2000-01
Bruin team.
By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Contributor
During the summer prior to her junior year, UCLA swimmer Brighid
Dwyer found herself at a crossroads. Dwyer, a walk-on swimmer was
juggling her grueling swim team practice regiment with a student
job at Pauley Pavilion, as well as her academic
responsibilities
Her juggling act was more than any student athlete would want to
attempt. Her race times were good but not great. She was too tired
to compete at the level that her natural talent suggested she
could.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay or I was going
to transfer. I wasn’t sure if I liked L.A. I wasn’t
sure if I was 100 percent happy here,” said the Northern
California native, “but I figured, before I leave, I would
come back and make sure.”
One year later, Dwyer was able to shave a remarkable 2.2 seconds
off her 100 yard backstroke, earn All-America honors as a member of
the UCLA 200 yard freestyle relay team, be selected as the
team’s Most Improved Swimmer, earn Second Team Pac-10
All-Academic honors and be selected as a co-captain of the 2000-01
Bruin team.
As she was racking up these stellar accomplishments, Dwyer was
not only holding a part-time job setting up for the basketball and
volleyball games, she was busy with her duties as a team mentor and
co-chairing the Bruin Athletic Council, a group which works to make
improvements for the student athletes.
Brighid, whose name is Gaelic for “strength from
within,” was pleased with her rapid improvements as a student
athlete last season, but she keeps it all in perspective.
“Everything was crazy,” she said, describing her junior
year. “I don’t know how I fit it all in, but sometimes
you just have to do it.”
Her work ethic and positive attitude have not eluded the notice
of her teammates or her coaches.
“She’s always working at one thing or another to get
herself to the next level,” said Bruin co-captain, Jen
Noddle. “We were all really proud of her, because we knew she
had it in her. It was just a matter of manifesting her talents so
it would come out at the right place and the right time.”
Unlike most All-American swimmers, who usually earn their first
All-America honors as freshman or sophomores, Dwyer didn’t
even make it to the NCAA Championships until her junior year, a
testament to her persistence.
“She’s very patient. She’s not one of those
people that says “˜I need to have it now,'” said
UCLA swimming head coach Cyndi Gallagher. “She’s always
done the extra things to make improvements in what she has to do,
which is the mark of a champion.”
“She’s a leader, but her personality is calm,”
Gallagher added.
Dwyer credits her performance to her ability to filter out
distractions in her hectic schedule and focus her energies on the
joy she derives from swimming.
“I think one thing that changed about last season was I
just went in telling myself to remember why I was swimming which
was because I love the sport.” said Dwyer.
She began staying late after practice, working on her starts and
her technique with the aid of her coaches, and she was able to
detect flaws in her performance with the aid of video.
“I watched myself on videotapes to see how I could change.
It looks a lot different than it feels,” said Dwyer. She also
learned to battle fatigue to accomplish her goals.
“Now, when I get tired I think rotate my hips, because
when you get tired your technique goes down, so I just try to
maintain my technique. I figure I might be a little tired, but
it’s going to get me there faster.”
Even though Dwyer has made great individual improvements over
the past year, her goals for her senior year remain team
oriented.
“I think it would be really nice to have a Pac-10 ring for
winning the Pac-10 championship,” She said. “The Pac-10
is the hardest conference for swimming, so I used to suggest
winning it jokingly, but since we beat No. 1-ranked Arizona, I
don’t think it’s that far out of reach.”
In her typical proactive manor, Dwyer spends extra time with the
freshmen after practice, assisting them with their technique in
order to help the team reach its full potential.
“I’m trying to help them become better swimmers
because that is their goal and our goal as a team is to become a
faster team,” Dwyer said. “I see so much potential in
my teammates. I hope I don’t come off as too
bossy.”
Although she has refrained from taking a job her senior year,
Dwyer still manages to maintain a heavy involvement in campus
activities to the marvel of her teammates.
“Brighid is one of the most involved people, if not the
most involved person on campus,” said Noddle. “She has
the ability to put everything into the right category at the right
time, and just does it.”
Dwyer credits her mom, who raised her as a single parent, with
providing her with a solid work ethic which has enabled her to
overcome obstacles on her quest for achieving personal
excellence.
“My mom set such a strong example for me,” Dwyer
said. “There was a lot of hard times growing up, but she had
even harder times, because she also had to deal with me. She showed
me that even when times are tough, you can accomplish so much.
She’s really inspiring. I go to her for advice and talk to
her pretty much about everything.”
Dwyer, who aspires to be an educator and a coach after
graduation, is looking forward to her final year on the swim team
and fully expects to maintain her strong campus involvement for the
duration of her days at UCLA.
“I want to enjoy life but keep everything meaningful and
really love what I do,” she said. “I never want to do
anything half-assed. My motivation is to do what I love, and to
remember to have fun when I’m doing it and to keep
perspective.”
2000-01 UCLA Women’s Swimming & Diving
Schedule Date Meet
Time/Result 10/27 11/4 11/10 11/11 11/16-17
11/17-19 11/30-12/2 12/1-3 1/5-7 1/13 1/19-20 1/26 1/27 2/10
2/22-24 2/25 3/9-10 3/15-17 3/28-4/1 4/6-8
4/17-22
UC Santa Barbara San Diego Arizona State Arizona Trojan Diving
Invite Northwestern Invite Speedo Cup & Texas Invitational
Georgia Invitational Washington State/UC San Diego Bruin
Invitational Stanford California USC Pac-10 Championships Federal
Way Invite NCAA Z one E Diving Champs. NCAA Championships U.S.
Nationals Geographic Z one Diving U.S. Championships Diving
Nationals W, 174-79 W, 182-90 W, 179-118 W, 159-140 All Day All Day
All Day All Day All Day Noon All Day 1 p.m. Noon 1 p.m. All Day 10
a.m. All Day All Day All Day TBD All Day Original by ADAM
BROWN/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin
Senior Staff