Bonnie Brandon moves fast.
She joined a swim team at age 4, upgraded to a more competitive club at 9 and participated in the U.S. Olympic Trials at 14.
She and rival Missy Franklin dueled in club and high school events back home in Centennial, Colo., and again at the 2012 Trials, in which the 18-year-old Brandon swam four events. Franklin won the 200 backstroke; Brandon was fourth.
Brandon first travelled internationally to swim at 15, and has been to Guam, Guadalajara, Maui, Barcelona and, this past December, to Istanbul. There, at the FINA World Swimming Championships, she posted the year’s second-fastest 200 backstroke time, anywhere on the globe.
That was two weeks after, as a freshman, Brandon broke the Arizona Wildcats’ all-time 200 backstroke record. Her time of 1:51.49 is the second fastest in the NCAA this season.
That’s a lot of living for someone who didn’t turn 19 until December. I mean, what else has she done?
“When I was 12, I shot my first deer and antelope,” said Brandon, a rifle hunter. “Since then I’ve done about two a year.”
Read more about Brandon in Thursday's Arizona Daily Star.
Please Wait…