DLN WINTER ALL-AREA: Conestoga’s Burns wins honor for third straight year
TREDYFFRIN >> It may look, to outsiders, like Brendan Burns is honored as the Daily Local News Swimmer of the Year every spring, and that’s been the case for the last three seasons.
But nobody could possibly deny that the Conestoga All-American has earned every plaudit, secured every record and seized every medal that he’s accumulated since 2016. And the list is truly staggering.
“It’s been a crazy, wonderful four years,” the senior said.
Ultra-competitive, blessed with loads of natural ability and a workout warrior, Burns ended a wildly successful high school career at the PIAA State Championship with two more gold medals. That upped his overall individual state title count to six, and gave him 10 total medals in all.
“It’s definitely something I am very proud of,” Burns said. “I’ve come a long way since freshman year, when I came home with two medals. It was a great start, but I was hungry for more.
“Those medals came with a lot of really hard work and dedication.”
As a skinny freshman in 2016, Burns burst onto the scene at the State Meet at Bucknell University with a couple top-10 individual finishes, including a bronze medal in the 100 butterfly. And then a year later, he won back-to-back state crowns in the butterfly and 100 backstroke, and helped ’Stoga grab a silver medal in the 200 medley relay.
“That was the highest finish in a relay ever at our school,” Burns recalled. “I remember relays – they standout more than any individual races.
“They are double points at every meet, so they are super important. But I also like relays because I have three guys that I’m swimming with. I have a duty to them and they have a duty to me to do the best that we can for our team. That’s something you don’t get in individual races.”
It all happened in mid-March of 2017, and for the next 24 months, Burns was determined to finish out his high school career with nothing but gold medals as an individual in the butterfly and backstroke.
“It was everything,” he acknowledged. “After my sophomore year, that was the top priority for my individual events for the next two years. The only way I could improve on two (gold medals) was to try and break some records.”
Already renowned as a swimmer who seems to be at his best responding to challenges, Burns went out and did it. Not only did he successfully defend his titles in 2018, he did it again in 2019. He called the quest ‘trying to go six-for-six.’
As a junior, he established the state record while winning the 100 backstroke, grabbed another gold medal in the 100 butterfly and was on a pair of bronze winning relays. And then this winter he shattered his own state record with a 46.79 in the butterfly, becoming the first Pennsylvanian schoolboy to break 47 seconds.
“I couldn’t quite touch (Hershey’s) David Nolan’s pretty absurd 100 backstroke state record (45.49 from 2011), but that’s OK,” Burns pointed out. “I still had some great races in backstroke.”
This winter, for example, Burns set the District 1 record in the backstroke by sixth-tenths of a second (46.91) and also broke his own record in the butterfly.
“I was so close to the 100 backstroke district record my junior year and this year I kind of went off,” he explained.
As a senior, Burns also completed the triple-play (once again) of being named the Swimmer of the Meet at the league, district and state levels. And he did it all despite having a huge target on his back.
“There is always someone hunting for me,” he said matter-of-factly.
“A lot of the individual races blend together,” he added. “This year at the state meet I was under the weather with a bad head cold. The day of my 100 backstroke and 400 medley relay was the worst day. I remember there were some pretty dark thoughts going through my head. What if I lose this? What if I get to the last race and fail to go 6-for-6?
“That was memorable just because of the feeling of relief.”
Burns leaves as Conestoga’s most decorated swimmer ever. And he branched out in his final season, grabbing the Central League title in the 200 freestyle and also notching All-American status in the 100- and 200-freestyle in addition to the butterfly and backstroke.
“I lowered my school record in the 200 freestyle by two and a half seconds and I got under 21 in the 50 freestyle,” he said.
In fact, Burns now holds the ’Stoga record in 10 of 11 swimming events. The only exception is the 100 breaststroke, which is an event he tackled at the end of a tight dual meet against Radnor. He proceeded to win the race, and secure the meet victory, with his personal best time.
“It’s such an honor to even be in the conversation,” Burns said, when asked about being the greatest Conestoga swimmer ever. “There have been so many amazing teams and swimmers to come out of our school.”
Last May, Burns decided he wanted to attend Indiana University on an athletic scholarship to swim for the Hoosiers, a perennial national powerhouse.
“Recruiting was absolutely insane,” he reported. “It was the most stressful thing besides swimming. I was blessed to have so many phenomenal schools reach out to me, and to have to say no to all but one was heartbreaking. But I know I’ve made the best decision.
“After I visited Indiana, I knew I wouldn’t find any place else like it. I cancelled trips to Texas and Virginia the weeks after because I just knew I wouldn’t find what I found at Indiana.
“I’m going in with a clean slate. I just want to go there and prove my worth.”
