Before a race, junior Evan Brutscher just stares at the water. His mind is calm: he’s not looking at the people next to him, only focusing on his own performance. His focus in and out of the pool has carried him far; from breaking records to his ambition in STEM, he attributes his success to the support of his parents.
“[I started swimming] because my mom wanted me to be comfortable in the water,” Brutscher said. “I joined the club team when I was eight, and then that’s when I started competitively swimming. I’ve been on Beach Cities Swimming for 10 years now.”
Throughout his athletic career, Brutscher has “never even thought about quitting”.
“The motivation of getting faster is really [strong] for me. I’ve become really close with my teammates on my club team, so it’s just fun to go to practice,” Brutscher said.
Brutscher, coupled with his training, has a natural advantage in the water with his height, 6 ‘3. Taller swimmers have more surface area for propulsion, and the longer torso helps with maintaining better body position, which gives Brutscher a speciality in breaststroke and 50-meter-freestyle. At a Wilson Invite meet his freshman year, Brutscher broke the 200 IM medley record.
“It was one of the final races of the meet, and I swam the freestyle leg in the relay. We got sub 1:40. I still remember Trent, one of the senior captains, cheering me on. That really motivated me to swim my best,” Brutscher said.
Success, to Brutscher, isn’t just about proving something or beating records. To him, success is about doing your personal best, and that requires focus.
“Before my races, I’m focusing on my own race plan. I just stare at the water and try to block everything else that I’m thinking out of my mind and really just focus on a few keywords,” Brutscher said. “I’m just thinking about how many sub kicks I’m going to do, or how many strokes I’m going to do for each lap.”
His focus, engrained by his parents, has guided him through ventures in school and in swimming. The support from his family has caused him to continuously improve.
“My mom always told me to never give up, even when I was slower when I was little and trying to get faster at swimming. I’ve improved a lot,” Brutscher said. “And my dad has gone with me to every single travel championship meet ever since I was 12 years old, and cheered for me, even if I had a bad race. He’s really been a good mentor.”
Along with his commitment to swim, Brutscher excels in the academic sphere, which is even noted by his friend and varsity swimmer, Bennett Sootkoos.
“[Brutscher] is just innately smart. He’s disciplined and it doesn’t even look like he’s trying,” Sootkoos said.
Brutscher “puts in the work” to balance his academics with his athletics. His schedule is filled with swim meets and tests in his AP classes.
Sootkoos agrees that the swim schedule is demanding, but Brutscher never fails to show up.
“He’s disciplined. Every time I go to the gym or practice, he’s always there,” Sootkoos said. “He always has a good attitude about it, too.”
Brutscher plans to study in a STEM field at a college in California to further his passion for physics. However, he doesn’t see himself continuing to swim competitively either in college or professionally.
“I want to focus on studying,” Brutscher said. “But I will definitely swim recreationally. I think swimming will always be a part of my life.”
