Big crowds used to affect rising Georgetown Prep senior swimmer Brady Fox more. But evident in his two Montgomery County Swim League record-setting swims in the 100-meter freestyle and 100 backstroke events at Sunday’s MCSL Individual All-Star meet, which attracted more than 400 fans to the Rockville Swim Center, he’s become comfortable as the center of attention.
Fox, a humble and reserved Olney resident, doesn’t seek out the limelight. He actually gets pretty quiet when asked to talk about himself. But he doesn’t have much of a choice. Since bursting onto the scene his freshman year at Prep with three wins at the prestigious Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming Championships — he won the 500-yard freestyle event, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay and finished second in the 100 backstroke — he’s been at the forefront of the local and national swimming scene.
‘‘What makes Brady such a unique swimmer is a combination of work ethic and talent,” recent Prep graduate J.P. Perez said. ‘‘He’s one of the most unselfish swimmers I’ve ever swam with. He’ll swim an event he doesn’t prefer to swim when we need points. He takes what the coaches say over what he wants to do. He always puts the team ahead of what he wants personally.”
Fox set a Metros record en route to winning the 100 butterfly at the competition in February. He also won the 100 backstroke and 200 medley relay events. Metros ranks among the top-five fastest high school meets in the country, according to swimmers’ times.
Fox, who represented the U.S. Junior National Swim Team at an international competition in Australia last winter, finished 27th of more than 50 competitors in the 200-meter backstroke at U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials June 29-July 6 in Omaha, Neb. He left Tuesday for Minnesota where he’ll compete in his third U.S. Senior Nationals.
‘‘I was mainly at Olympic Trials for the experience of swimming at one of those big meets,” Fox said. ‘‘I was in Ryan Lochte’s heat. He’s the co-world record holder in the 200 backstroke. So that was something. It got to me a little. Swimming there with all of these Olympians you ask yourself, ‘Do I deserve to be here?’ But we all know we do. I think swimming at Trials is definitely going to give me some big-meet experience and help relieve some of the pressure I feel at other meets.”
A member of the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club since age 7, Fox has had such an impact on high school swimming in the Washington area it seems he’s been around forever. But he’s got one more year to make more history.
Fox puts in about 15 hours a week honing his skills. He sometimes has to back out of plans with his friends — he can’t stay out late on Fridays because he has practice at 6 Saturday mornings. But he doesn’t have any regrets.
Fox has accrued plenty of interest from colleges and has his sights set high for the 2008-09 season. And, though he didn’t make this year’s Olympic squad, is keen on trying again in 2012.
‘‘I’m going into the season looking forward to Metros, trying to break some records and see how fast I can go,” Fox said. ‘‘I want our team to win again — I don’t want to be known as the captain that failed to do that. And I’m definitely looking forward to swimming in college. All the schools I’m looking at have produced Olympians. Hopefully, if I train with them I’ll continue to get faster and be ready in 2012.”
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