Burns Hangs Tough to Unique National Title
5/31/2022 2:12:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
This summer, the Indiana swimming and diving program is highlighting its 2022 NCAA National Champions, sophomore diver Tarrin Gilliland and junior swimmer Brendan Burns, in a pair of feature stories. This story on Burns is the second and final feature of the series. You can read Gilliland's story here.
"Brendan is a shark."
When Indiana junior Brendan Burns shares his contact information, the avatar is a shark. So, every time IU head swimming coach Ray Looze sends a text to Burns, he sees a shark.
Just like every time Burns swims, Looze sees a shark.
"There's no remorse, there's no pity, no thinking that it's going to be painful or it's going to hurt," Looze said. "There's a purpose, and it's to win."
Looze compared Burns' competitive fire to that of Olympian, eight-time NCAA champion and former Hoosier Lilly King.
"I would have to go back to Lilly to where there's somebody that if you're going to race them, you're going to feel it in a bad way," Looze said.
In this way, Burns is unique, and in many other ways as well. He's uniquely the first Indiana men's swimmer to win an NCAA 200 butterfly national championship since 1973, a list that includes Olympians Gary Hall, Mark Spitz, Fred Schmidt and Mike Troy. And he swims that race in a unique way. After his victory on the national stage in March, he called it a form of "artistic expression."
"You hear the phrase poetry in motion, and I think I used that phrase just because something about the 200 fly has just always felt natural," Burns said. "I've always had this poetic relationship with it.
"It's always been my best event, but it's always been the one that I get the most nervous for. It's always been on the last day of a meet, which is the worst, especially in college and club swimming. It was always the last race I'd have to do, and it would always be the determining factor of what I thought of the meet.
"Because I've swam it so many times, I just really know what I'm doing when I swim it."
"I have seen him swim it a lot of different ways," Looze said. "He's an artist, but he's looking to win. Everything's to touch the wall first."
Everything, including an upgraded training regimen this season. Burns called it the "toughness Olympics," as his coaches encouraged him to test his limits in practice and competition. For instance, Burns would swim the 500 freestyle and individual medleys or the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly on the same day. The latter is an especially hard thing to do – last season, Burns became the first-ever Big Ten athlete to win the 200 back, 200 fly double at the conference championships, then repeated the feat this season.
"He did a lot of back-to-back racing throughout the year and kept performing, so I think it was easy for him to convince himself, 'I think I can do this,'" Looze said. "We really challenged him, and to his credit he went right along with it."
If there's one thing Burns has focused on throughout his career, it's his turns, and he said he's grateful to be in a program that emphasizes the importance of underwater swimming.
"There are four strokes in swimming. Well, underwaters is the fifth stroke," Looze said. "It's just that big of an impact because you can go 15 meters off every wall, which is far greater than you swim."
Burns said that while he has proven himself as one of the best underwater swimmers in the country, he wants to continue to get better.
"He's naturally gifted," Looze said. "He has a great lung capacity to hold his air. He holds a beautiful line where he's able to really move water.
"To see Brendan be able to [have such success with his underwaters], we were part of the future of where the sport's going, clearly."
All this preparation was for one week in March. Up to the final day of the meet and the 200 fly race, Burns had a very successful final meet and season. He had already picked up four All-America honors, two first team, and the night before won silver medals in both the 100-yard backstroke and 400-yard medley relay. But the swimmer who won gold in all five races he swam at the Big Ten Championships was still without a national title in his career. The shark was still hungry.
"Getting your first one has to be the hardest, right?"
Certainly. Coming into the national meet as the No. 5 seed, Burns was not favored in the 200 fly. After top-10 performances in all three of his events the day before, Burns' goal was simply to make the championship final and give himself a chance come the night session. Despite a swim he called "sloppy," Burns managed to go 1:40.07, the fourth-fastest time Saturday morning.
As he met Looze coming back to the team area, all Burns said was "I'll be better tonight."
It's all he needed to say.
"I just sort of kept it to myself," Looze said, "because I don't like to create any more expectation than is already out there, but I knew there was a lot more left in the tank."
Fast forward a few hours, and Burns was walking out of the tunnel for the championship final. Walking directly in front of him were the three swimmers that qualified ahead of him. In lane three, Cal's Trenton Julian swam a 1:39.87 and has recently qualified for the 2022 FINA World Championships in the long course 200-meter fly. He was the runner-up in this race the year before.
Directly in front of Burns, the No. 2-seeded Luca Urlando, who a night before led off the 400 medley relay in 43.35 to shatter the NCAA, U.S. Open and American 100 backstroke record.
And the top-seed, Louisville's Nicolas Albiero, was the reigning NCAA Champion after swimming 1:38.64 a year before.
"It was a really tough field that nobody would have picked him to beat," Looze said.
In SwimSwam's "pick 'em" contest, only two of the 713 entrants did.
As he approached the block, Burns knew his work was cut out for him.
"Oh man, third would be great," he thought to himself.
But that didn't mean the shark was feeling shy. There were just other sharks in the water.
"I know I've put in the work, let's just go out there and have a good race," Burns resolved.
Burns prides himself on his quick first 100 yards. He was the only athlete to swim it under 47 seconds, going 46.92, in the prelim, and he went even faster at 46.49 in the championship final to take the lead halfway through. That's when his preparation really kicked in.
"I could tell, like 'wow, I have a lot left in the tank underwater,' and I really pushed those underwaters that last 100," he said.
With efficient turns in the third 50, Burns extended his lead out to 27 tenths of a second. The upset was looking more and more likely. But into the final 25, even with a solid turn, his opponents were gaining with pacey strokes. As his head popped out of the water on the final stretch, that's all he had in front of the trio of Urlando, Albiero and Julian chasing him down. Like he had all season, Burns kept pushing himself.
As they hit the wall, everyone's eyes shot to the videoboard. Providing color commentary, Rowdy Gaines screamed "Urlando!" thinking he had reached just in time. But then the names flashed on the screen.
"Burns!"
For more information on Burns' 2022 NCAA 200 butterfly title, read the recap here.
"Brendan is a shark."
When Indiana junior Brendan Burns shares his contact information, the avatar is a shark. So, every time IU head swimming coach Ray Looze sends a text to Burns, he sees a shark.
Just like every time Burns swims, Looze sees a shark.
"There's no remorse, there's no pity, no thinking that it's going to be painful or it's going to hurt," Looze said. "There's a purpose, and it's to win."
Looze compared Burns' competitive fire to that of Olympian, eight-time NCAA champion and former Hoosier Lilly King.
"I would have to go back to Lilly to where there's somebody that if you're going to race them, you're going to feel it in a bad way," Looze said.
In this way, Burns is unique, and in many other ways as well. He's uniquely the first Indiana men's swimmer to win an NCAA 200 butterfly national championship since 1973, a list that includes Olympians Gary Hall, Mark Spitz, Fred Schmidt and Mike Troy. And he swims that race in a unique way. After his victory on the national stage in March, he called it a form of "artistic expression."
"You hear the phrase poetry in motion, and I think I used that phrase just because something about the 200 fly has just always felt natural," Burns said. "I've always had this poetic relationship with it.
"It's always been my best event, but it's always been the one that I get the most nervous for. It's always been on the last day of a meet, which is the worst, especially in college and club swimming. It was always the last race I'd have to do, and it would always be the determining factor of what I thought of the meet.
"Because I've swam it so many times, I just really know what I'm doing when I swim it."
"I have seen him swim it a lot of different ways," Looze said. "He's an artist, but he's looking to win. Everything's to touch the wall first."
Everything, including an upgraded training regimen this season. Burns called it the "toughness Olympics," as his coaches encouraged him to test his limits in practice and competition. For instance, Burns would swim the 500 freestyle and individual medleys or the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly on the same day. The latter is an especially hard thing to do – last season, Burns became the first-ever Big Ten athlete to win the 200 back, 200 fly double at the conference championships, then repeated the feat this season.
"He did a lot of back-to-back racing throughout the year and kept performing, so I think it was easy for him to convince himself, 'I think I can do this,'" Looze said. "We really challenged him, and to his credit he went right along with it."
If there's one thing Burns has focused on throughout his career, it's his turns, and he said he's grateful to be in a program that emphasizes the importance of underwater swimming.
"There are four strokes in swimming. Well, underwaters is the fifth stroke," Looze said. "It's just that big of an impact because you can go 15 meters off every wall, which is far greater than you swim."
Burns said that while he has proven himself as one of the best underwater swimmers in the country, he wants to continue to get better.
"He's naturally gifted," Looze said. "He has a great lung capacity to hold his air. He holds a beautiful line where he's able to really move water.
"To see Brendan be able to [have such success with his underwaters], we were part of the future of where the sport's going, clearly."
All this preparation was for one week in March. Up to the final day of the meet and the 200 fly race, Burns had a very successful final meet and season. He had already picked up four All-America honors, two first team, and the night before won silver medals in both the 100-yard backstroke and 400-yard medley relay. But the swimmer who won gold in all five races he swam at the Big Ten Championships was still without a national title in his career. The shark was still hungry.
"Getting your first one has to be the hardest, right?"
Certainly. Coming into the national meet as the No. 5 seed, Burns was not favored in the 200 fly. After top-10 performances in all three of his events the day before, Burns' goal was simply to make the championship final and give himself a chance come the night session. Despite a swim he called "sloppy," Burns managed to go 1:40.07, the fourth-fastest time Saturday morning.
As he met Looze coming back to the team area, all Burns said was "I'll be better tonight."
It's all he needed to say.
"I just sort of kept it to myself," Looze said, "because I don't like to create any more expectation than is already out there, but I knew there was a lot more left in the tank."
Fast forward a few hours, and Burns was walking out of the tunnel for the championship final. Walking directly in front of him were the three swimmers that qualified ahead of him. In lane three, Cal's Trenton Julian swam a 1:39.87 and has recently qualified for the 2022 FINA World Championships in the long course 200-meter fly. He was the runner-up in this race the year before.
Directly in front of Burns, the No. 2-seeded Luca Urlando, who a night before led off the 400 medley relay in 43.35 to shatter the NCAA, U.S. Open and American 100 backstroke record.
And the top-seed, Louisville's Nicolas Albiero, was the reigning NCAA Champion after swimming 1:38.64 a year before.
"It was a really tough field that nobody would have picked him to beat," Looze said.
In SwimSwam's "pick 'em" contest, only two of the 713 entrants did.
As he approached the block, Burns knew his work was cut out for him.
"Oh man, third would be great," he thought to himself.
But that didn't mean the shark was feeling shy. There were just other sharks in the water.
"I know I've put in the work, let's just go out there and have a good race," Burns resolved.
Burns prides himself on his quick first 100 yards. He was the only athlete to swim it under 47 seconds, going 46.92, in the prelim, and he went even faster at 46.49 in the championship final to take the lead halfway through. That's when his preparation really kicked in.
"I could tell, like 'wow, I have a lot left in the tank underwater,' and I really pushed those underwaters that last 100," he said.
With efficient turns in the third 50, Burns extended his lead out to 27 tenths of a second. The upset was looking more and more likely. But into the final 25, even with a solid turn, his opponents were gaining with pacey strokes. As his head popped out of the water on the final stretch, that's all he had in front of the trio of Urlando, Albiero and Julian chasing him down. Like he had all season, Burns kept pushing himself.
As they hit the wall, everyone's eyes shot to the videoboard. Providing color commentary, Rowdy Gaines screamed "Urlando!" thinking he had reached just in time. But then the names flashed on the screen.
"Burns!"
Turn & Burns ?? #IUSD | @_brendanburns pic.twitter.com/it4NFtw7dT
— Indiana Swim & Dive (@IndianaSwimDive) March 27, 2022
For more information on Burns' 2022 NCAA 200 butterfly title, read the recap here.
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