In Play(er) of the Week, we seek to highlight outstanding Wesleyan athletes or segments of games that deserve extra attention. Harrison Hong ’25 is a swimmer on the Wesleyan men’s swimming and diving team. At the Connecticut Cup, which Wesleyan hosted on Dec. 2 and 3, Hong achieved three varsity school records. He broke the 100-meter fly record with a time of 49.51 seconds and the 100-meter backstroke record with a time of 51.22 seconds. He also tied the 50-meter butterfly school record with a time of 22.82 seconds. The Argus recently sat down with him to discuss his record breaking season, his thoughts on head coach Peter Solomon’s retirement, and his hopes for the future of his swimming career.

The Argus: Can you introduce yourself?

Harrison Hong: My name’s Harrison. I’m a sophomore. I’m from California, and I’m on the swimming and diving team. 

A: How did you get into swimming?

Hong: When I was younger, before I swam, I did all the regular sports like baseball, basketball, soccer. And then my parents wanted me to choose between swimming and golf and try to get really good at just one sport. So I chose swimming and then practiced every day and went to competitions and got better and better. And that led me to the recruiting process for trying to swim for college.

A: How did you end up picking Wesleyan?

Hong: I was looking for schools with my dad. We found the NESCAC, which was Division III [and] had a good academic and athletic balance. And then out of all the NESCAC schools, Wesleyan stood out to me because of their phenomenal aquatics center, open curriculum, and the diversity of people, so I liked that a lot.

A: How would you describe your experience swimming at Wes so far?

Hong: It’s amazing. A lot better than swimming in high school club. Very team oriented, even though swimming is very much an individual sport. But the team aspect of cheering, putting in the hard work with your teammates at the pool and the gym, it’s very fun.

A: What’s your favorite event to swim?

Hong: Right now it’s the 100m butterfly and that’s also my best event. And for NESCACs, we have 50-meter [races] of butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke, which you usually wouldn’t do at a Division I school or at any other Division III conference. NESCAC is special. So it’s really fun to swim those 50s. But definitely, the 100m fly is my favorite event.

A: What would you say your favorite part of the sport is, and what would you say the hardest part of the sport is?

Hong: My favorite part is definitely the competitions and seeing if the work you’ve put in gives you the results you want. And when you get the results you want, you feel good about yourself. And that’s the [best] part of the sport because whatever work you put in is what you’re gonna get out of it. And I think that also the hardest part is the practice and putting in all the work because whatever you put in is what you get out of it.

A: You broke the 100m back and 100m fly varsity records and you matched the 50m fly record, all [in] the same day. Can you talk about what that experience was like?

Hong: So I was at the Connecticut Cup meet in December. I broke the 100m back record first in the 400-meter medley relay, which is [where] one person swims each stroke. The backstroke leg goes first, so I was able to get the record from that. And then I swam the 100m fly. And then for the 50m fly, it was [a] 50-meter split in the 100m fly—the first half of the race, I tied the record with someone else. And that was such a relieving experience because I [have] wanted to get the record since freshman year. But we didn’t have this December meet last year, so I didn’t have a chance to go for the records. That would have happened at NESCACs, which is in February. But then I got COVID two days before NESCACs, so I couldn’t swim. So I’ve been waiting for a year and a half to try to break the records, so I was pretty happy about that.

A: What would you say the highlight of the swim season has been so far for you?

Hong: Definitely the 100m fly record. Words couldn’t really explain how I felt. I was kinda just like, “Finally, I did it.” It was just a really good feeling.

A: What are your favorite swim-related and non swim-related memories that you have at Wesleyan so far?

Hong: [For] swim-related memories, I think it’s the people on the team. The friends I’ve made on the team, once you get super close with them, everyone’s pushing you to train hard, and because you have those friendships, you’re able to find other opportunities outside of the pool where you can get some kind of research position or take classes with your swimmates. You’re able to help each other out because of that family you’ve created by being on the swim team. [For] non-swim-related memories, probably joining the Korean Student Association [KSA]. The people I met there, I’ve gotten super close to them, and now I’m on the KSA board.

A: This is your head coach’s last season, how do you feel about coach Solomon’s retirement?

Hong: Personally, I want him to stay just because he recruited me, and I’ve gotten to know him pretty well, and he knows my strong points and what I swim and how I swim them. But I can’t really control what his choices are. We’re getting a new coach for the next however many years, but we don’t know anything yet about the new coach. I’m just kind of bummed because I totally want to have him as coach for my years at Wesleyan.

A: What are you looking forward to in the coming years of your swim career?

Hong: Next year I’ll be an upperclassman, so I’ll kinda be a leader and a role model for the younger class and guide them if they need help in swimming or outside of the pool. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

If you would like to nominate a Play(er) of the Week, please reach out to ebyerly@weselyan.edu with either the athlete’s name and one sentence about why they deserve to be nominated, or the team, date of the game, and players involved, and the segment that you would like to highlight. 

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.