In Play(er) of the Week, we seek to highlight Wesleyan athletes or parts of games that deserve extra attention. Fritz Bretall ’25, a swimmer on the Wesleyan men’s swimming and diving team, broke the school record in the 50-yard backstroke on Friday, Feb. 23 in the NESCAC Championships with a time of 23.76 seconds. The next day, Bretall improved on his 50-yard time and was also part of the 200 medley relay team that broke the school record by over a second. The Argus sat down with Bretall to discuss his relationship with swimming, school records, and team bonding.

The Argus: So, how’d you first get into swimming? 

Fritz Bretall: I started swimming when I was three or four years old because my older sister joined our local summer swim team. And I just got into it because of her. My dad’s parents and his family are big swimmers. Both of his sisters swam in college, and he played water polo in college. So I think the plan was kind of to get us both into swimming just for safety reasons, as well as something [to be] a part of our life. 

A: So, what was swimming in your childhood like? Was it mainly outdoors? 

FB: In California, it’s all outdoors. The first time I swam indoors was at Wesleyan’s pool here. I’d never swam inside, [so it was] definitely an adjustment coming here. But swimming wasn’t really a huge part of my childhood. I would only swim in the summers growing up. 

A: When did swimming in college become a possibility? What was the recruiting process like, and what ultimately made you choose Wesleyan? 

FB: Yeah, it was pretty late in the process for me. Just because I wasn’t really a huge swimmer growing up, and then in high school, I started taking it more seriously, but COVID shut everything down. So I had to do a lot of training on my own, which was a unique experience that I wasn’t really prepared for. And I was just looking at schools on the East Coast. My mom’s from the East Coast, she went to Smith, and she kind of introduced me to the schools back east. So I was looking at different NESCACs and similar schools, and Wesleyan caught my attention. 

A: How would you describe the team’s dynamic, both in the pool and out of the pool?

FB: I would say that we’re a fun team because I put a big emphasis on enjoying ourselves. Swimming is a really mentally challenging sport because when you’re practicing, you’re not communicating with your teammates like you do in other sports. You’re in your own head the whole two hours that you’re in the pool, which is something super unique to swimming [and] one of the things I find the most challenging about it. I think that what I enjoy is, before and after practice, even when we’re on-season and stuff, I feel like there’s a big emphasis on bonding with the team and making sure we’re all enjoying ourselves. I think that it’s a dynamic group, which makes it a lot easier to grind during the season together. 

A: Coming into the season, what were your expectations personally and for the team as a whole? 

FB: There was just a lot of uncertainty because we had the new coach coming in, we lost our old coach. I think a lot of people weren’t totally sure how it was gonna go. Personally, I was really just trying to take it a day at a time [and] enjoy myself while swimming, because I feel like being a college athlete is such a lucky opportunity to have, and being able to still compete in the sport that I enjoyed growing up with as a college student is something that I’m really fortunate to have. I think my expectation was to enjoy myself as much as I can and see where that leads me with my personal times. And same thing with the team. I don’t know if everyone else had the same mentality, but I think I wanted to make sure everyone was just enjoying themselves and not really stressing out too much or taking things too seriously. But yeah, I think things ended off pretty well for us. 

A: At the NESCAC Championships, you broke the school 50 back record on Friday. Then you broke that record again Saturday. How’d it feel to get that accomplishment and, going into the weekend, was it something you thought was realistic? Had you seen those improvements in your time leading up to it? 

FB: If someone had told me freshman year that I’d have a record, I’d be like, no way. I wasn’t the fastest swimmer [coming in], and I was probably a second and a half or two seconds away from that 50 record, which is a lot of time in a 50. But I think going into the meet, I’ve improved a lot from last year and into this year, and going into the meet, I was 0.1 [second] away from the record, so I was kind of assuming I was gonna break it. But I dropped almost four-tenths off the record, which is definitely a nice thing to see. So yeah, it was definitely a good reward for all the training that I’ve put in over the past three years. 

A: Talk to me about your mindset for a race that short.

FB: I think that one of the beauties about swimming, and especially swimming in our division, is that we have these 50-[yard] races, which most other college divisions don’t have. Those are the most enjoyable events [for me], because everything needs to be perfect. There’s so many technical aspects of those events that you need to train a lot in the midseason [and] in the preseason, like your start and turn, because if you make any small mistakes, you’ll lose a lot of time. So I think for me, during those races I try to just keep my mind clear, just because I’ve trained so much that if I’m trying to think about specific things, it’ll just blow up the rest of my race.

A: You were part of a record-breaking team. Can you give insight into what it’s like to race with three other people? How do you balance focusing on your individual performances but also your work as a team?

FB: The relays are definitely some of my favorite events, just because it’s the only time in swimming where you’re not like, a solo swimmer, you get to be a part of your team and get to be with your teammates behind the blocks. There’s a backstory with this 200 medley relay record. We broke it last year, and I was on the relay last year, and that relay we had two different guys than we did this year. 

A: What was it like having a four-day competition so far away?

FB: The four-day competition is definitely a grind. Fortunately, I only have to swim for two of the four days. A lot of people on the team have big swims every single day, but I really focus on Friday and Saturday, which were very busy for me. [On] Friday, I had six or seven swims on that day. By the end of the day, I was totally pooped out and had no energy. While it’s a grind, it’s super nice being in the hotel, being with the team, eating all your meals together and everything. It feels a little surreal because you’re [treated] weirdly, almost like a professional swimmer. We’re DIII students who do this on the side, but we’re there, getting driven around, getting our meals paid for, and everything. It’s definitely a really nice reward for all the training we did in the off-season and preseason. 

A: Have there been any other moments from the season that have stood out to you?

FB: One of my favorite memories on the team has actually been outside of the pool, [playing] on the intramural basketball team that some of us created our freshman year. Every single year we take it seriously, even though it takes place during our swim season. We play all of our games on Sundays and sometimes have practices if we feel there is stuff we need to clean up. It is a fun way to bond. Every year we have made it to the finals, but we have lost in the final all three of my years, so hopefully in my senior year, we finally win it all.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sam Weitzman-Kurker can be reached at sweitzmankur@wesleyan.edu.