Caroline Bricker, standing at 5 ’10”, and with the confidence of Maya DiRado, this swimmer has talent and a good future waiting. She is diving deep for opportunities that come once in a lifetime. 

Cheyenne Mountain Senior Caroline Bricker has been a varsity and state swimmer since her freshman year. She has been swimming for ten years and has met her goal of getting into Stanford University. But speed in the water is nothing ordinary. 

Though she has extraordinary talent, she still has a normal life. She enjoys hanging out with her friends, and spending time with her family, and also likes baking. But what makes Caroline different is her inexhaustible drive to work hard and push through to accomplish her dreams becoming one of the best. 

“One of the hardest things about being a swimmer,” said Caroline,  “are the points where you plateau and you aren’t getting any faster, so you just have to train super hard, and get over it. The training itself can be super hard to just push through.”

 She not only has to push hard in training, she has to work tirelessly in the rest of her life to support this pursuit. Like ensuring she gets sleep and eating healthfully. Most people don’t work this hard for a sport they love – not that she has always loved it. 

Caroline started swimming at 8 years old because her sister swam and she wanted to emulate her. She watched people winning and she wanted to win as she is a very competitive person, but she didn’t love swimming right away. Her sister has continuously inspired and supported her. Caroline really loves the competition and drive, not just with opponents but also with herself, trying to beat each of her own times. 

Caroline has put in hundreds of hours of effort to get into her dream school, Stanford University, ranked 3rd top school in the world. Her accomplishments may seem daunting, but she did them just one step at a time and she enjoyed herself along the way and will carry many special memories from Cheyenne with her. Her favorite memory was winning states her freshman year. Going up and hugging all the seniors made everything really emotional and inspirational. Her contributing points to that win made it all the better. Swimming isn’t just a hard sport, with a good team environment. It has given her the opportunity to travel a lot, and she met most of her best friends through swim. Swimming also provides a good outlet for her, outside of school and worldly pressures. 

Caroline’s advice to younger athletes is to “stick with it because it can get hard, but to always put your best in and give energy to your teammates and give a positive team environment. It’s not all about you, it is about the team as a whole. Lifting each other up and being supportive can make a huge difference, no matter how we swim.”

Caroline unending perseverance is an inspiration and someone we at Cheyenne should look up to. And who knows? Maybe we’ll be seeing her in the Olympics.