Brienne Ryan, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’13, capped off her phenomenal season by becoming Fordham’s first female swimmer to compete at the NCAA championships. Ryan was invited to compete at the championships after a record-breaking season, which saw her break four individual school records and one relay record.

“It was incredible to be invited,” Ryan said. “The meet is so fast and the top swimmers in the country, some of them Olympians, are there. It was amazing to just even be there.”

Ryan, who competed on March 17 and 18, swam both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events at the championships. She placed 17th out of 49 in the 200-yard backstroke and 20th out of 60 in the 100-yard backstroke. Her time in the 200-yard (1:54.67) broke a Fordham school record and was just 0.03 seconds behind 16th place. As a result, Ryan was an alternate for the “B” final, which was for swimmers who placed ninth through 16th.

“It was an overwhelming experience,” Ryan said. “The pool is fantastic and the energy in the pool is just unreal.”

Ryan has come a long way since she began swimming at the age of five. “My sister was on a swimming team and I would go and watch her practice,” Ryan said. “She was getting all the attention and, since I was a little kid, I got jealous. I was like. ‘I can do that,’ so I started swimming for a recreational team.”

Ryan swam for her recreational team, the Viking Aquatic Club, from the age of five through the end of high school. The junior also swam varsity for her high school team.

After high school Ryan’s coach from the Viking Aquatic Club, Carol Colton, played a major role in her choosing to swim for Fordham. “My coach’s son and daughter were on the team and she had a big influence on me choosing Fordham,” Ryan said.  “Because of her, I came to Fordham and I liked the school and the coaches and it was close to home.”

Ryan still maintains a strong relationship with Colton to this day. “She had the biggest influence on me in swimming,” Ryan said. “I still call her before and after every race. I know she’s always there for me, no matter what I need.”

Now that the 2011-2012 season is officially over, Ryan has a lot to be proud of. On top of invitation to the NCAA championships, the junior swimmer was also highly successful at the Atlantic-10 (A-10) championships, earning All A-10 honors in seven events. The highlight of these was Ryan winning the 50-yard freestyle event.

“I had swim meets at this pool throughout high school and I had come up short in the A-10 championships the past two years,” Ryan said. “I placed second two years in a row and to finally win, and at this pool, it just made me really happy.”

However, Ryan won’t have much downtime as practices begin again this week. She will be training for the Olympic trials in June. “I qualified over the summer for the Olympics in long course,” Ryan said. “I think I will be ready for the trials. It will be one of the fastest meets in the country, if not the fastest. It’s just cool to even qualify for it.”

Despite Ryan being successful at the many different events she races in, it is actually a race she doesn’t compete in that is her favorite. “The 100-yard fly is my favorite race to swim,” Ryan said. “I always swim the backstroke, so it’s a nice change. Also, I used to swim the fly in high school.”

After all of her accomplishments, Ryan stressed that she wouldn’t have been able to come this far without her team. “I really appreciate all the support from my team and my coaches,” Ryan said. “Everyone was texting me at NCAA’s telling me they were watching me online and the whole team was backing me up.”