College Walk-On To Masters Swimming Champion: Med Student Bryanna Lacey's Comeback, EP 302

26 year-old Bryanna Lacey is fresh off a Masters Meet High Point win and a year into a bold return to the sport she left behind seven years ago after an excellent college swimming career. We sit with her on the tiles at Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center to unpack what it takes to walk on, walk away, and walk back stronger.

Bryanna started late, carved out high school records, and earned her place at the University of Indianapolis by promising nothing but relentless effort. She battled through a rib injury to post best times and earn a team perseverance award, then stepped away for seven years while life moved—Virginia, Hawaii, and the intensity of medical school. The spark came back when she missed structure, competition, and the friends who make the grind worthwhile. Now she’s a third-year med student rotating in pediatrics, a masters distance swimmer chasing her college marks, and an open water age-group national champion with a 500 free that’s flirting with her old pace.

We dig into the training that makes this possible: 4:20 a.m. alarms to medicate her epileptic dog, 5:30 practices, hospital shifts by 8, weekend doubles, open water miles, and the distance staples she loves—21x100s and 18x200s, often pulling to build rhythm and strength. She talks about balancing ambition with joy, using community as a performance tool, and why masters swimming turns structure into freedom. There’s room for the human details too—admiration for Katie Ledecky’s mindset and a home “Bree’s Bakery” where sourdough teaches patience and process.

If you’re navigating a demanding career, plotting a comeback, or searching for a team that lifts you higher, you’ll find a playbook here: set a steady routine, choose a supportive lane, and chase progress without losing the fun. Enjoy the story, share it with a teammate who needs a nudge, and subscribe for more candid conversations from the pool deck.

Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.

You can learn more about the Host and Founder of Champions Mojo at www.KellyPalace.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

We are doing an on-deck interview here at the beautiful Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center at the Fall Classic Short Course Meters Meet, and I am with Brianna Lacey, and we're gonna do a quick 10 questions with her. Brianna, let's start with your name, your age, your team, and what you're doing right now as an occupation.

Meet Brianna: Med School And Team

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Alrighty. My name is Brianna Lacey. I'm 28 years old. I swim for Swim Fort Lauderdale. And my occupation, I'm currently a third-year medical student with AUC in the Caribbean, and I am rotating in pediatrics right now.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Oh wow, okay. What is ACU?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

AUC is the American University of the Caribbean. Nice.

Path Into Swimming And College Walk-On

SPEAKER_01 0:43

And um so Brianna did just win the High Point Award for this meet. So this meet is wrapping up, and she's so uh kind to do a quick at the end of the meet interview. So we met, we talked a little bit during the meet. I think your history is really interesting to master swimmers. Tell us about like how you got to master swimming and what uh what you you know what your swim history is. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Um so I didn't start swimming until I was 12 years old. I did summer league for two years, and then I hit high school and I was like, you know what, let me do year-round swimming, club swimming. Um I actually swam all through high school. I still hold three records at my high school. I hold the 250 and the 500 freestyle records. Um, I walked on to the University of Indianapolis because I wasn't done swimming yet. Um no scholarship, no nothing. I called the head coach at the time, uh Jason Heidt, and I said, I will give it 110% if you just let me on this team. Like, you don't have to give me anything, just let me be a part of it. And um I actually approved myself over the first year. I started scoring points as a walk-on. Um found my groove was distance freestyle, um, and I swam for three years. I graduated early with my bachelor's. Um swam three years uh for U Indy, distance swimmer all the way. Um and then I took a seven-year hiatus from swimming. I actually got back into swimming uh this time last year in 2024. My first swim back uh was in February of this year. So we're making strides back to swimming, trying to get close to my my times. Um but I took a long time off uh just to give my body a break, and then uh I moved all over the place, lived in Virginia, lived in Hawaii, um, started med school, and I just um something was missing. I was missing some structure, missing the the excitement of the meats, of the camaraderie. Um I'm competitive as well, so having a little bit of competitive edge um really drew me back into swimming. And uh I've just fallen in love with it all over again.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

So oh I love that. So, what what are your goals now that you've been training for a year?

Return To Masters After Seven Years

Goals, Nationals, And Reigniting Joy

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So now that I've been back in for a year, my goal is to work back down and kind of cut through my my college times. I actually went to uh open water nationals this year, uh national champion in my age group for the mile. Uh I went to San Antonio for short course nationals, got really close to some of my college times. For example, the 500-free 542. I mean, that's pretty good for being back for only a couple months, and uh so my goals are to get closer and closer to my um college times, but also just continue having that love for the sport. Because when you're in college, you sometimes lose it a little bit uh because of the just the rigor of the training, and you're trying to study and you're doing lifting sessions, and now in master swimming, it's like the enjoyment of the sport as well as the the physical aspect, the mentality, all of it just comes together to add to you as a person as a whole. And then being in medical school, having you know a strict schedule, having the strict swim schedule too just fits right in.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Very nice, very nice. So, of all that you've done so far in swimming, what is your favorite swimming accomplishment?

Perseverance Through Injury And Awards

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Um, I think my favorite swimming accomplishment goes back to you, Indy. Um not only did I walk on as I said before, but my last year um I actually injured myself doing some weightlifting, uh doing some overhead push presses, and I had a rib come out of place. Oh yes, and uh it was right before our mid-season uh championship meet at IUPUI, and my coach was like, Okay, go get it checked out, and they said you need to take weeks off, and I was like, Absolutely not. So I pushed through a rib out of place and went best times in a 200 freestyle. I pushed through more and made it all the way to our GLVCs, did best time in my mile, um, and that earned me the perseverance award for the team. So I think that's one of my biggest accomplishments is that if one thing that I always say is I will give 110% and I do. Like if I say I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. Gave it all through my three years there and gave it all through an injury and still came out. So I think the perseverance award is really something that I I hold close to myself.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

That is that is a great story. It sounds like you definitely earned that. Um, all right, so right now with your um you know commitment to your schoolwork, what is your training regimen?

Training Routine While In Rotations

SPEAKER_00 5:24

So my training regimen currently, um, I wake up at uh 4.20 in the morning. I have a small dog who has epilepsy, uh, so I give him seizure medicine every eight hours. So I'm up 4.20, give him his meds, get ready. I come to practice for 5:30 a.m. And then I have to be at work at 8 a.m. at the hospital doing my rotations. Um so I get in a morning's uh swim session and then I do doubles on the weekends. So I do a two, two and a half hour double practice on Saturdays. Sunday I'll do open water, which is about an hour or so. We do like a mile or two open water. Um, and then I try to get in at least one run during the week.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

But how many days of swimming?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

How many days of swimming? I do five to six days a week.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

And yardage-wise?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yardage, I'm I'm around three thousand to six thousand, depending on if I do a double or not. Yes, and you are young.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

All right, um, any favorite sets, like a set that you just love to do?

SPEAKER_00 6:23

I love anything with 21 100s or like 18200s. I those are my jam. And if you can let me pull them, oh, even better.

Biggest Comeback And Inspirations

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Spoken like a true distance swimmer. All right, uh, sounds like you might have covered this, but um either in life or in the pool, what has been your biggest comeback in life so far?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Um, biggest comeback, uh, I would say is this right now. This is me getting back into it, and um uh I just want to keep at it. Yeah.

Fun Facts: Baking And Sourdough

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Taking seven years off and coming back as a comeback. All right, some fun questions. Um, you can have lunch with any Olympic swimmer, uh, past or present.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

This is a tough one. Um, but as a distance swimmer, I have to choose Katie Ladecki. I think she would just be so cool to sit down and talk to. I read her book, and um the way that it's written, I really think she's an interesting individual. Um so I would definitely like to sit and have lunch with her.

Why Masters Swimming Matters

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Very good. A very good answer. Um, all right. What is a fun fact about Brianna that um maybe maybe is not obvious? Oh, not obvious. Or that maybe your friends that might be a secret or something.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Um I love to bake. If you ever catch me outside of the pool, outside of clinical rotations, I am baking something. Uh I'm actually in the middle with my boyfriend uh of doing sourdough bread. So those are full-time jobs, sourdough breads. Um, I also love to bake cookies, brownies, you name it. I've I've got it going. It's um breeze bakery in my house.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Breeze bakery, I love it. Maybe there's a future uh entrepreneurial endeavor there. Alright, um, last question is there anything that I have not asked you that you would like to share with the master swimming community?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Um I think we've covered it all, but master swimming really is just more than master swimming. Uh like I said, it gives you the camaraderie, you have some fun competition, you get to travel places for these big events, meet new people, um, and then the training regimen, it gives you structure, and I think structure is so important, um, especially if you're a professional or if you just need something to keep you going. And um having that team around you really helps push you through hard times.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Wonderful. Thank you so much for spending this time with me, and congratulations on a great meet and a great comeback so far. Thank you, you as well. Thank you.