Eastlake swimmer wins state with a mixture of grit and sibling rivalry

On Saturday, Feb. 22, Eastlake High School’s Justin Brown competed and won the 100-yard men’s breaststroke event at the WIAA state meet in Federal Way with a preliminary time of 55.45 seconds and a final time of 56.27 seconds.

Having the talent to win a state championship is rare feat. The Sammamish Independent had the opportunity to speak to Brown about what it took to finish as a top swimmer in Washington state.

Brown, a junior at Eastlake, said that in his journey to the podium, he had to sacrifice friends, sleep, and diet.

He comes from a family of swimmers and has been competitively swimming since he was 6. His brother, Connor Brown, also swam for Eastlake and won the 2023 state championships in the 100-yard men’s breaststroke with a time of 54.73 seconds, breaking the school record.

Connor Brown now swims for Cornell University. Justin Brown said that “one of my biggest goals is breaking my brother’s record.”

To win state, Brown not only trained hard but also got feedback and motivation from his brother and teammates. He trained daily for three hours while participating in both club and school swimming programs. He woke up at 5 a.m. to train for the Eastlake swim team and practiced late at night for club swim at the Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club.

Brown said that this schedule led him to “sacrifice a lot of sleep.” As a result, Brown felt fatigued and struggled to perform at his best during practices.

What kept him going was the constant encouragement from his brother and teammates. Brown credits his brother as a driving force who guides him along the way.

“We call often when he’s at Cornell and he tells me what time I should be going to get in and how I should be training and how I should be preparing for my meets,” said Brown.

Brown also credits his teammate and competitor Derek Yao for guiding him and pushing him at practice.

“Derek was in my heat at state, and he really pushes me in practice to be better and make sure I am making my times. So, he’s really helped me achieve what I’ve achieved,” said Brown.

Brown also paid attention to improving his breaststroke technique. He focused on how the kick and the pull are timed together to maximize efficiency and reduce his time. In addition, he worked on getting a good distance off every wall that he pushed off.

There was also one final sacrifice — his friends. Brown’s intense training limited him from spending time with friends outside of school.

At state, Brown swam faster than his 56-second average at other swim meets. Brown said that he was able to do this because he focused on staying relaxed as he’s “always too eager to go up fast in the race, not enough to die on the way back.”

Brown is working on improving his efficiency for the upcoming season and making sure that he is relaxed for his races in the future.

As an indication of how much Brown has the heart of a champion, he did not even take a break to celebrate after winning the state championship. He has kept up with his strict diet of chicken, beef or fish with rice, and continues to train for two hours a day to shave time off his swim. He competed in the sectionals meet in Minnesota during the second week of March.

He dreams of swimming for Cornell, like his brother, and winning the NCAA championship one day.

“It feels amazing to see your hard work pay off,” Brown said.