Brynn Lavigueur may have had a short-lived swimming career at Brewer High School but it was certainly a memorable one.
As a freshman, she set four individual school records and swam legs for two school record-setting relay teams.
She was chosen the Swimmer of the Meet at the Penobscot Valley Conference championships and went on to win two individual events at the state meet: the 50 yard freestyle 100 yard backstroke.
She then left Brewer for a more competitive swim environment in Florida and, through her high school and club team performances over the past two years, she has continued to climb the national ladder in the swimming ranks.
Lavigueur, who has verbally committed to swim for powerhouse the University of Texas, has had an eye-opening nine-month run culminating in the 50 meter backstroke victory at the Junior National Championships in Irvine, California, a few weeks ago with a time of 28.42.
She also took fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:01.18).
Lavigueur led all women in points accrued at the USA Swimming Futures Championships in Ocala, Florida, earlier this summer by winning the 100 backstroke (1:01.65) and 50 backstroke (28:37) and adding a second place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:16.34), a third in the 100 freestyle (56.18) and a fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:02.28).
Last December, she won her first U.S. Junior National event when she triumphed in the 200 yard freestyle (1:45.82) in Greensboro, North Carolina. That came a month after she won the 200-yard individual medley (1:59.31) and 100 yard backstroke (52.67) for her Riverview High School team in Sarasota at the Florida State 4A championships.
“I’m very happy. I never thought I would be at this point where I am now,” said the 6-foot-1 Lavigueur, who is vacationing with her family at their home on Pushaw Lake.
She said leaving Maine for Florida as a 15-year-old, even though her family has a home in Sarasota, wasn’t easy.
“It was hard, The coaching and the practices were a lot different from what I was used to. So it probably took six or seven months to become fully adjusted,” Lavigueur said. “I went to virtual school, which was helpful.”
She has no regrets about the move.
“I’m super happy I did it. It has paid off. There are a lot more teams and a lot of us have the same goals. There’s a lot more competition than there is in Maine,” Lavigueur said.
She was heavily recruited by colleges and went on three visits before deciding on Texas.
“It was a tough decision but Texas has always been my dream school,” Lavigueur said.
The Longhorns have been runners up to Virginia in the NCAA Division I championships the last three years.
Lavigueur swims year–round and has added pilates to her workout regimen.
She is primarily a freestyle and backstroke specialist but has added the individual medley to her resume in recent years. That event involves swimmers using four different strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
She has a new club swim team, the Windermere Lakers. She had been swimming with the Sarasota Sharks.
The 17-year-old daughter of Frank and Krystal (Fogler) Lavigueur has certainly benefited from the gene pool.
Her mother is in the University of Maine’s Sports Hall of Fame as she once held six individual school swimming records and was part of five record-setting relay teams.
Lavigueur is looking forward to her senior year at a new Florida high school, Windermere High, where she hopes to defend her state titles.
It’s every swimmer’s dream to compete in the Olympics, but Lavigueur said that is “so far down the road.”
“I’m excited to be able to swim in the NCAA and if it goes further, we’ll see,” Lavigueur said.