Greg Hansen: 'Laser-focused' Brooks Fail swims his way into UA record books

Tucson’s sports records often get distorted by passing generations and by those who tell and re-tell the extraordinary stories of those who intercepted the most passes at Arizona Stadium or hit the longest home runs at Hi Corbett Field.

But if you are an All-American swimmer at the University of Arizona there is no distortion. Every decimal point and fraction of a second is exact. There’s no woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Every morning when UA senior Brooks Fail arrives for the first of his two-a-day training sessions at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, an imposing checklist of school records and national champions stares back at him from the school’s large Wall of Fame.

When Fail became a Wildcat swimmer in 2017, the only record remaining from the 1900s was nine-time NCAA champion Ryk Neethling’s remarkable 14 minute, 32.50 second surge to win the 1,650-yard freestyle at the 1998 national championships.

Talk about incentive. Fail believed that someday he could make history, someday he could swim 14:32.49 and get his name on the famed record board.

Three weeks ago, Fail swam the 1,650 in 14:31.17 to finish fourth in the NCAA finals in Greensboro, North Carolina. And it wasn’t even his best event at the nationals. The senior from Catalina Foothills High School finished third in the 500 freestyle, with the second-best time in Arizona history.

Goodbye Ryk Neethling, hello Brooks Fail? Well, sort of.

“They haven’t changed the record boards yet,’’ Fail says. “Hopefully soon.’’

Fail’s performances in North Carolina rank with any in the UA’s well-catalogued swimming successes of the past 30 years. He scored 42 points, which also included his personal best in the 200 butterfly, helping Arizona finish 12th, its highest standing since 2014.

Only 10 NCAA swimmers scored more than Fail’s 42 points.

“I can’t imagine a much better scenario,’’ he says. “After everything that happened over the last year — being shut down for so long, being out of the water for two months — I was motivated to be at my best.’’

There’s more to it than just swimming fast. UA coach Augie Busch refers to Fail as “one of the best human beings I have ever coached.’’

After the UA’s unprecedented stop-and-start swimming season, Fail took just two days off after the NCAA championships. If anything, he is now immersed in an even more purposeful training period, one that will take him to the United States Olympic Trials June 13-20 in Omaha, Nebraska.

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“The times Brooks swam in those three NCAA finals were unbelievable,’’ says UA assistant coach Peter Richardson, who works with Fail twice a day. “What makes it more impressive is that he did it on the biggest stage. To post those times, those All-American finishes, under the most pressure of the year is a tribute to Brooks’ mental toughness and mental preparation.’’

Here’s some perspective: Fail’s 500 freestyle time of 4:09.54 is faster than all but 12 swimmers in history.

“A Tucson kid going that fast is very special,’’ says Richardson. “And he did it after a year in which nothing was ideal about the training situation. The only thing that makes me happier is that Brooks is going to return next year, take advantage of the extra year the NCAA has granted 2021 seniors.’’

Fail’s emergence as one of America’s leading distance swimmers requires some context. In the 1980s and 1990s, the UA was among the leading distance swimming program in the NCAA. Neethling, Chad Carvin and Mariusz Podkosielny combined to win five national championships in the 1,650. George DiCarlo finished fourth.

Neethling, Carvin, Podkosielny and DiCarlo all became Olympians; Neethling, Carvin and DiCarlo were medalists.

“This will be Brooks’ first time at the Olympic Trials and even for someone as good as he is, it’s pretty rare to have the level of expectations that he’ll make this team,’’ says Richardson. “But we’re preparing as if he will make the team. He is laser-focused.’’

Only one men’s swimmer from a Tucson high school has ever made the U.S. Olympic team: Sahuaro’s Doug Northway, who later swam at Arizona, was just 17 when he won a bronze medal in the 1,500 freestyle in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

One other Tucsonan has come close: Flowing Wells’ Marcus Titus, also a UA All-American, reached the finals of the Olympic Trials in the 100 breaststroke in 2008 and 2012.

While Fail concentrates on his pre-Olympic Trials training, he joins a select list of Tucson-raised men’s swimmers who have finished in the top three at NCAA finals. Titus was second in the 100 breaststroke in 2008; Sabino’s Scot Johnson was second in the 200 backstroke in 1987; Sabino’s Dave Rollins was third in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 200 IM in 2006; and Sabino’s Tyler DeBerry was second in the 500 freestyle in 2005.

“Based on my times from 2019 and how much I’ve improved since then, I think I have a really good shot to be in the mix for the Olympic team,’’ says Fail, who began club-team swimming when he was 4, at the Ventana Canyon aquatic center.

After becoming a state champion at Catalina Foothills, he made recruiting visits to South Carolina, which is his mother’s alma mater, and to Indiana. He chose to stay home.

“I’ve got a great situation at the UA,’’ says Fail. “Coach Richardson should get all the credit for everything. I’m surrounded by coaches and teammates I really enjoy and that’s why I’m returning to Arizona for one more year. I’ve still got a lot to learn, and this is the place where I know I can continue to get better.’’