From http://www.usc.edu/dept/swim – When you first meet freshman Brittany White, you take note of her shyness and soft-spokenness. Perhaps she knows that the strength of her swimming abilities speaks for itself.
White, who first started swimming at the age of 8, she only swam because everyone else seemed to be doing it. She later took notice of the fast swimmers around her, which fueled a desire to be as fast as they were.
This blue-eyed 18-year-old from Cockeysville, Md., described her first breakthrough performance, which took place at the age of 13 when she made her first cut for Junior Nationals. Since then, White has been a force in the pool, having been selected as an All-American in 1996 for the 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley and competing at the 1996 Olympic Trials in those same two events.
Although she initially made the decision to attend the University of Miami, swimming Head Coach Mark Schubert convinced her to come to the West Coast.
“She was intimidated by our level of swimming at first,” Schubert said. “I had to convince her that not only was she good enough to come here, but that she could become one of the best swimmers.”
Schubert added that with the help of his good friend Murray Stephens, White’s swimming club coach, he was able to persuade her to come to USC.