Siblings Ava and Jackson Fears admit they are competitive with each other and that makes both of them better swimmers. (Centre Swim & Dive Photo)
Jackson Fears had a unique reason for becoming a swimmer.
“Neither of my parents grew up swimming or anything like that. As a kid, I had really bad asthma. When I was about 4 years old my allergist told my parents the best thing they could do was put me in swimming and I’ve been swimming since then,” said Fears.
He’s now a junior at Centre College and one of the most versatile members of the swim. His sister, Ava, is a freshman on the swim team and is just as versatile in the pool as he is.
“For the most part swimming is part of my identity,” he said. “It’s hard for me not to swim. I will play pickup soccer or basketball. I will take a bike ride or go running occasionally. But I love swimming. I had to pick soccer or swimming in high school (at St. Xavier in Louisville) and I was better at swimming than soccer.”
It was not just swimming that brought him from Louisville to Centre College. His club swim coach swam for coach Dean Brownley at Centre and recommended him to Brownley. Fears is a pre-med major and Brownley told him everyone on the swim team in pre-med had been admitted to med school since he had been the Centre coach.
“I am not going to be in the Olympics. I could have swam at smaller ‘Division I schools but I really liked Dean, his training methods and how his swimmers got accepted into med school,” Fears said.
Ava Fears also started swimming at an early age because her parents thought it was an “important life skill” to have. She played basketball through eighth grade and was “pretty good” but wanted to focus on swimming at Assumption High School in Louisville. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do the same in college.
“I really wasn’t sure what swimming meant to me. My junior year I went on a recruiting visit in April and my parents had wanted me to visit Centre and spend time with my brother,” Ava Fears said. “We have always been super close but I didn’t want to go to school with my brother. But I went to Centre for the visit and loved it. I felt like that’s where I needed to be.”
Jackson said his parents were “hammering” that his sister should go to Centre but he knew that was not her first choice. When she visited, he matched her with one of Centre’s fastest swimmers and was also counting on Brownley “sweet talking” her.
“She committed right after she visited and it has been great having her here,” Jackson said.
It has been “great” for the swim team as well. Assistant coach Tasha Singleton says they are both “high point swimmers” who swim various events to give the team more scoring options.
Ava calls herself a “butterflyer who likes to dabble in backstroke” or other events.
“I do butterfly and what I am doing well that season. This season my backstroke is good and I am enjoying the 100 (yard) backstroke, 200 IM (individual medley but still working on my breaststroke.
“The 200 fly has been my event since the first time I swam it and it is good to have one event you know you are always good at. My brother started out as a breaststroker. Early on I was a 200 freestyler. Eventually my brother and I both fell into the 200 fly. It’s in our genetics. That event chose us.”
Jackson said he can swim what the coaches need. He’s doing the 500 freestyle along with 100 and 200 butterfly mainly this year. His freshman year he was primarily in the 200 IM and butterfly and last season it was the 100 breaststroke.
“I am pretty much on any relays we have and those are the most fun events. I like going hard with the guys I train with,” he said. “I kind of knew I could be the X factor guy who could be put in a lot of places to score points for the team. I knew I would swim butterfly because I have been the fastest butterflyer since I have been here but I knew the team was not as deep in other events so I just do whatever Dean needs from me.
“I can swim everything but backstroke. Dean can also put my sister pretty much where he needs her like he can me and that helps our team a lot. I have been the protective brother my whole life but no matter what the coaches ask, she can handle it.”
The siblings are competitive because they both want to do well. Ava said there was a meet earlier this season when Jackson told her he was going to win his race and she wanted to do the same.
“I went out and won and then he won out of lane one which is really hard to do just to show me he could win, too,” she said.
Ava is also interested in a pre-med major but currently is leaning towards economics/finance.
“I am eventually interested in the business part of a hospital. I enjoy being on my feet and moving which is why I want to be a doctor but I also see hospital administration in my future,” Ava said.
Jackson is interested in pediatric medicine. He likes the way young kids connected with him when he coached them.
“I feel like I grew up in a doctor’s office because of my allergies,” Jackson said. “I know if I had a doctor who told me he had a peanut allergy or asthma, and I had both, it would have made me more comfortable around that person and probably trusted him more. I used to have a bad allergy to dogs but now I’ve had a dog for 12 years. I am still allergic to cats. I know I still have a peanut allergy because a couple of years ago I had a nut reaction. So I can relate to kids when I talk about what they will be facing.”
