Ashburn, Va. — Briar Woods High School senior Yuka Kuwahara has made a commitment to continue her swimming career at the College of William & Mary starting in the 2016-2016 school year.
“I love the balance of great academics and fast swimming that W&M has to offer,” the 5-foot-2 Kuwahara said. “When I visited there, I instantly knew that I belonged there. The atmosphere, the campus, the coaching staff and the teammates all made me feel like I could continue my growth as a student and an athlete.”
[adrotate banner=”18″]While Kuwahara has found her home for the next four years, her recruiting process was unlike most high school student-athletes’ as she competed in three different states during her high school career moving from Illinois to New York following her sophomore year and from New York to Virginia following her junior year.
“My recruiting process was unique and challenging because I moved so many times, but I couldn’t be happier to end up at William & Mary,” said Kuwahara who now calls Ashburn home. “Although I am relieved and happy at the same time, it keeps me motivated to keep up my work ethic both in the pool and school to be my best self to get ready for William & Mary next year!”
At W&M, Kuwahara will join a Division I Tribe women’s team which is off to a great start at the 2016 Colonial Athletic Association championships in Richmond currently sitting in second place on day two of the four day event. During the prelims on February 25, 14 of 17 William & Mary women qualified for the finals, 9 of which qualified for the A-finals. The 500-meter freestyle, 200-meter IM and 50-meter freestyle finals kickoff at 6 p.m. on February 25.
“I am looking forward to adding positive energy to the team,” said Kuwahara who plans to swim the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and the 100-meter breaststroke events at W&M. “Hopefully, I will be scoring some points at CAA conference championship meets.”
Kuwahara certainly knows how to score points and lift her team to success. In 2015-2016, Kuwahara helped the Briar Woods Falcons to a second place team finish at the VHSL 5A state championships on February 19. Kuwahara placed fifth in both the 100-yard butterfly (57.41) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.52) at the state meet while leading the Falcons to second place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay (1:48.46) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:32.90).
On top of her top-notch state performances, Kuwahara snagged a couple LoCo Top Times turning in the third fastest performance in the county in the 100-yard butterfly (57.01) and the fastest performance in the county in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.63) in 2015-2016.
“Swimming for Briar Woods was definitely an unforgettable experience. The first thing I noticed was that the team was so welcoming and hard working. Although I was a new member, I felt so loved, and I had so much fun,” said Kuwahara who also swims for Nation’s Capital Swim Club. “It was awesome winning every dual meet and breaking multiple school records. I couldn’t ask for a better team to win an undefeated conference title and runner up at 5A states!”
Inspired by her older brother, Kuwahara started swimming when she was just six-years-old and has learned multiple life lessons from the experience.
“My goal was to be better than him. I hit a plateau at one point, which taught me that perseverance is very important in everything I do and hard work does eventually pay off,” Kuwahara said. “I learned from swimming that nothing worth having comes easy.”
