Brandon James holds not only the Junior College record for back stroke, but also the national record after swimming the 200 meter back stroke in 144.09 seconds.

James began swimming year round at age 10 with the Terrapins from Concord, California. He didn’t just excel in the water, he also played baseball and basketball.

“I think I was actually better at baseball,” joked James.

After spending four years on varsity with Heritage High school, he took his talents to Diablo Valley College where he continued to improve and dominate with the Viking’s swim and diving team. Freestyle and backstroke are his two strongest events.

Head coach Ron Millington, has high hopes for Brandon for when he continues onto the state championships. Millington has seen great progress in Brandon, and hopes to see him break not only his own record, but two national records and five school records. After the state championships he will go to the Olympic trials.

Coach Millington said, “Brandon takes a big load academic wise. He also matured a great deal in academics.”

James could have gone to a four year college straight out of high school, but he wanted to train harder and receive a better scholarship. He has been in communication with a couple division one schools. His top five schools include Arizona, Arizona State, Florida State, Michigan, and Hawaii.

Brandon is still in the process of deciding if he wants to stay another year here at DVC and focus more on training, or transfer. By staying he would be more prepared when he transfers to the division one school where he hopes to preform as well, if not better, than he has at DVC.

James loves being in the water, as both of his parents were also swimmers. He loves just being in the water and being at the beach.

“As Brandon is training hard and finely running his strokes, the results will show as the end of the season comes around,”said Coach Millington.