Friday, January 29, 2021
Trenton Julian is Making his Own Swim Footprints
As the progeny of swimming royalty – a father who was a National team swimmer and a mother who was an Olympic gold medalist – Trenton Julian grew up in the sport.
So, it only made sense when it came time for him to get involved with some athletic endeavor, he gravitated toward the water.
"Swimming started as something I would do to have fun and being good at it was a bonus,” said Julian, whose mother is 1996 Olympian Kristine Quance and dad is former National Team competitor Jeff Julian. “I started swimming around the age of five and never felt the pressure to swim well until I really realized how good my parents were, which was around the age of 10 or 11.”
Despite his lineage, Julian, who is a senior at the University of California-Berkeley, said he didn’t love the sport right away. It took him a few years to realize that.
He didn’t really feel the pressure to swim well until he started getting further away from the sport.
He thought it was something he didn’t want to continue with, and then around age 14, he rediscovered a love for swimming and learned how to enjoy every part of it – including embracing his parents’ success.
“For a long time, I knew my mom was really good, obviously seeing her gold medal and other people telling me how big of a deal that was and a few stories from her career,” he said. “I think both of my parents did everything they could when I was growing up, especially with how I did not have the same motivation that they had during their swimming careers.
“They understood this and let me enjoy the sport until I realized that I could both enjoy it and be successful.”
According to his mom, it was always most important to them that Trenton find something to be passionate about – and that didn’t need to be swimming.
For Trenton, that meant doing numerous different activities and really not finding a love for the sport and the drive needed to excel until he turned 14.
“This has always been all about Trenton,” said Kristine, a multi-gold medalist on the international swimming scene. “Yes, it would be a special thing to the share the title of Olympian with my son, but I am already so proud of him and the person he has become in this process.
“It's his journey, and I'm grateful that Jeff and I are able to share in the experience, whatever the results may be.”
In addition to growing up with an Olympic gold medalist for a mother, Julian also grew up having his mom and dad as his coaches.
Starting when he was 9, he said it was both good and bad at times – especially when he was younger.
“I did not enjoy having my mom coach me; it felt like I would bring swimming back home with me when I did not want to think about it anymore, especially after a bad practice,” he said. “My parents never tried to force me into the sport or keep me from trying other sports.”
He said this changed around the same time he started to fall in love with the sport – when he started training with his dad in his team’s national group.
He started to enjoy talking about the practices when he got home and enjoyed his parents' perspectives on the practice or even some stroke details.
Whichever parent was coaching him, Kristine said the first real stroke Trenton did in the pool was the butterfly, but he wasn’t fully committed to the sport at the time – and his results sometimes showed that.
“He has always been a solid swimmer, but he really found the drive a little later in his youth,” she said. “We purposely practiced what we preach on our team, and needed to have him find that real commitment if he wanted it.”
She said during his younger years, it was a little rocky at times trying to balance allowing him to find his drive as a parent but then also being the coach and holding him accountable to the expectations of the group.
By the time she got the chance to coach him in his high school, he had become more of the coach’s dream-type swimmer, with his willingness and ability to do the hard stuff.
“I still often think about the advice I got from both of them, from the perspectives of my coach, my parents and as professional swimmers,” he said. “The ones that stood out the most to me were that my mom told me to try and always stop and enjoy the results I get. We both had the problem where we weren't completely satisfied with our results.
“From my dad, I have always learned from him through his actions as a person and my coach, although if there was a singular phrase that has stuck with me from high school until now is to not have fear. This was especially meaningful during hard training or racing when I knew it would hurt at the end, but I had to accept it and look forward to it.”
In the final months of his senior year of collegiate competition as a Golden Bear, Julian said he is looking forward to swimming his best and then continuing to train and compete for his second Olympic Trials this summer in Omaha – a year later than when he originally expected.
After a trying year for everyone, he said what helped him handle everything associated with shutdowns and lost competitions focused on his mindset.
He had to explain to himself that he wouldn’t be able to control much and that he had to be ready for whatever changes were thrown at him.
“I definitely had mixed emotions when the news of the postponed (Olympic) games came out, I felt like I was ready to race and wanted to see what I could do during that summer, like I had planned for the three to four years prior,” he said. “Although, at the same time, I knew an extra year could definitely be used to my advantage to get faster and get more experience in my races.
“I am very excited to be back in Omaha and race. My experience from 2016 did not involve a lot of swimming. I had injured my shoulder and spent about two weeks before the meet trying to recover and heal enough to swim a 200 fly. Being able to race in 2016 helped me learn a lot about my swimming and showed me what I needed to do to get to the level I wanted to be at.”
Since those Trials in 2016, in addition to his NCAA training and meets at Cal, Julian also competed at the 2019 World University Games – where he won gold as a member of the 4x200 freestyle relay.
To him, WUGS was a great experience – his first international meet and his first time being a part of a National team with so many other talented swimmers.
He said while he had a hard time at the meet – he had a good race in the prelims of the 200 fly and then missed the final after a bad semi-final swim – luckily, he was able to come back and get ready for the 4x200 free relay and had a much better race in that event.
“This experience helped me understand what it was like racing in an international meet and representing my country, especially with understanding what I needed to do to prepare for the Olympic Trials,” said Julian, who will graduate from Cal this fall and plans to go pro after that.
“After this meet, and Nationals, I was motivated because I thought I was not at a place I wanted to be. I thought I could do better and my results were not all what I wanted them to be.”
And when it comes to finding motivation, Julian said he only has to look at all that his mom and dad have accomplished in and out of the water – especially his dad, who has battled various forms of cancer the past several years and continues to persevere.
“My dad is doing a lot better,” said Trenton of his dad, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2015 and was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of cancer that develops in the body’s glandular tissues, last fall.
“I was fortunate to go home a few times this past year to spend time with him and relax. He is my biggest inspiration and motivation for both my swimming career and the kind of man I want to be out of the water.”
So, it only made sense when it came time for him to get involved with some athletic endeavor, he gravitated toward the water.
"Swimming started as something I would do to have fun and being good at it was a bonus,” said Julian, whose mother is 1996 Olympian Kristine Quance and dad is former National Team competitor Jeff Julian. “I started swimming around the age of five and never felt the pressure to swim well until I really realized how good my parents were, which was around the age of 10 or 11.”
Despite his lineage, Julian, who is a senior at the University of California-Berkeley, said he didn’t love the sport right away. It took him a few years to realize that.
He didn’t really feel the pressure to swim well until he started getting further away from the sport.
He thought it was something he didn’t want to continue with, and then around age 14, he rediscovered a love for swimming and learned how to enjoy every part of it – including embracing his parents’ success.
“For a long time, I knew my mom was really good, obviously seeing her gold medal and other people telling me how big of a deal that was and a few stories from her career,” he said. “I think both of my parents did everything they could when I was growing up, especially with how I did not have the same motivation that they had during their swimming careers.
“They understood this and let me enjoy the sport until I realized that I could both enjoy it and be successful.”
According to his mom, it was always most important to them that Trenton find something to be passionate about – and that didn’t need to be swimming.
For Trenton, that meant doing numerous different activities and really not finding a love for the sport and the drive needed to excel until he turned 14.
“This has always been all about Trenton,” said Kristine, a multi-gold medalist on the international swimming scene. “Yes, it would be a special thing to the share the title of Olympian with my son, but I am already so proud of him and the person he has become in this process.
“It's his journey, and I'm grateful that Jeff and I are able to share in the experience, whatever the results may be.”
In addition to growing up with an Olympic gold medalist for a mother, Julian also grew up having his mom and dad as his coaches.
Starting when he was 9, he said it was both good and bad at times – especially when he was younger.
“I did not enjoy having my mom coach me; it felt like I would bring swimming back home with me when I did not want to think about it anymore, especially after a bad practice,” he said. “My parents never tried to force me into the sport or keep me from trying other sports.”
He said this changed around the same time he started to fall in love with the sport – when he started training with his dad in his team’s national group.
He started to enjoy talking about the practices when he got home and enjoyed his parents' perspectives on the practice or even some stroke details.
Whichever parent was coaching him, Kristine said the first real stroke Trenton did in the pool was the butterfly, but he wasn’t fully committed to the sport at the time – and his results sometimes showed that.
“He has always been a solid swimmer, but he really found the drive a little later in his youth,” she said. “We purposely practiced what we preach on our team, and needed to have him find that real commitment if he wanted it.”
She said during his younger years, it was a little rocky at times trying to balance allowing him to find his drive as a parent but then also being the coach and holding him accountable to the expectations of the group.
By the time she got the chance to coach him in his high school, he had become more of the coach’s dream-type swimmer, with his willingness and ability to do the hard stuff.
“I still often think about the advice I got from both of them, from the perspectives of my coach, my parents and as professional swimmers,” he said. “The ones that stood out the most to me were that my mom told me to try and always stop and enjoy the results I get. We both had the problem where we weren't completely satisfied with our results.
“From my dad, I have always learned from him through his actions as a person and my coach, although if there was a singular phrase that has stuck with me from high school until now is to not have fear. This was especially meaningful during hard training or racing when I knew it would hurt at the end, but I had to accept it and look forward to it.”
In the final months of his senior year of collegiate competition as a Golden Bear, Julian said he is looking forward to swimming his best and then continuing to train and compete for his second Olympic Trials this summer in Omaha – a year later than when he originally expected.
After a trying year for everyone, he said what helped him handle everything associated with shutdowns and lost competitions focused on his mindset.
He had to explain to himself that he wouldn’t be able to control much and that he had to be ready for whatever changes were thrown at him.
“I definitely had mixed emotions when the news of the postponed (Olympic) games came out, I felt like I was ready to race and wanted to see what I could do during that summer, like I had planned for the three to four years prior,” he said. “Although, at the same time, I knew an extra year could definitely be used to my advantage to get faster and get more experience in my races.
“I am very excited to be back in Omaha and race. My experience from 2016 did not involve a lot of swimming. I had injured my shoulder and spent about two weeks before the meet trying to recover and heal enough to swim a 200 fly. Being able to race in 2016 helped me learn a lot about my swimming and showed me what I needed to do to get to the level I wanted to be at.”
Since those Trials in 2016, in addition to his NCAA training and meets at Cal, Julian also competed at the 2019 World University Games – where he won gold as a member of the 4x200 freestyle relay.
To him, WUGS was a great experience – his first international meet and his first time being a part of a National team with so many other talented swimmers.
He said while he had a hard time at the meet – he had a good race in the prelims of the 200 fly and then missed the final after a bad semi-final swim – luckily, he was able to come back and get ready for the 4x200 free relay and had a much better race in that event.
“This experience helped me understand what it was like racing in an international meet and representing my country, especially with understanding what I needed to do to prepare for the Olympic Trials,” said Julian, who will graduate from Cal this fall and plans to go pro after that.
“After this meet, and Nationals, I was motivated because I thought I was not at a place I wanted to be. I thought I could do better and my results were not all what I wanted them to be.”
And when it comes to finding motivation, Julian said he only has to look at all that his mom and dad have accomplished in and out of the water – especially his dad, who has battled various forms of cancer the past several years and continues to persevere.
“My dad is doing a lot better,” said Trenton of his dad, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2015 and was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of cancer that develops in the body’s glandular tissues, last fall.
“I was fortunate to go home a few times this past year to spend time with him and relax. He is my biggest inspiration and motivation for both my swimming career and the kind of man I want to be out of the water.”