North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Kingston Is Pack's Newest Canadian Phenom
2/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – The road from Canada to NC State has gotten a lot shorter in recent years, and Canadian student-athletes are proudly performing for the red-and-white, minus the maple leaf.
Just last year, Winnipeg, Manitoba-native Kristin Davies won an NCAA Championship in platform diving and Bright's Grove, Ontario-native Matt Hill won the school's first ever NCAA title in men's golf.
So, when freshman swimmer Brandon Kingston, from Holland Landing, Ontario, was matched with NC State through a recruiting service, he had plenty of people to ask about what life is like in Raleigh for a neighbor from the north.
Specifically, he talked to Davies and women's swimmer Jess Ward, who arrived from Pickering, Ontario, a few years back and still competes with the Wolfpack women.
Kingston had heard a lot about NC State by following the career of 2006 NCAA Champion and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones. So when NC State assistant coach Christopher "Woody" Woodard contacted Kingston about coming to NC State for a visit, he was certainly curious.
Canadian athletes are generally anxious to come south to participate in NCAA competition, which is more intense, better attended and more publicized than Canadian college sports. Kingston had long considered joining some of his club teammates in competing for an American team.
"I kind of wanted the life experience of coming down here and seeing what it was like and to participate in college," Kingston said.
He enjoyed his official visit here and got along well with his coaches. He figured he could easily make the transition from home to here, since, really, the only difference was swimming yards instead of meters. (Of course, the first time he returned home and tried to do a flip turn in a Canadian pool, he turned too early and missed the wall entirely.)
"Living here hasn't been much different for me, other than making the switch to yards," Kingston said. "The biggest change for me has been living on my own for the first time. But that has been fun."
Otherwise, Kingston has had an excellent freshman season as the Wolfpack prepares to head to Chapel Hill for its final dual meet (6 p.m., Friday) before the ACC Championships (Feb. 13-15, also in Chapel Hill).
"He's been excellent for us this year," said NC State coach Brooks Teal. "I think he feels comfortable down here, after hearing from others that we are pretty user-friendly for Canadian swimmers.
"They have mixed in nicely down here with a bunch of Southerners."
Primarily a distance swimmer, Kingston has been a versatile performer in his first season with the Pack. He has the team's best time in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:24.75), the second best time in the 500-yard freestyle (4:32:77) and the third best time in the 100-yard freestyle (46.73). For good measure, he turned in the second best time this season in the 400-yard individual medley (4:05:04).
Training with accomplished distance swimmer Mason McGee, Kingston says he is driven to improve during his first season of college competition.
"Basically, I have a fire to be as good as I can be," Kingston said. "Every day I get into the pool, I want to get better."
He has that same drive in the classroom. He graduated second in his class at Holland Landing's Newmarket High School and is currently enrolled in biomedical engineering.
"I am thinking about going to medical school, and that was the hardest major I could have to prepare me for it," Kingston said. "I was a little worried about how hard college classes would be when I first got here, but when I took my first chemistry class, we were doing stuff I did my sophomore year in high school.
"So far, that transition has been pretty good also."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
