Brieyana Walton is a senior at California Lutheran University who has set several personal records during her time enrolled at Cal Lutheran as well as in high school.  

Swimming has been a passion of hers ever since she was convinced by a friend to join a summer league swim team when she was younger. Walton said that since then, she fell in love with the sport and eventually continued it to the competitive level. 

Walton grew up in Aurora, Colorado and started swimming when she was eight years old. She continued the sport and competitively swam for several years. After high school, she decided to take the leap away from home and pursue her swimming career at Cal Lutheran. 

“I chose Cal Lu because my graduation counselor told me to take a look at this school and I haven’t really heard of it before, and I came out here for an inclusive little trip. After that, I kind of just fell in love with the campus,” Walton said. 

Head Swim and Dive Coach Barry Schreifels said that Walton has been a big contributor to the Cal Lutheran community by expressing her positive personality traits. She shows up to swim practice with a positive attitude that brings light to the people around her. The motivation that she brings to the team encourages her teammates to work harder than they have before. 

“She makes people give their best, and she does it without saying very much. She just has a way of raising the level around her. I don’t exactly know how she does it, she’s got a nice way of talking to people, but she’s really motivating,” Schreifels said. 

Walton has had many past achievements, from both high school and college. Her first state cut time was when she was a junior in high school swimming breaststroke. The second time she made a state cut time was her freshman year of college, and she ended up breaking one of the 100 breaststroke team records. 

“She’s got several team records as a matter of fact, and those are great. But what she brings is a whole lot more than just her time, she brings a personality, she brings her energy, she brings her athleticism, and she contributes to everything we do,” Schreifels said. 

One of Waltons’ greatest strengths is the ability to be a team player, which is a crucial component for a successful team. Her team relies on her for a strong performance, and she delivers.

“On the relay, she’s so quick, so we need that individually here in the meets,” teammate and senior Miles Gaitan said. 

Her teammates are some of her biggest supporters, because they can see how her contributions as a strong swimmer help the team out.

Walton said that her summer league coach was a great mentor she looked up to as she began her swimming career. Her coach’s advice and encouragement helped push Walton to work hard and at her fullest potential.

“She actually pushed me to go into competitive swimming a little bit more. She always told me to never sell myself short and always strive to the best of my ability and ever since then I’ve just had those things,” Walton said. 

Walton’s strength as both an athlete and a person have brought her great accomplishments here at Cal Lutheran. Her perseverance continues to bring out the best in herself and others. She has encouraged many other athletes on the swim team to work their very hardest, and that is something that will stick with them after college.