Swimming
Favorite athlete: Shane Victorino
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Getting out of (the pool after) my last high school race ever at states and getting to group hug all of my teammates who were there cheering for me.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I was counting for one of my best friends from another team in her 500 at districts, and on lap 13 the cards broke and all fell on her as she flipped. I completely panicked and froze. After the race, they stopped the meet and made me jump in and retrieve the cards while everyone at the meet watched. She still made states though, so it’s okay.
Music on playlist: “Downtown” by Macklemore, “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore, “Best Love Song” by T-Pain
Future plans: Major in nursing at Duquesne University and swim
Words to live by: “Failure does not define you, it only helps you grow.”
One goal before turning 30: Have a job I love and a house somewhere warm.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love coffee so much the workers at my local Dunkin’ know me and my order.
By GORDON GLANTZ
As she puts her scholastic swimming career at Souderton in perspective and looks ahead to the next chapter at Duquesne University, senior Jessica “Jess” Burns knows it was not a solitary journey.
In particular, she is thankful for the support system she had from many coaches.
It began with her mother, Patty, who put her – along with older sister Abby – in the water at a young age.
The sisters soon found themselves on a team with mom coaching.
“We were in the pool since we could walk with swim lessons and all that,” Burns said. “My sister loved it and wanted to join a swim team, so I kind of ended up there, too. My mom got into coaching.”
Meanwhile, their father, Rob, coached them in softball (Abby stuck with the sport and went on to play softball and swim at Kean University).
Moving on to middle school, coach Heather Moore emerged as a force of nature and a major influence.
The fact that Moore had been a Division 1 swimmer at Maryland didn’t hurt in the respect area.
“She scared me a lot,” said Burns. “She is a very intense coach, but she always believed in us, and you had to believe in her because she was so forceful. She helped a lot with my confidence going into races. She understood pressure, and she could talk me off the cliff.”
At Souderton, Lou Williams stepped into the picture as her coach.
“He has been great,” said Burns. “During my whole high school career, he has been positive. Anytime you need to talk to him, he’ll sit down with you and listen to what you have to say.”
As fate would have it, everything came full circle. Patty Burns, who swam at Bloomsburg, was already in place as an assistant coach. She had taken the position when Abby joined the team two years earlier and stayed to coach her younger daughter all the way through.
“My mom has been there for my entire career, since I was 4 or 5,” said Burns. “She started coaching and followed me through the different age groups. I love it. I love having her there. Some people get annoyed when their parents are their coaches, but she is very comforting and I love hearing what she has to say.”
All told, in a career in which she made states four times and earned medals as a sophomore and a junior and two as a senior, Burns sees it as a testament to her collection of coaches.
“They have done so much for me and taught me so many things, not just in swimming but in life as a whole, and I have never questioned their belief in me or that I have their support,” said Burns, who played softball until age 11 or 12 and lacrosse until her junior year at Souderton. “Great coaches are what makes a sport mean more, and they have made swimming mean so much more to me.”
Early Adversity
For Burns, there has been some swimming against the tide.
She came into Souderton as a known entity, as Williams was aware of her as a top breaststroke competitor since around the age of 10, and the pressure to excel and make states as a freshman was compounded by severe COVID restrictions that year.
As it was, she still qualified for states, despite half the number of swimmers going.
While she relished the experience of being in that environment and being able to take a snapshot of it in her mind for future reference, she was also alone on the pool deck for practice sessions preparing for states.
No teammates, girls or boys, and the only coach with her was her mother.
“Our first year was rough,” she recalled. “We had limited practice time. We had to split our team so that we weren’t going against COVID regulations. We had limited practice. We did out-of-pool team bonding stuff.
“They only took 16 for states, so that was really stressful at districts. Usually, it’s 32. I was really nervous, because I was a freshman and I didn’t do my best at districts.”
Still, according to Williams, the bar had been set for what was to come.
“This whole senior group, the one that’s graduating this year, their freshman year was when we were just coming back from COVID,” he said. “They started out on odd terms.
“She just qualified for states, which was a huge deal. She had a disrupted but still pretty good freshman year. That set the table for high expectations for her sophomore and junior year.”
As a sophomore, Burns earned her first state medal, placing fifth in the breast stroke.
“I spent my freshman year kind of anxious,” said Burns. “I was freaking out a lot because of COVID, but I think it helped me to grow and mature as an athlete.
“I feel like I appreciated it so much more my sophomore year. I had four other girls (going to states) with me, and members of the boys’ team, and three or four coaches. Just having my friends around me made me appreciate it so much more.
“I got to go to states with my sister. She was a senior, and we had a great time. I also dropped a lot of my times, because I got to do a lot of the full high school practices, which were 2-2 ½ hours. It was a really good season for me.”
However, it also brought back some of the pressure. Burns felt she needed to hit new heights as a junior.
While she improved her time, she still placed fifth in the state.
“At that time, I was disappointed,” she said. “Looking back, it was a good season. I improved.
“That’s also when I was getting recruited, so I was a little bit stressed out about that.”
Additionally, she was dealing with the first year away from lacrosse.
“I didn’t love it enough to risk my swimming for it,” she said, citing the injury risk as the prime reason to step away. “I miss the team aspect of it. Having a break from the pool for 2-3 months was nice, too, but I still don’t regret quitting.”
The Next Stop
Burns was able to ease a lot of stress by selecting Duquesne last April, not long after the end of her junior season.
An aspiring nurse, she was impressed by the school’s willingness not to pigeonhole her by her major.
“A lot of the schools I talked to asked if I’d be okay going pre-med or for a biology degree for the first four years in order to make it better with swimming, but Duquesne makes the practice schedule work well for their top four majors,” she explained. “There were a couple of nursing majors already on the team. That was a big part of it.”
Another key part of choosing Duquesne over the other finalist, Delaware, was the swimming program itself as there is no men’s team.
“You get a lot more attention from the coaches,” she said. “They seemed like a nice group of girls when I went on my visit.”
And the campus felt like home as well.
“I get lost pretty easily, so I like that it was a little bit more condensed than the big state schools with spread out campuses,” said Burns.
Priorities in Order
The fact that Burns chose her school for all the right reasons did not come as a shock to her coach.
“Jess prioritized her academics and wanted to go someplace where she could pursue that major in advanced nursing,” said Williams. “I think that says a lot about her.
“She is definitely someone who people look up to. Academically, she is excellent. She has high academic goals.”
Burns, who did internships and job shadowing to realize that nursing, perhaps pediatric or in labor and delivery, was a better fit than 10 years of schooling to be a doctor.
She carries a weighted GPA of 4.5 and is in the National Honor Society and the Athletic Leadership Council.
Other than that, not many activities.
There just isn’t the time.
“My life has mostly been sports,” she said. “I was in band when I was younger, but I stopped that in high school.
“I try to get my homework done as much as I can. I actually think swimming and other sports have helped with my academics. As much as it takes time away, it gives you a set schedule. I can’t procrastinate. I have to get things done because I have practice or games or meets. It’s helped me a lot with time management, which will, hopefully, help me going into college.”
Memorable Ending
While playing her usual key roles on relay teams, Burns placed 7th in the breaststroke at states as a senior but earned a second medal in the 200 IM.
When it all ended, she shared a special moment on the pool deck with her teammates, acknowledging that this year’s team was bonded more closely than those in years past.
“It was all wrapping up,” she said. “All my best friends were there for the last time. It was a nice way to end my high school experience.
“I feel very satisfied with how it ended. It was my last meet, you know, and everybody wants to get their best time at their last meet, but I did my best at my last meet. My last four years, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I had good training and had good results.”
Some of those teammates were fellow seniors that had been through it all with her since that difficult freshman year, and others were younger swimmers that she mentored as she grew more into a leadership role.
“She was our highest point scorer and an in-the-water leader in the postseason,” said Williams. “She had a really good postseason.
“In terms of her regular season, she was just an all-around leader for our team. She was our top point scorer, and our MVP, throughout her senior season.”
