Millsaps swimmer to represent school at Nationals for second straight year

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - After Bryan Sullivan graduated from Jackson Prep, he attended Division-II Drury University in Springfield, MO. In 2018, Sullivan qualified for the D-II National Championship, but was not able to compete because the team had too many swimmers qualify.

“You can only take 16 people to Nationals,” Sullivan said. “At Drury, I think we had 21 people qualify.”

Despite the situation, Sullivan was still proud of his accomplishment.

“Just making it was a big deal for me, so I was happy with that,” he said.

Sullivan gained a few years of eligibility because of COVID and injuries, so last year he transferred to Millsaps to be closer to family and enrolled in graduate school. In his first year as a Major, he won every event on his way to qualifying for the Division-III Nationals. At Nationals, however, Sullivan did not place higher than 21st in any of his events.

“When I got to the National Championship, it was just a whole new situation,” he said. “It was very humbling. It was going from hero to pretty close to zero and that setting.”

This year, Sullivan has dominated yet again, and has times in the top ten of D-III for two events he competes in. But, he knows what to expect when he swims on the national level.

“I’ve definitely had that more in the back of my mind throughout the year, I’ve been doing pretty good this year and my times have been a lot faster,” he said. " It’s a completely different atmosphere when you’re there. They’re really competitive and very, very, very good.”

Sullivan hopes the results will be a little different this year.

“I would love to get top three, get one of those medals, and I’d love to come a National Champion if I could,” he said. “We’ll see, there are some really fast people there, so it’ll definitely be tough tougher than most anything I’ve done.”

The D-III Nationals will be in Greensboro, NC from March 15 to March 18.

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