Junior Drew Kingman is not the typical athlete. In one semester, he set 10 school records and is one of the best swimmers in Fairfield’s history.
However, a humble Kingman, a standout on the Fairfield men’s swimming team, described a typical day, with an exceedingly casual tone.
“We have dry land practice from 6-7:30 in the morning,” said Kingman, as relaxed as a kid on vacation.
“In the morning, we have four different circuits in our training – lifting, running, push-ups and sit-ups, and other core exercises,” said Kingman. “It’s pretty hard stuff.”
But practice doesn’t stop there.
“In the afternoon we swim for two hours and 15 minutes,” he said. “It’s usually around 7,000-8,000 meters a practice.”
Based on Kingman’s estimate of how often the team practices and how far its members swim, the overall distance covers 5.1 miles in total.
Every day. Six days a week.
Add an hour and a half of intense cardio and core exercises, all conducted in the early hours of the morning, as the sun is still rising and most students are still tucked in bed.
Apparently, instead of training swimmers, Fairfield is training Marines.
Kingman continued, “Practices are usually hard; we split it up between sprint and distance and IM groups. [Fairfield] has really stepped it up this year in terms of practices.”
It does not take much time, though, to understand Kingman and his personality. One needs only to examine his background to fully understand his calm, unassuming nature.
Kingman spent his freshman year in college at Denison University, a Division-III powerhouse in the world of college swimming.
Located in Granville, OH, Denison boasts a top tier program and one of the best swimming rivalries in the nation with nearby Kenyon College, which is widely considered the Duke/North Carolina of mid-major swimming.
“It was a pretty intense program,” recalled Kingman.
In fact, Denison finished second overall among Division-III teams for men’s swimming in Kingman’s freshman season.
The story, though, was not picture perfect.
Academic troubles and a tough transition away from home brought Kingman back to Fairfield.
Overall, Kingman described it as a humbling experience.
A native of Wilton, Conn., he ultimately decided that a move back home was the perfect fit, not only for Kingman the swimmer, but also for Kingman the person.
After sitting out due to eligibility reasons in the first semester at Denison, Kingman started his Fairfield career in style.
During his first meet against New Jersey Institute of Technology in January of last season, he won all three of his events and shattered three school records.
That meet began a string of success that resulted in arguably the best season for any swimmer in school history.
He finished the year by setting 10 school records and finished third place in the 400-yard IM and 200-yard breaststroke in the MAAC championship, nearly winning the 200-yard breaststroke in the ECAC championship.
To say that 2007 was a career year for Kingman would be an understatement. It would also be incorrect; he did it in one semester.
With a few school records already to his credit, it may not be crazy to consider that the most dominant athlete at Fairfield may spend his time in a pool.
“I really don’t like to think about it that way,” said Kingman, humbled by even the mere notion. “I just like to go into the pool and do my own thing.”
By his “own thing,” he means a furious schedule of training, a constant push to improve and a struggle in the water every evening.
It is his hope that this year’s extra effort can net him a first place finish in this season’s MAAC championship.
“I’d like to move up to a second or first place finish [in the MAAC]. I like winning,” said Kingman. “It’s a tough challenge and I have my work cut out for me.”
Work for anyone else.
For him, it’s just another day.
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