Bethlehem YMCA’s Adam Barlow Gold at Nationals

River Crossing YMCA’s Adam Barlow, 15, who swims for the Bethlehem YMCA Stars, won the national championship in the 100-yard breaststroke at the YMCA National Short Course Swim Competition, held March 30-April 3 in Greensboro, NC.

Barlow, a sophomore at Liberty H.S. in Bethlehem, achieved the top seed nationally in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke heading into national competition. The five-day event took place at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. He maintained top seed through all of the qualifying races at the meet leading up to the finals, when he finished first by five 100ths of a second.

“The second place finisher, a friend of mine from Upper Main Line, PA, happened to be in the next lane, and I could feel him ahead of me throughout the race,” Barlow recalled. “I was just able to push myself through at the very end to overtake him. It was exhilarating.”

Barlow, the youngest of three swimming siblings, said he has always been motivated by his older brother and sister to push himself harder to excel because, until lately, he has always been the underdog to them.

“When I was younger, I was given the nickname Shark Bait because I was always chasing my older siblings and older cousins, who were already much better than me at swimming. Now I am at the top of the family in swimming, and this is the proof.” Adam referred to the championship medal he brought home from Greensboro. The Barlow family has been swimming competitively for the YMCA since 2014. The Bethlehem Stars practice at Liberty High School.

Over 150 athletes competed in the 100-yard breast stroke preliminaries at the national meet, with 32 advancing to finals. This was Barlow’s third time qualifying for national competition, but the first time he won.

“Two years ago, I went to nationals as an eighth grader, and I got disqualified for flinching on the block,” he remembered. “I used that as fuel to motivate me for the next two years to push harder in practice. And every day when I wanted to give up or I wanted to skip a set, I used that as motivation to work harder to become the best in the YMCA.”

Barlow is also quick to acknowledge how important his YMCA swim coaches have been in his development. The team is led by Head Coach Reik Foust and assistant coaches Diana Kocon, Cody Fink, Evan Kocon, John Herron-Buttillo, Sarah Cepin and Sara Collins.

“I give all credit to my coaches who have supported me through this journey. They always offer to stay after practice to work on stroke and technique with me and give me opportunities to learn new things as I was working through my swimming journey from a young age. They took video with an underwater camera, showing me a technique that I was doing wrong and how to improve on it. They helped me improve and used the tools that were available to teach me how to swim better.”

River Crossing YMCA Senior Director of Competitive Aquatics Lou Petto glowed with pride not only for Adam’s accomplishments, but all of the River Crossing YMCA athletes who qualified to compete at YMCA Nationals.

“Our swimmers come out and give their all at every meet and event,” Petto said. “Adam sets a very high bar for his teammates and friends, not just for his skill and talent, but his work ethic and character. He is admired for his work and efforts, as well as the support and leadership he provides our younger swimmers. Congratulations to Adam, his family, and our Bethlehem Stars coaches. At the YMCA, when one of us stands atop the podium, we all stand there together.”

The annual short course national YMCA swim competition brought together more than 1,200 elite YMCA swimmers, ages 12–21, for five days of competition across 38 individual and relay events. More than 30 YMCA championship alumni have gone on to compete in the Olympics, many earning medals and global recognition.