by Cliff Mehrtens



Peter Brumm is one of the most decorated swimmers in North Carolina history.

Brumm, a Hough High senior, won two N.C. 4A championships last month, capping a high-school career that will be hard to match.

He won the 200-yard freestyle event in 1 minute, 39.07 seconds at the state meet in Cary, and swam the anchor leg as the Huskies won the 400-yard freestyle relay state championship. Brumm teamed with Patrick Cowley, John Manchester and Andrew Botelho to win in 3:07.58. It was the final event of the meet, and helped Hough finish second in the boys competition.

Brumm has won five high-school state championships – two as a sophomore at Lake Norman Charter in 2010 (100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle), the 100-yard butterfly as a junior at Hough in 2011 and two this winter.

The championships never grow tiresome for Brumm, who has signed to swim at Michigan next season.

“It’s always exciting, just like last year,” he said. “I like relays a lot better, because it’s a team thing. We pump each other up, and it’s good to share being part of a group. When you swim an individual event, you’re pretty much on your own.”

Brumm made a costly mistake that eventually worked in Hough’s favor during the postseason. He was disqualified for flinching at the start of the 100-yard butterfly in the N.C. 4A West Regional. It cost Brumm a chance to repeat as state champ in the event, but allowed him to swim in three relays at the state meet.

The Huskies, in only their second season, excelled in those relays to help forge a second-place finish behind Providence. Hough was fifth in the state meet in its debut season (2011), and with Brumm being the lone senior on the squad, the winning should continue.

“That’s what I wanted to do, to help leave a winning legacy,” he said. “I wanted to help create a culture of winning. I think it’ll be in good hands with all the good juniors we have coming back.”

Brumm is also an accomplished club swimmer for SwimMAC. Last year he helped set a national record for his age group in the 800-meter freestyle relay (6:33.21) before posting U.S. Olympic Trial qualifying times in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter freestyle.

Brumm will have a chance to make the U.S. National team in the 2012 Olympic Games when he swims at the Olympic Trials June 25-July 2 in Omaha, Neb.