BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Phoebe Bacon was not your ordinary kid growing up.
She was in kindergarten when she helped her parents, Tim and Philippa, remodel the basement of their home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
"God, she was little, probably 5," Tim said, "but she could swing a hammer."
Ceaselessly curious and relentlessly energetic, Phoebe was in middle school when she joined her father, an engineer by trade, as he built a series of go-karts. The first couple were made of wood and powered by a good push and downhill momentum. Soon the vehicles were made of metal and powered by gas engines, which led Tim to teach his daughter about the basics of welding.
"Probably once a year, for whatever reason, we built a go-kart," he said. "None of these were tremendous machines. Some of them were crazy contraptions."
Phoebe was in high school, eager to have her own ride, when she and her father decided to buy a used 1992 sand-colored Jeep Wrangler with the Safari package for sale on Craig's List. They got it for $1,000 and invested another $1,000 in parts and accessories to refurbish it. They spent the better part of two years getting it up and running, fixing the steering and replacing the radiator and brake linings among other tasks. Phoebe drove it throughout her senior year at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart.
"It's cool-looking," Tim said.
But appearances are deceiving.
"Luckily school was very close," he added.
"It's still not the most reliable car," Phoebe explained.
Phoebe Bacon's jeep she built with her Dad
Ah, but the memories. What father wouldn't cherish that kind of quality time with his child?
"Daddy's girl," Philippa said of Phoebe, the third of four children.
"She's definitely a doer and she has a huge amount of energy," Tim said. "Anything I did, she did with me. It definitely made it fun.
"She likes to physically do things and I do, too. It got me a lot of time with her. I hung out with Phoebe a lot. She entertained me."
The Jeep mostly sits idle in the family driveway now because Phoebe is headquartered in Madison, trying to become the next really big thing within the Wisconsin swimming community.
Some would say she's already there.
Bacon turned heads in early March when she became the first freshman in program history to claim an NCAA individual title. She won the 200 backstroke in 1 minute, 48.32 seconds, outdueling a young, but elite field in the process. Thus, Bacon joined Maggie Meyer (2011) and Beata Nelson (2019) as the only UW women to stand atop an NCAA podium in the sport.
"Really impressive," said Yuri Suguiyama, who coaches the men's and women's programs for UW.
"It's really, really rare," Nelson said of Bacon winning an NCAA championship event as a freshman. "It's done by the best of the best in college swimming. It speaks volumes to what she does in the pool every single day. She works her butt off from the beginning of practice to the very end."
Bacon knew going into the race that she had a 1:48 in her. "It was a matter of how do I get that out of me?" she said. "It was a matter of trusting and believing in Coach Yuri and all the training I've done."
Phoebe Bacon holds 200 Backstroke medal at The 2021 Women's Big Ten Swimming Championships hosted by the University of Minnesota, February 23-27, 2021
Suguiyama and the Bacons have history that predates UW. He coached the family's two oldest children, Reid and Sophie, while working at the prestigious Nation's Capital Swim Club in Bethesda, Maryland. That's where he crossed paths with "spunky, precocious" Phoebe as a 10-and-under swimmer.
Suguiyama, in his third season as coach of the Badgers, kept tabs on Phoebe as she evolved into a U.S. Olympic Trials invitee at age 14, a Pan American Games gold medalist in the 100 back as a 16-year-old and a top-five blue-chip recruit.
When it came time for Bacon to go to college, she chose Wisconsin in part because of Suguiyama — whose resume includes mentoring Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky — would be her guide.
"Ultimately, not only do I like the coach, but it was somewhere I fit in and I felt they wanted me there," Bacon said. "I felt an extreme pull from the team."
When Bacon came to Madison for her campus visit, one of her hosts was Nelson, who grew up in nearby Verona. A friendship was born that gets stronger, and more productive, by the day.
"It's been fun watching that relationship grow," Suguiyama said.
It may be hard to imagine a 22-year-old feeling antiquated, but Nelson has been known to feel that vibe whenever she's with Bacon.
Nelson is the most accomplished performer in the history of Wisconsin swimming and diving, a record-setting three-time NCAA champion who, in 2019, became the first UW student-athlete, male or female, to be named swimmer of the year by the College Swim and Diving Coaches Association of America.
Nelson has long been one of the youngest elite competitors on the American stage — she swam in the U.S. Olympic Trials while in high school in 2016 — but now that the 18-year-old Bacon has floated into her orbit, Nelson good-naturedly wonders if she's a bit long in the tooth.
"I feel like an old fart hanging around with her," Nelson said with a laugh. "She's bouncing off the walls all the time."
All. The. Time.
"I'm never sitting still," Bacon said matter-of-factly.
They are different to be sure. Nelson is friendly and talkative, but measured and reserved. She's a UW graduate currently toying with the idea of law school. Bacon is a textbook extrovert who's chatting up a storm with her foot on the proverbial gas even at 6 a.m. workouts.
"She's on deck, joking with people, singing songs, cracking jokes, telling funny stories in the locker room," Nelson said of Bacon. "She brings such a positive energy to the pool and the people around her."
Nelson said Bacon is just as fidgety in the moments before a race.
"I have the few things I do, but she's moving and shaking her legs and smacking herself and jumping up and down," Nelson said. "She's just full of energy and it's really cool because she's channeling that energy in the best directions."
For all their differences, Nelson and Bacon are competitive soul mates who train together, push each other, have the same Olympic objectives and are members of the same unique club. All three women to claim NCAA titles for the Badgers — Meyer, Nelson and Bacon — did so in the 200 back. "It's been awesome for the both of us, not just in the pool but in general," Nelson said of Bacon.
"We're really good matched training partners. We have a very similar approach to swimming and life. I find it really easy to get along with her. She makes it easy to want to train alongside her."
Both have their sights set on swimming for Team USA in Tokyo, Japan, after the Olympic Trials are staged in Omaha, Nebraska, June 13-20.
Nelson said the U.S. is loaded in the backstroke events, so she's also gearing up for the 100 fly and 200 IM.
Bacon upgraded her resume by winning the 100 and 200 back events at the U.S. Open Championships last November. The coronavirus pandemic kept some of the top competitors from taking part, but Bacon enhanced her reputation by knocking off world record-holder Regan Smith in both races.
Buoyed further by her NCAA title and the confidence it generated, Bacon said her chances of making the American squad for Tokyo are very tangible.
"Most definitely a possibility," she said.
Nelson has a four-year head start on Bacon in terms of conditioning, technique and development, but she believes any race she has with Bacon right now may be a dead heat.
"Her ceiling is the sky," Nelson said.
When Bacon heard what Nelson had to say about her promise, she quietly gasped.
"Wow," Bacon said. "Kind of awesome to hear, especially coming from her."
Prior to her NCAA championship race, Suguiyama reminded Bacon that if she can go toe-to-toe with someone like Nelson every day, then winning on that big of a stage is doable.
"She loves to compete and it's a common trait you see in every great athlete," Suguiyama said of Bacon. "At the end of the day, when the lights turn on, it's time to perform.
"When we got to the NCAAs, that was one of the messages to Phoebe. This is where you shine. This is what you love."
Bacon grew up playing a wide variety of sports, eventually focusing on ice hockey, soccer and swimming. She ultimately settled on swimming after she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials as a high school freshman.
"She has the desire, she has the passion, she has the joy for the sport," Suguiyama said.
Bacon has been given a lot of gifts. She loves art — especially sculpting and anything three-dimensional — and recently restored a vintage bamboo bar on wheels that her mother bought at auction for $30.
"It's fabulous," Philippa said.
Phoebe was asked if her mechanical instincts translate to swimming.
"With the car and the go-karts, we'd come across problem after problem and we'd then take a step back, think about it and then talk to professionals to solve the problems," she said.
"It's the same thing in the pool. I'll come across problems or pieces of my stroke that I need to fix or make better. What do I do? I go talk to my coaches about it or I watch film. Then it's back into the pool working on it."
Suguiyama said Bacon sometimes has to be told to dial it down at practice and dryland training. He said her greatest asset is her work ethic.
"She's obviously physically talented — you have to have some physical talent to win an NCAA title and be on the national team — but she does the work," Suguiyama said. "Sometimes we have to get her to do less."
Nelson is similarly driven.
"I commend them both," Suguiyama said. "They've really done a great job of handling the environment and being together."
Nelson is eager to see what's in store for Bacon.
"She has so much potential," Nelson said. "She's just going to keep getting better and better. We're looking forward to shifting gears and pushing each other to be better."
