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Wellsboro senior Connor Brought announced he will continue his swim career this coming fall at Division III Wilkes University on Monday, April 16.

After a great senior year that saw him finish first in the 100 Breaststroke and 200 IM at the NTL Championships to qualify for the District IV Championships, Brought will major in pharmacy while swimming for Colonels.

“It feels good and I’m glad to continue my swimming at the college level,” Brought said. “I’m excited about getting to swim breaststroke and relays.”

Since his freshman year Brought thought about swimming collegiately but never considered it until his junior year. That’s when Wilkes’ swim coaches contacted him and stayed in touch with him through the WellsboroAthletics.com family of websites by Circle W Sports. Brought ultimately made up his mind after taking a few occasional trips to campus and spending a day with the coaching staff.

“I liked the fact that it was a smaller campus and they had the major I wanted to do,” continued Brought.

Wellsboro Parks & Rec swim coach Paul Kurtz is also excited for Brought.

“It means we’re doing something right. We have the program in place and it’s preparing these kids to go on and continuing their education.”

Brought joins Olivia Kurtz, Blair Carson, Emilie Kramer, and Brittany Redell to continue on at the collegiate level from Wellsboro’s program.

Kurtz also remarked on Brought’s leadership skills and work ethic.

“Connor leads the team by example, he is a hard worker and one of the things about Connor that has always been impressive is he does not like to lose and he tries to learn from his experiences. He wants to come in first place. He’s probably one of the most physically fit kids who came into the program this year. He’s a cross country runner and he came in day one and was ready to swim.”

Brought feels that is he prepared for the collegiate level despite Wellsboro not having a school-sponsored swim team.

“I feel well prepared because Wellsboro offers year-round swimming opportunities. Mr. Kurtz runs a summer swim team at Packer Park, and a winter program at Mansfield University, where we can do meets with the Jersey Shore team and train for our Wellsboro High School meets. The training has really helped me improve.”