Corbin Bradwell knew the day of Feb. 22 this year was going to fly by.

The Olathe East sophomore had a full slate of races in the finals of the 6A state boys swimming and diving state championship meet that morning at Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center in Lenexa.

When he was done, Corbin would jump out of the pool and into a car as he entered a mad dash to reach another state event, the state piano festival in Wichita.

But until Corbin arrived at Wichita State’s Henrion Hall that afternoon and reached the stage, he was not sure he’d actually get the chance to perform in that latter event.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it,” Corbin said. “The (state swim) meet ended at like 12:30 something and we had to get over there quickly. Thankfully the people at (state piano) gave us a 15-minute buffer window to get there.”

By the time his long day was over, Corbin would pair a gold medal with Division I rating for the Capitol Federal® True Blue® Student of the Week.

Corbin kicked off the day competing in the 200-yard medley relay alongside seniors Adam Hagan, Charlie Ross and Skylar Jones.

The Hawks entered with the top time in prelims, but they knew that Blue Valley West’s team would push them in the finals.

This group had the benefit of retaining three of the four members of this relay from last year’s state meet, where the Hawks took third. But these four had not actually had the chance to swim together in the race until state.

From Corbin’s perspective, holding off on this quartet’s debut in this race until state was a net-positive for them.

“We kind of hid our best relay until the end, so we weren’t really sure what our best time could be,” Corbin said. “We kept seeing all these other (schools’ 200 medley relays) go times and we were like, ‘We think we can catch that.’ But then there's also the perspective of, ‘Are they doing their best relay?’ We don't know.”
 

Corbin and his teammates knew that this group of swimmers would do well at state, but they also felt like the sky could be the limit for them on how well.

With that prelims race serving as their practice run, all four teammates were able to shave time off their previous split, including Corbin going from 25.81 to 25.61 on his leadoff 50-yard backstroke, in the finals. The Hawks took first with a time of 1:36.48, just ahead of the Jaguars runner-up time of 1:36.51.

“We did pull through and we got first,” said Corbin, who was the only sophomore among a trio of seniors for both his relays. “I'm kind of sad to see all the seniors go because it’s like I won't get to swim with them again. I really enjoyed having them push me and I pushed them through the relay.

“Overall, it was a really good experience. I was able to come into this relay with confidence because I had faith in my teammates.”

Corbin’s confidence heading into the race was not always a given though. In general, Corbin finds relays to be the most stressful races for him.

“I feel like relays are the most stressful events because you need to put out your best effort, not just for yourself, but for your teammates,” Corbin said. “If you don't pull up, then you're letting down your whole team.”

Corbin said he tends to spend the time leading up to a “less stressful race” chatting with other swimmers, usually as an attempt to boost up their morale.

But with the 200-yard medley relay, Corbin stood behind the blocks trying to keep himself zone in for his upcoming performance.

“I think through my race as I’m about to swim it and I’m thinking about what I need to do to go the fastest time I can,” Corbin said.

After taking that different tact for the medley relay, Corbin was back to his normal self through the rest of state swim.

Corbin would finish first in another race, although it was the B-final of his 200-yard individual medley to earn ninth place. He followed up with a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, his best individual state finish so far. Corbin took ninth in that event as a freshman.

Corbin would team up with Ross and Hagan again for the 400-yard freestyle relay to close out the state meet. With senior Greyson Sayers swimming the lead-off leg, the Hawks took fourth with a time of 3:15.69.

While their relay teams showed a lot of speed in the pool, it was nothing like the speed shown by Corbin to exit the venue following the medals ceremony for the 400 free relay.
 

Corbin’s mother Becky Bradwell, who was also serving as a timekeeper on one of the lanes for that final race, had already come up with an exit plan for her and her son to reach the state piano festival as fast as possible.

Becky had spent the previous day emailing with Michael Hanf, Olathe East’s chamber orchestra teacher, to figure out if there was anything else they could do to make sure Corbin would get the chance to perform at both events.

“I'm trying to raise a well-rounded human, right?” Becky asked rhetorically. “He’s athletic, but he’s also in the arts and I’m trying to make him the best that he could be, or raise him to be, the best kind of person that he could be.”

They ended up having discussions with the officials running the state piano festival, with one suggesting that maybe Corbin could swim a different race than the 400-yard freestyle relay, allowing him to leave for Wichita early.

“‘No, he's swimming that,’” Becky said of her response. “I know what Corbin's gonna swim. There’s no chance.”

The Bradwells were ready to give up on the idea, until they received an update from those same state piano officials that there was a new entry added to the festival, which would allow the final start time for the last performance to be pushed back a bit.

It would still be a tight window from the end of the state swim meet to the conclusion of the state piano festival. Becky told her son that he could stay for the medal ceremony after the 400 free relay, but afterward he had to go and change out of his swim gear immediately. While he was doing that, she would go get the car and swing around to pick Corbin up at the door.

With a little bit of flexibility from the officials at state piano, and possibly some flexibility on following the speed limit on I-35, the Bradwells were able to arrive just in time for the performance.

“I was really happy,” Corbin said. “I went in and walked up on stage, warmed up a little bit on the piano. I was just like, ‘I’m going to just have fun playing on the piano. I’ve had a very successful day and I think I should just continue having a successful day.’”

In fact, Corbin said the piano performance itself was probably the third most stressful part of his day behind both getting ready for the 200 medley relay and the actual drive to Wichita.

Corbin remembers spending the entire trip thinking, “We’re not going to make it.”

“If we don't make it, we just drove for like two hours and 30 minutes for nothing,” Corbin said.
 

 

With even his chance to perform remaining in doubt up until the last minute before he sat down at the piano, Corbin ended up being a little surprised later on when he got the results back. 

Corbin scored Division I rating, which is the top given out for the event. He became just the 18th different Olathe East performer to earn that accolade, and the first since 2021 when both Caleb Hernandez and Julia Sibson achieved that.

“I just tried my hardest on piano and the score came back and I got a (Division I rating),” Corbin said. “This is my first time ever doing this piano festival and I thought it was a really enjoyable experience. Definitely had a lot of fun with it.”

Corbin and his mom both hope that next year will be a little bit less stressful if he returns next year. 

The state swim meets have followed the pattern of flipping the 6A and 5-1A meets between a morning start time and an afternoon start time. Assuming that continues, 6A would likely get a 4 p.m. start for next year’s state meet.

In that situation, Corbin could opt for an early morning time slot at the state piano festival and have more than enough time to return to Northeast Kansas.

The Bradwells could even replicate their less stressful trip home from this year’s state piano festival.

“We took a leisurely route on the way home though,” Becky said. “We did it, now we’re going to enjoy it. I think we went and got a milkshake.”

For Corbin, he’s just happy they could make both work.

“I’ve been enjoying swimming and it’s a hard balance between (swimming and) my music,” Corbin said.
 

It’s a balance act that’s become much more difficult in recent years, but one that Corbin and his family have been working at since he was toddler.

“Swimming was always something that I thought was really important for all of the kids,” Becky said. “I started them when they were babies.”

Becky kept taking her son to swim lessons until around the age of 6 years old, when an instructor suggested that she should sign Corbin up for the Lenexa Lasers, a local team in the city’s summer swim league.

His performance that first year caught the attention of one of the team’s coaches, who also coached for an area club swim team called COOL Swim Team. This coach gave Corbin an invite to try out the club swim experience.

As he gained some experience in the pool, Corbin also tried out diving around the time he was 8 years old. That didn’t last too long though. Although he won some medals at various events, he went back to just swimming after he broke his leg training on dry land.

“I think I’m just going to go back to swimming, I don’t feel like I’m going to break my leg there,” Corbin told his mom at the time.

But it was not until Corbin was 11 years old that he started to treat swimming as a seriously competitive sport. 

Corbin reached the Missouri Valley 14U championship meet in 2022. His experience led him to decide to leave the Lenexa Lasers team so he could focus on his swimming with his club team full time the following summer.

Corbin also started his musical pursuits early. When he was attending a Montessori-style daycare for preschoolers, he was introduced to a piano teacher who would come in to give piano lessons.

Not only would he stick with piano, Corbin decided in fifth grade that he wanted to join his elementary school’s orchestra and learn to play the cello. He has remained passionate about both instruments into his high school years.
 

As a sophomore, Corbin decided to audition for Olathe East’s Advanced Orchestra, which is a chamber orchestra with fewer musicians than the alternative option of concert orchestra. He also decided to join the pit orchestra for the school’s fall musical “Hadestown.”

When Corbin performed in the school’s musical in the fall, he missed one of his club team’s travel meets in the fall.

For club swimmers, the high school swim season lands right in the middle of their club season. That means there are only so many events before the season to qualify for the top competitions in the summer.

Corbin started taking a slew of AP courses this year, which brings with it added homework. He also just performed a regional solo performance with his cello on March 30, earning a Division I rating and earning a spot at the state music festival held April 26 at Washburn Rural in Topeka.

Corbin had to learn how to adjust and balance his schedule to accommodate swim practice, rehearsals and practice for piano and orchestra, as well as time to study for courses requiring increased amounts of homework.

Seeing how Corbin has handled all these responsibilities, his mom can’t help but be proud of him. Becky said she can see him growing as “an adult,” which is a term she struggled with using to describe her son, at least for a couple more years.

“He is only 15, but when you get older you have a lot of things you have to manage and make sure you get done,” Becky said. “He’s kind of experiencing that this year.”

Even with the stress of staying ahead of so many endeavors, Corbin still finds too much joy in the pool and on the stage to give either up at this point.

“I really enjoy performing on stage and I have a lot of fun performing for other people,” Corbin said. “Music and swimming. I’ve had a lot of fun swimming.”