Micaela Bernard was just your average pre-kindergarten kid, splashing around in the pool and loving life. That all changed at age 5, when she was watching TV and saw swimmers actually staying within lanes, trying to finish ahead of one another.
“I first got into a pool when I was like, two years old,” the Robbinsville High sophomore said. “I tried all the other sports. I did soccer and dance. But I saw the Olympics on TV one day and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to do that.’ And I just kind of started it. I enjoyed watching everyone swim. It’s different than swimming for fun. I was curious and wanted to try it myself so I got signed up for lessons and joined my first team.”
And a stellar career was underway.
Bernard began competitively with the Peddie Swim Club and remained there until age 11. She then jumped to X-Cel Swimming out of Princeton University, which remains her club team.
Last year, Bernard got her first taste of team competition as a freshman on the Ravens team, and quickly made her presence felt by finishing second in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 free at the Mercer County championships. She also reached the Meet of Champions but said “I didn’t really have my best race there.”
While she is the top returnee in both events at this year’s MCT (Jan. 25-27), it was uncertain in mid-January where the versatile Bernard would compete. She is strong in strokes as well as freestyle, so coach Morgan Sawin was going to see where she could best help the team. And, as Sawin noted, there are no guarantees.
“You never know,” said the second-year coach. “The kids really work hard for this meet, they taper and rest for it. We’ve had kids drop insane amounts of time we never would have expected. Sometimes that happens with our kids, but sometimes it happens with kids on the other team, and they just come out of nowhere.”
It’s a pretty safe bet, however, that Bernard will be in the medal mix for whatever she ends up doing. Her strength is freestyle sprints and when the Ravens needed points in close dual meets, that is where she swam. But she also did the IM, breaststroke and butterfly when Sawin had some wiggle room with her lineup in non-competitive meets.
“She can do all of them,” the former Boston University standout said. “She’s a great swimmer, and a great athlete. Physically, she’s strong, and she works hard. So she’s got a lot of God-given talent but she has the hard work to go along with it, which is rare. Sometimes you see the kids that don’t work hard, they’re just talented. When you have both, you’re really set up to be successful.”
‘Some people tell me I should probably take a break sometimes, but I honestly can’t stand being away from the pool.’
Bernard’s efforts helped Robbinsville to an 8-4 record this season, equaling its best mark since the 2011-12 campaign. It was the Ravens first winning season since then. Bernard has enjoyed the team’s success as much as her own, as high school swimming has offered a refreshing change.
“Last year was my first year doing high school swimming,” Bernard said. “It was just really fun getting to know the team first and going into the counties and all the other meets. I had a lot of confidence, because I know I’ve had a lot of experience from club swimming. And with the support of my team, they all believed in me and made me feel like I was going to do really well.”
Bernard’s early concerns that it might be tough for a club swimmer to fit in were quickly dismissed.
“It’s so different than club swimming,” she said. “But with this team I was able to connect with a lot of people. I never had an experience like that before. I just really enjoyed it.”
One of the reasons she got along so well is that Bernard did not try to act better than anyone else. She made a commitment to the Ravens, and whatever they needed, she would try to supply.
“She’s so positive, always comes out of the pool with a smile on her face,” Sawin said. “She’s a hard worker but she’s also a team player and willing to try new things and go wherever we need her to go. She really wants to get better, if she thinks something needs to be tweaked in her training or the event she swims, she’s gonna try it. Her teammates love her, she’s such a nice girl and a great friend. Her best friends are on the team, so they love coming to practice and coming to meets. And I think it’s a love of the sport really.”
There is no doubt swimming is a passion for Bernard, and so is competition. She already owns the Robbinsville record for the 200 meters of 1:56, which she set at last year’s counties. She is hoping to break that again this year, but her main goal “is to relax and have fun and do the best in my races.”
Bernard noted that her emphasis is more on winning races in high school, whereas in club swimming the goals are more time-based. However, she recalls winning a particularly satisfying 4×400 relay gold medal while swimming for X-Cel at the New Jersey Junior Olympics at Rutgers a few years ago.
“We were neck and neck, I was the last one to go,” Bernard said. “I just dove in, and the support you get from the relay is unbelievable. The pressure is definitely not as much pressure as an individual race, I just dove in and felt so confident and felt really good, and we got first place.”
It is those kinds of moments that stir Bernard’s blood when it comes to the pool.
“She doesn’t like to lose, I think that’s a big part of it,” Sawin said. “You have to like winning and want to win all the time.”
When asked what excites her most about the sport, Bernard said, “I think it really just comes down to when you touch the wall and you look up at your time, and that feeling of accomplishing all your goals, and that everything paid off. That feeling is addicting. I want to keep swimming and keep having my best times so I can see that again. I just like touching the wall and hearing people cheering. It makes me feel better because you don’t get first that often in club swimming.”
Having done club since such a young age, and now adding high school swimming to her schedule, there is apparently a burnout concern—with everyone but Micaela.
“Some people tell me I should probably take a break sometimes, but I honestly can’t stand being away from the pool,” she said. “I’ll take it if I absolutely need it.”
Fortunately for the Ravens, that’s the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.
Robbinsville High sophomore Micaela Bernard is one of the reasons swimming team had a winning record for the first time since 2011–12.,
