With two more state titles, Wichita’s Drayden Bell becomes Kansas’ fastest swimmer
.JPG "Wichita East’s Drayden Bell")
Before the state championships, the All-American times and becoming the fastest swimmer for his age in the country, Drayden Bell was a baby who loved the water.
Heidi Bell, his mother, loves telling the story of when she enrolled Drayden into water safety training as a six-month-old.
“While the rest of the kids were crying, Drayden was having a blast,” Heidi said. “Then the roles were reversed when they got out of the pool. The rest of the kids were elated and Drayden was the one crying now.”
Drayden has always been his most comfortable in the water, where he has become the most electrifying high school swimmer in Kansas. On Friday, the Wichita East junior added to his collection of championships by successfully defending his two state titles at the Class 6A state swimming meet at the Shawnee Mission District Aquatic Center. He also shared honors as the Athlete of the Meet, the second year in a row he has earned the state’s highest honor.
He now has five state titles to his name after winning the 50-yard freestyle for the third year in a row in 20.42 seconds and winning the 100-yard freestyle for the second year in a row in 45.16 seconds. Both times were the fastest in Kansas this season and earned him All-American status in the event.
Yet merely winning was not wholly satisfying for Bell. He was of course grateful for the wins, but he holds himself to such a high standard that he was still bothered late Friday that his winning time in the 50 freestyle (20.42) did not approach the time he registered in October (20.10) that made him the fastest swimmer in the 2022 graduating class in the country and would have threatened to break the state record time of 20.09.
“It didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but we still came out with the win so that’s all that matters,” Bell said. “I was kind of upset I didn’t go as fast as I wanted to, but I was still happy I won.”
It is that determination, that non-stop pursuit for perfection that Drayden’s father, Derek, loves about his son.
“This just made him hungrier,” Derek said with a smile.
That drive is also what has made Bell one of the most sought-after high school swimmers in the country. In football or basketball recruiting terms, Bell would be a five-star, blue-chip prospect — like the Perry Ellis of City League swimming.
According to East swimming coach Joe Hutchinson, top Division I programs from both coasts have called to inquire about Bell. Neither coach nor swimmer were ready to reveal which colleges had most intrigued Bell, but Hutchinson assured that “college coaches are very excited about the opportunity to have him swim for them.”
“The thing about Drayden is that he’s so aggressive in the water,” Hutchinson said. “He is not intimidated by anyone he’s racing against. He loves that 1-on-1, me-against-you sensation that you can get and he excels in those spots. It’s fun to watch someone come up to the blocks as confident as he does. And it’s not cockiness. It’s a confidence because he knows he’s put in the work and he’s got the goods to do it.”
Bell admits those pressure-filled moments are his favorite. Like on Friday at the pandemic-altered state meet, where there were no preliminary races to warm up. It was one race, one timed final, one chance with everything on the line.
“I’ve always liked competitions where it’s one mistake and you might be out and there’s a lot of pressure on you,” Bell said. “There’s just something about that feeling of when everything is on the line and you’ve got to go all out. Those types of situations I’ve always gravitated toward.”
But an adrenaline rush alone isn’t how Bell reached the level he’s currently operating at. He has an insatiable desire to improve through practice. He is obsessed over the technical aspect of the sport and is constantly critiquing his every stroke in pool, always looking for a minor tweak here or there that could shave a tenth of a second off his time.
“You have to perfect all of the little things and if you’re not willing to do that, then you’re not a true sprinter,” Bell said. “You have to have the quick-twitch fiber muscles in order to get off the block and hit every single stroke right when you want it where you’re flying through the water. If you’re not prepared for when you get in the water that can be the difference between a first and fourth place.”
But don’t think that Bell was always a prodigy in the sport. For much of his childhood, he viewed swimming not as a competitive sport but as a just-for-fun activity that he could do with his friends at the Wichita Swim Club.
Drayden grew up playing pretty much every sport — basketball, flag football, soccer, tennis, golf, track. His father, Derek, still believes Drayden could be a standout track and field athlete as a sprinter and jumper if he dedicated himself to the sport. He thinks the same could be true for basketball. Even away from sports, Drayden is a superb student in the classroom and was naturally talented at playing the drums and piano.
But Derek knew that his son had found his sport when he watched Drayden crack 21 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle at the state meet as a freshman, earn All-American status and win the Class 6A title.
“It was definitely a little different at first (watching his son excel in swimming), but at the end of the day we’re always going to support him,” Derek said. “You never want to steer your child in a way they don’t want and he always gravitated to the water.”
“It’s funny because no one can really answer that question (why he picked swimming),” Drayden added. “Out of all of the cards, I guess I picked that one.”
That versatility has transferred over to swimming, where his high school swimming coach has marveled at how good Bell is at so many different strokes.
While the freestyles are his specialty, Bell also owns the program record in the 100 backstroke (51.81) and is close to the school records in the 100 butterfly, which doubles as the state record, and the 100 breaststroke.
“He’s the most unique swimmer that I’ve ever had the chance to work with,” said Hutchinson, Wichita’s most-accomplished coach. “Drayden is special because he could be great at just about any stroke. The fact that he’s that well-rounded of an athlete is very rare.”
But on Friday, Bell was back to his bread-and-butter and he proved once again why he is the preeminent freestyle sprinter in the state. Despite not registering the times he was looking for, Bell was able to comfortably win both races.
That meant a little extra to Bell this year because Friday was his mother’s birthday and his pair of titles were “a little gift” for his mother, who had to watch her son add to his state championships from a hotel across the street from the swimming complex due to a no-spectator policy.
Ever since her son was the happy baby splashing around in the water, nothing Drayden does in the pool surprises his mother anymore. But that doesn’t mean the thrill of watching him make the spectacular look routine ever grows old.
“Whether it was for my birthday or not, this night was for him,” Heidi Bell said. “It wasn’t the same not being there cheering them on, but you’re grateful that your kid was at least able to swim. He did what he needed to do and as a parent, I would’ve been proud regardless of the outcome.”
Wichita-area roundup at 6A state
A pair of City League swimmers came away with a pair of medals. North junior Lane Werth finished fourth in the 500 free (4:47.30) and logged a sixth-place finish in the 200 free (1:44.81), while Northwest freshman took sixth in the 100 back (54.41) and eighth in the 200 individual medley (2:03.33).
In diving, Heights senior Tate Harrison finished fourth and Campus junior Ryan Echton took seventh, while Derby junior William McCabe was the other area medalist with a fifth-place finish in the 500 free (4:50.71).
East was the highest-finishing team from the area with a seventh-place finish and 115 team points, which also included medalist performances from senior Cooper Cole (seventh in the 50 free in 22.13) and sophomore Jackson Kleeman (eighth in the 100 butterfly in 53.98). Bell, Cole, Kleeman and Will Weiford teamed up for a fourth-place finish for East in the 400 free relay (3:19.73).
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 11:19 AM.
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