Q&A
GOODWILL AMBASSADOR Lee makes a friend
in Peru.
My older brother, Emmerson,
joined a swim team, which is why
I joined one. I wanted to do every-
thing my brother did; we were 14
months apart. I joined my first team
at age 4 in Wayne. [It] was called
the New Jersey Blue Streak. When
I made the team, it was kind of like
my first real dip in the pool. I loved
being in the water and how I was
moving through it.
WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE
OF GROWING UP IN WAYNE?
I grew up in a neighborhood in the
Wayne Hills section of town with a
lot of close friends. Every year, I go
home for Christmas and see them.
We make time to get dinner or break-
fast. One of the toughest decisions I
made was leaving my neighborhood
friends because we grew up together.
I’m thankful after all of these years,
we’re still really good friends.
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SPRING 2019 WAYNE MAGAZINE
My dad rented an apartment.
I went to public school and after
school I would go to swim practice.
On the weekends, I would travel
across the country to swim meets.
I started getting good quickly once I
got down there.
I never really got homesick
because I knew that I had a goal
I wanted to achieve. My parents
were so supportive that I never felt
like I was gone from them. They were
there every step of the way. They
listened to a crazy 12-year-old at a
dinner table saying, “Hey, I want to
move to Maryland,” after I watched
Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps in the
2004 Summer Olympics.
When I first moved down there,
I would only train Monday through
Friday and I would come back to
New Jersey on the weekends. Our
car got a lot of miles. We had the
Christmas meet and state champion-
ships in Maryland. My mom, brother
and sister would come to watch me
swim. As I got older and learned how
to drive and how to cook, I lived with
a host family in Maryland, so my dad
could move back to be with the rest
of the family.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE SWIMMING
FOR STANFORD?
I’d always wanted to go to
Stanford, so just getting accepted was
a dream come true — I was able to
check another checkbox on my goals
list. It was definitely a transition,
though, because people will
tell you that club swimming is very
individual, whereas with collegiate
swimming, you’re just one of 23
people fighting for the same thing,
which is a national championship.
That is super empowering.
WHAT KIND OF PRACTICE AND WORK
WENT INTO SETTING THE SCHOOL
RECORD IN THE 200-MEDLEY RELAY?
What I remember of that year is
that we were doing a drill at practice
and I hurt my shoulder but kept
swimming on it, then it subluxed
[suffered a partial dislocation]. So,
I swam most of that year with the
injury. I ended up getting surgery
right after the 2012 Olympic trials.
During my sophomore year, we
also experienced a coaching transi-
tion. When I met the coach, Greg
Meehan, for the first time, I was
wearing a shoulder sling. He told
me, “Even though you’re injured,
that doesn’t mean you can’t work on
something else.” From September
until I got cleared in January, I would
kick and kick practice after practice.
I would bike and do underwater
breath-control work.
WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER YOU
GRADUATED COLLEGE?
I went pro for two years in hopes
of making the Olympic team in 2016.
I got to travel around the world and
compete at the FINA World Cup.
I made friends from different
countries. I qualified for my first
world championship, all leading up
to the 2016 Olympic trials. I missed
the Olympic team in 2016, which
I always knew was going to be a
stopping point for me.
WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
I do business operations for a
health tech startup company in San
Francisco. I love my job. It’s fun to
be in a startup environment because
I feel like you’re chasing toward a
dream and a goal, working with
teammates. I did my first half-mara-
thon last year in Zion National Park.
Over Thanksgiving, I went to Peru
with a bunch of former swimmers
and we hiked the Inca Trail. It was
incredible. It’s four days of hiking to
get to Machu Picchu. The Peruvian
Government has mandated that you
hike with a tour group. I trained
last year to do a channel swim
from Catalina Island to Los Angeles
with five friends. It started at
midnight, so that was a cool
experience. It took us seven hours
and 22 minutes. ■
PETER
WAS IT A HARD ADJUSTMENT LIVING
AND COMPETING IN MARYLAND AS
A TEENAGER?