She came, she swam, she conquered

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

From Dallas ISD Staff Reports

Whenever there is a mention of Dallas ISD greats, don’t forget to include Campbell C. from Woodrow Wilson High School in the conversation. She recently competed at the UIL 5A Swimming State Championship and made history in Dallas ISD, and the state of Texas.

Campbell is no stranger to breaking records. Last year, she set the 5A record in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) with a time of 1:58:89 and later broke it twice this year with a time of 1:57:97 in the preliminaries, finishing the finals with a time of 1:56:80. What came as a shock to Campbell, and her swim coach, was that she also brought home gold in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:01:76, just .02 seconds from the state 5A record.

With a look of disbelief, head swimming coach Dwaneika Colebrooke said, “I had a feeling she was going to break her 200 IM record because there’s always progress from one year to the next.” She continues, “But what she did in the 100-meter breaststroke really shocked us all.”

This isn’t Campbell’s first or second time winning the state meet. Some consider her a legend when it comes to Woodrow Wilson swimming. She qualified and won the state title for the 200 IM all four years of high school, but to end it as she did was so special, she could hardly believe it.

“This is the fastest I’ve ever swam in a club or school competition,” Campbell said. “It felt so easy, my speed felt fast on the front end, and everything I had done to prepare was hitting at the right time.” She went on to explain how she wasn’t expecting to go as fast as she did in the preliminaries. “When I hit that wall and looked up at the time clock, I literally said out loud, ‘Oh, this has to be wrong.’”

Although it may have felt like a dream, it was reality. She accomplished this in front of her family, coaches and future University of Texas (UT) teammates.

“It’s nice to end my high school career on such a high note, it would’ve been nice to end it on one, but to end with two state titles is extra special,” Campbell said.

In the words of Colebrooke, “There will never be another Campbell, but I’m glad I got to coach her.”

Ahead of her fall arrival at UT, where she will be joining the swimming and diving team, Campbell will be heading to Indianapolis this summer to compete for a spot on the 2024 Olympic swim team and continue to make Dallas ISD proud.