"I've got one of my Badger caps in my bag. It will be coming with me of course. I don't think, I won't be wearing it because of course we'll be wearing the flag caps," Phoebe Bacon says.
Fresh off her freshman year, Phoebe Bacon reps the Wisconsin Badgers well.
"I've only been there for a year and in that single year, you just feel like you become part of a family," Bacon says. "The whole team helped me get to where I am today. Without a doubt, they were a major part of my success at trials. And I was so happy I could kind of represent the Badger name. Have the W on my cap."
Bacon qualified for the 200 meter backstroke, and credits the University of Wisconsin's new swim facility.
"The brand new pool is, it's just incredible. It's so nice. It's so state of the art," Bacon says.
She also has a claim to fame as Katie Ledecky's little buddy. She looked up to her as a mentor in school and youth swim.
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"Starting in kindergarten. We were kind of paired up together as buddies, in our, as we went to the same grade school," Bacon says. "And I mean I didn't really know her at the time. I think at that age, like we found out we both kind of swam. But that was the beginning to our friendship," Bacon says.
The 200 meter backstroke demands strength - mentally and physically.
"It was always focusing on that last 50 and being strong on it and not letting my arms die or my legs die, which they still do," Bacon says. "But as little as possible. It's a really difficult sport. I don't think people understand the mental side of it and the physical side of it, because it's really taxing on the body, but it's also really taxing on your mind."
