30th Athletics Hall of Fame: Breann (Fuller) Bohnen

Sometimes, life gives you pleasant surprises. Maybe not what you thought. Not even what you expected or how you might have had it planned.

But pleasant, all the same, and every so often, just what you needed.

It is how the swimming career of Breann (Fuller) Bohnen started at Colorado State. She wasn't even sure she wanted to swim in college. By the end of her run, she was a record-setting, conference-champion backstroker, leading to her upcoming induction into the 30^th Colorado State Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Canvas Stadium.

"Coming from high school to college, I really didn't want to swim in college. It was, 'OK, I'll try it for a year,'" she said. "I didn't really love the sport of swimming as a high schooler. I was pretty good at it, so I continued. Honestly, it was probably more of my parent's pressure. In college, I grew to love the sport of swimming. I still love swimming to this day. I watched all the Olympics, I still swim for exercise. I really just appreciate how college allowed me to really grow to love swimming. I think it was because of the camaraderie I had with my teammates. My best and favorite memories are not my individual performances, but the relays. There is something unique about the energy that you have in a relay and the connection you have with the girls. CSU just provided me the opportunity to be a student-athlete and fall in love with swimming."

Upon graduating with a degree in business administration in 2012 and a Master's of Management Practice a year later, Bohnen remained connected to the program and the university, serving as a volunteer coach and as part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

She worked in sales, and while she enjoyed the position, she's moved on to a role she cherishes even more deeply, that of being a mother. Lily Jane was born five months ago, a blessing amid a global pandemic and in a city, Los Angeles, where Bohnen and her husband, CJ, are not surrounded by family. Not unlike many first-time parents, she was wondering if she was doing it all right.

"I feel like it's very cliché. They say you don't understand the depths of love parents have for children until you have your own, and that has been so true," Breann said. "I was talking to some family members, and my mom has been here to see us a few times. I was joking with my mom and said, 'do you think I'm a better mom than you thought I'd be?' She said I was better, because I was never really that maternal or into babies. But when it's your own … I see my husband in her, I see parts of me in her. She has totally changed everything, and I love being a mom. I feel very protective of her and care about the world she's going to grow up in."

The couple originally left Fort Collins as CJ is attending seminary school in Los Angeles, where he has started his third year of a planned four-year stay. Breann originally was working with FCA on the UCLA campus, but shortly after their arrival, the campus shut down, eliminating her post.

Being in a new town during a lockdown while pregnant was definitely not part of the plan. All along, she's leaned on her faith, which has helped her navigate all of the change.

"It's been very challenging for sure. My husband and I have both grown a lot," she said. "We got married, and marriage is a challenge in itself. Then COVID happened, we didn't have family or community here, but thankfully we've gotten very involved with our church, but that shut down a little bit. Then I found out I was pregnant, and I had morning sickness through all three trimesters. As an athlete, that was hard on my body. It had always done what I wanted it to do, and when you're pregnant, you have no control over how you feel, that you're getting bigger and you're growing and you're not able to move in certain ways. It was a really, really challenging season for me to be pregnant."

In the meantime, she has taken over as the property manager for a group of apartment complexes, which has proved beneficial on many front for the family. For one, it provides them a place to live as she manages the complexes, and two, one of them has a pool.

She takes full advantage of it, and so does her father (a former college swimmer) when he visits. Maybe in the distant future, Lily Jane might be chasing down the 200-yard backstroke record she still holds.

"Well, we're already doing swim lessons," Breann said. "I have a pool at one of the properties I manage, and I kid you not, she already knows how to do a back float and is pretty comfortable in the water. CSU, I'm training her to be the next backstroker to take down that last record that's there."

Eventually, their lives will change again. Neither of them consider Los Angeles their forever home, and if everything works out, she would love to remain at home with Lily Jane and any siblings they may add to the clan.

They have started to build a circle for themselves, and they look forward to doing it again once CJ's schooling is finished.

"We don't have roots set down quite yet. I'm not single, and I have a baby now, so the adventure is different, but it's definitely an adventure," she said. "It's still figuring out one season at a time.
Actually, if it works out, I would love to be able to stay at home with our kids – we want to have more. I'd love to be a fulltime mom and caregiver, and maybe even educate them. However, you never know what the future will look like when you get there."

She's learned to adjust to the moment, because what you may find may surprise you in the best of ways.

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