Tasting blood with each breath, Enzo Fiorese watched the dark red color from his mouth mixed with the chlorine water. Although the doctors told him to stay out of the water for at least 2 weeks, he defied the caution and dived right back into the pool.
Captain of the Heritage Swim team, senior Enzo Fiorese had his wisdom teeth extracted, and despite doctor’s orders, returned back to the pool in 4 days to make it to swim practice.
This determination and passion for swimming has consistently defined Enzo’s career as a swimmer. His hard work and effort has led to great heights, including when he broke the Heritage 100-meter backstroke record with a time of 53.01 seconds on Oct 3, 2023, only for him to break it again 2 weeks later.
However, this success didn’t come easy without Enzo facing challenges.
“In middle school boys athletics, I was one of the weakest ones,” Enzo said. “But since I’ve dedicated myself to swimming, I’m at a point where I’ve raced Olympians, nationalists, and just the other week at my swim meet, the world champion for breaststroker. I’m really proud of my growth curve”.
Enzo’s swimming journey began in Brazil, alongside his younger brother, sophomore Arthur Fiorese, when they’d swim with their mom for health purposes. After moving to the United States in 2015, a pause in swimming followed as the family focused on adapting to their new home and learning English.
4 years after they moved, Arthur was diagnosed with chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), an autoimmune disease causing bone pain and damage due to inflammation. Additionally, a leg tumor confined him to a wheelchair for six months. Despite no cure for CRMO, Arthur eased his pain by becoming a swimmer.
“A while after I started swimming, Enzo saw me and he decided to join me in swimming because he saw how bad my leg was so he wanted to try to encourage me to swim,” Arthur said.
In his freshman year on the Heritage swim team, Enzo started with a slower time than his teammates. Rather than discouraging him, this motivated him to enhance his skills. His initial motivation, centered around swimming for health purposes, evolved into a genuine passion.
“When I was a freshman, I had a 1:11 time in my short-course 100 yard freestyle but right now as a senior, I have 45.8 seconds,” Enzo said. “Ever since I started swimming, it changed my life. It gave me more confidence. I lost weight and I got stronger. I don’t think I’d be where I am right now without swimming.”
Enzo’s family played a key role in his journey: with his parents consistently providing pre-meet encouragement, and Arthur finding motivation in Enzo’s achievements.
“The first time I was really proud of him had to be when he went to state,” Arthur said. “Even though it didn’t mean too much and he didn’t win anything, just seeing him there made me think: ’This is amazing. My brother’s one of the best swimmers in the state.’ That was just an incredible thing to see and it motivated me to try to be better, but I was mostly just incredibly happy for him.”
Enzo’s success in swimming comes not just from his skill but also from his consistent dedication to the sport. Practicing nearly four hours a day, he attends Heritage swim practice from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. and club swimming from 5:30 p.m to 7:30 p.m. Heritage Swim coach Brian McGinty believes that both practice sessions contribute significantly to Enzo’s talent in the sport.
“He swims a total of 10 to 12 times a week and it’s just amazing to think how he’s swimming twice as much as a lot of our high school swimmers are swimming ,” McGinty said. “It’s the only way you can get to be as good as he is. He shows up on time, he’s ready to go, and he’s always putting his best effort in practice and that’s the type of leadership I value most.”
Arthur recognizes that Enzo’s success in swimming is attributed to his dedication and hard work. During the family’s summer break in Brazil, he witnessed Enzo continuing to practice in their pool and participating in training with the city swim team. His commitment to the sport remained evident even during vacation. On a regular basis, Enzo tried his utmost best not to miss a day of practice.
“He went to practice everyday, every week,” Arthur said. “No matter if he was sick. No matter how much homework he had missed. He went every single day. He goes in as soon as he can and he’ll stay in. There’s a reason that Enzo is the team captain.”
Despite swimming for the Heritage team and his club since freshman year, Enzo doesn’t plan on directly becoming a pro-swimmer. However, he hopes to still maintain a connection with it throughout his life with his career.
”I want to go into the sports medicine field,” Enzo said. “So in college I’m going to do pre-med, which consists of biomedical science and biochemistry. I also want to keep swimming since I like it and I want that close group of people in college while I keep getting better in my sport.”
