Ricky Berens couldn\u2019t screw this up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The then-20-year-old sophomore from the University of Texas was on the biggest stage of his life, about to swim his leg of the 4×200-yard freestyle relay in the 2008 Olympics. The Americans were far and away the favorites to win the event, but Berens\u2019 teammates Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay still wanted to make sure the rookie could maintain their lead en route to a Gold Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was kind of a big decision to put me on that relay, me being a rookie and all,\u201d Berens said. \u201cWe knew we were gonna win that race by a good amount going in. So I had every single coach and teammate tell me before that race, \u2018Don\u2019t screw this up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No pressure, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Berens stood on the block with a five-second lead, Phelps, in the midst of a record-breaking 8-Gold Medal Olympic showing, made sure to remind the rookie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t screw this up!\u201d Phelps yelled as he stood behind Berens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the late Kobe Bryant, the U.S. basketball team and countless others in the crowd cheering, Berens dove into the pool and did what he does best. He trusted his form and helped maintain the Americans\u2019 lead so Vanderkaay could swim the final 200 yards to glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berens and Co. obliterated the previous world record of 7:03.24, coming in with a time of 6:58.56 that still stands to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the middle of it, I couldn\u2019t even tell you what was going on, to be honest,\u201d Berens said. \u201cYou\u2019re just in such a zone and so focused on what\u2019s going on. But it\u2019s funny, standing behind those blocks with such a big lead, you\u2019ve got Phelps and Lochte asking, \u2018Oh, how\u2019s my hair look?\u2019 like they knew we were going to win before I even started swimming. Thankfully, I didn\u2019t screw that up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward four years, in the midst of a successful professional swimming career, Berens was invited to London to participate in the 2012 Olympics. He was no longer a rookie. He knew what he was doing and what he was getting himself into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His, Phelps\u2019 and Lochte\u2019s experience paid off yet again, resulting in another Gold Medal in the 4×200-yard freestyle relay. After the relay ended, Phelps thanked the group for helping him become the most decorated Olympian of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s another one where I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t screw it up,\u201d Berens laughed. \u201cBut to win those medals, it\u2019s just a culmination of so much hard work and effort. You know, an Olympic medal is what you dream for. The 1% of the 1% get to do that and to accomplish that was just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following his second successful Olympic run, Berens decided to call it quits in his professional swimming career. But unlike those in more mainstream sports or star status-level athletes, winning a Gold Medal doesn\u2019t bring you financial security. It was time for his University of Texas business degree to pay off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He used his UT connections and started working in the Longhorns\u2019 athletic department with hopes of climbing the ladder toward being an Athletic Director down the line. Though he enjoyed working for his alma mater, a career change was in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swimsuit to Business Suit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Berens had connections at a local pet food startup in Austin called Nulo that offered him the chance to manage their finances and foster the company\u2019s growth \u2014 an opportunity he couldn\u2019t pass up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything was going great at Nulo,\u201d Berens said. \u201cBut I was looking to get away from the computer screen and in front of more people. I like to get out and about as I\u2019m a big people-person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berens\u2019 people-first, interaction-based personality led him to a conversation with fellow Texas Swimming alumni and Bridgepoint Consulting\u2019s Director of the Denver office, Tommy Hannan. The two knew each other through UT, and also through swim meets while Berens swam for Texas and Hannan coached at Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTommy\u2019s a legend in the Texas swimming world,\u201d Berens said. \u201cIt\u2019s a small world in Austin in general, but even smaller within the swimming world. We\u2019re a pretty well-connected alumni network. But you don\u2019t really get to know them until you\u2019re looking for a job after swimming, asking them what they\u2019re doing now and what not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two have more in common than just swimming at the same university, however. Hannan has some Olympic hardware of his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making a Splash<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A butterfly specialist, Hannan swam that leg of the 4×100-yard medley relay in the qualifying heat of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. While he wasn\u2019t part of the final heat that won the gold in the event, his participation in the preliminaries landed him a well-deserved Gold Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a kid, I remember watching the \u201884 and \u201888 Olympics and seeing some of the great Americans that dominated there,\u201d Hannan said. \u201cI always loved swimming and wanted to be in the Olympics. But I never truly believed I could do it until I was a sophomore in college and swam the second-fastest time ever for an American at the time in the 100-meter butterfly in the Olympic Trials. I never used to swim butterfly, so that was pretty funny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four years later, he was two years out of college, swimming professionally with hopes of qualifying for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Unfortunately, his swimming career came to an abrupt halt at those Olympic Trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, it was time to look for a full-time job. He had friends who completed internships and were looking forward to their careers in corporate America \u2014 but at the time, that wasn\u2019t for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe hardest thing after swimming is we\u2019re so regimented in the way we train,\u201d Hannan said. \u201cSwimming is year-round, 10 workouts a week and about 30 to 40 hours a week training. Fitting that in with class and homework teaches you a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou do that for such a long period of your life, then all of a sudden, you kind of end your career on a down note. My swimming career ended at an Olympic Trial where I didn\u2019t make it. All of a sudden, that regiment ends and on a down note too, and you\u2019re just like, well, I guess I\u2019ll go get a job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hannan struggled to find that for some time after his swimming career ended. He helped fill book orders at Texas for his first job and was a financial advisor after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Hannan got an opportunity to become the University of Washington\u2019s assistant swim coach where he led recruiting and helped with other various coaching responsibilities for the Huskies. Even though he was back with the swimming crowd, at the end of the day it wasn\u2019t what he wanted to stick with forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven then, I knew I didn\u2019t want to be a coach,\u201d Hannan said. \u201cI knew it\u2019d be fun and interesting. But it was really challenging trying to change careers after that. I was in my mid-30s when I decided I didn\u2019t want to coach anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe stuff I love about coaching isn\u2019t really what I got paid for. You get paid for the administrative and recruiting stuff. The lifestyle of a coach is a grind. You don\u2019t make much and you work some absolutely crazy hours. And it\u2019s just not conducive to having a family or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding Their Home at Bridgepoint<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hannan and his wife, who also left her job coaching gymnastics at the University of Washington, sold their house in Seattle in 2013, got an RV and skied around the country for a few months before heading back to Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pieces started to fall into place when he began consulting in the oil and gas industry before a swimming friend of his referred him to Bridgepoint in 2016. She interviewed for a business development role but wasn\u2019t a fit. However, she thought Hannan would be a good fit for the position and put him in contact with Bridgepoint\u2019s Principal, Vince Trevino, who became Hannan\u2019s mentor and fostered his growth throughout his early years with the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experiencing that mentorship, it only made sense that when Berens was looking for his right fit, Hannan pointed him down the path he took, helping Berens get his foot in the door in the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[It was] kind of a weird time, in the middle of a pandemic, to consider a business development role,\u201d Berens said. \u201cI laugh because I wanted to get away from the computer screen. Well, now I\u2019m away from the Excel sheets. But I\u2019m still behind a computer screen, just talking to people on it now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The transition from athletics to the business world can be a challenging one, especially when a sport is as ingrained in one\u2019s life as much as swimming was with Berens\u2019 and Hannan\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Division I and professional athletes, they had no time to get a job or internship to bolster their resumes. When Berens retired from swimming at 25, the only job he could put on his resume was a lifeguarding gig from high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the discipline and time management an Olympic-level athlete learns throughout their training is invaluable to a full-time job in any field. It\u2019s what helped both Berens and Hannan find success in the business world at such a rapid pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, it looks like they\u2019re definitely not screwing this one up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ricky Berens couldn\u2019t screw this up. The then-20-year-old sophomore from the University of Texas was on the biggest stage of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[],"post_function":[],"post_audience":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-recruiting"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n