Charles "Chuck" Barnes
USMS National Records – pool individual 13 lifetime, 9 currently held
USMS Pool All Star Honors – 2019
USMS Pool All American Honors – 5 years individual (32 events); 4 years pool (8 events)
USMS Top Ten Achievements – 47 Individual, 30 relay
Chuck Barnes is a member of the BC High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame. One of the most accomplished male swimmers at Brown in the last 50 years, Barnes holds the school record in five different events, including the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Barnes earned First Team All-Ivy honors seven times throughout his career and won the Phil Moriarty Award as the top swimmer at the EISL Championships for three straight years.
He was also named the Ivy League’s most valuable swimmer for three straight years and was recognized as a Top 100 Athlete of the Century at Brown. Barnes finished 18th in the 200-yard backstroke at the NCAA Championships in 1999, the highest finish by a male swimmer at Brown since 1984.
Barnes was named the team’s MVP all four of his years at Brown and served as captain his senior year in 1999. He is just the second Brown swimmer to earn the Phil Moriarty Award at the Eastern Championships and holds the most Eastern Championship Titles in Brown history, racking up seven throughout his career.
After earning his degree in Business Economics from Brown, Barnes spent 15 months training for the Olympic Trials and qualified in the 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly and 200 free. His best finish was 12 th in the 200 back. After finishing his swimming career, Barnes competed in triathlons and placed 37th in the world’s largest in Chicago.
Barnes then took 18 years off and only started swimming again after seeing information for Masters swimming when bringing his child to swim class. He started swimming 1 to 2 times per week at first, then 3 times, and he now swims 4 to 5 times per week. “Masters swimming has allowed me to get away from working all the time and enables me to travel to different places I probably never would have gone to without Masters swimming. It enables me to meet many new friends and do what I love to do, which is compete.”