Georgia Native Owen McNear is Working Hard, Staying Focused in Chase for More International Success

Owen McNear is a college sophomore, but he still remembers what it was like being an up-and-comer new to the ins and outs of the Para swimming world. 

So, when a young athlete at the Lakeshore Para Swim Open Series meet in early March hit a couple of emerging times, McNear talked with her about what that means with regards to the national team and what to expect next. He remembered the first time he got an emerging cut, he said, and some of the pressure he felt taking such a big leap forward in his career. 

“(It felt like) OK, you’re here and you have to be up next,” said McNear, who’s majoring in biomedical physiology at the University of Georgia with the hopes of perhaps becoming a cardiologist or orthopedic surgeon. “I want to help athletes to not feel that pressure, to know you don’t have to be top dog right now. Just keep working, and it will be your time. You don’t have to rush it today.” 

That is something that McNear has learned only recently. Two years ago he was 18 years old and preparing for his first U.S. Paralympic Team Trials. He won his first international race in April 2024, taking first in the 100-meter backstroke S9 at the Para Swimming World Series meet in Indianapolis, but didn’t have his best meet at trials and was not included on the roster for Paris. It was a blow that he felt for months, he said, but now he looks back on the experience differently.  

“I think, honestly, it was just that it wasn’t my time,” said McNear, of Evans, Georgia. “Maybe it just wasn’t my year to go. And that’s fine. Did it hurt? Absolutely. But it was one of those things where maybe it did need to happen, and I had to learn from it and just keep working so that it is my time.” 

McNear had another eye-opening experience at his first overseas international meet last fall. He was part of a relatively small contingent of U.S. athletes at the Para Swimming World Series stop in Lima, Peru, and traveling outside the country while representing Team USA felt very different from competing at an international meet in Indianapolis. 

“It made me understand that, man, this is real,” he said. “I gained a new sense of pride for the U.S., and seeing how well we did made me want to make sure that I do well, too.” 

McNear’s favorite race was the 400-meter freestyle. He took second in the final, and although first-place finisher, Erick Tandazo of Ecuador, beat him handily, McNear said it was still so fun. 

“Just because of how much that meant to me, and also how much that meant to the winner because we had a little talk in the waiting area for the medal ceremony and he was like, ‘Man this is my first-ever international medal,” McNear said. “It stinks I didn’t win, but he deserved it. He’d been working so hard to get that. I was so happy to race someone like that because it meant so much to him, and I felt like it reflected how I felt in that moment.” 

McNear trains with the Athens Bulldogs Swim Club, and his focus this year is on the 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke and 400-meter freestyle. A member of the 2026 Under-23 national team, he’s working on getting stronger and quicker with his sprints, and on his pace and breath work for the 400, homing in on those three as his most competitive events. 

Nationals in June will be a big meet, and McNear is also targeting the Para Pan Pacific Championships in the fall in California. But unlike two years ago, he’s not putting so much pressure on himself to make the team that swimming becomes something he has to do instead of something he wants to do. 

“I wasn’t really having as much fun as I probably could have,” he said of the leadup to the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials. “Then I have these experiences like going to Peru and Lakeshore, and I’m like man, this is what swimming’s all about. It’s about having fun. It sounds cheesy, but I swim better when I’m happy. I’m just trying to do better and stay happy with how I’m training, happy with how I’m racing, and make sure I know that a bad race doesn’t mean I’m bad. Just focus on the positives. And that’s a big kudos to my coaches and the para staff for really helping me with that.” 

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.