Warren Central’s swim captains Brandon Burton and Kaylynne Wallace respect each other and their decisions, treat each other equally and have the respect of their peers to lead them.

The duo has been swimming for years, with Brandon serving as captain last season. Wallace has been a part of the Vicksburg Swim Association since the fourth grade and has swum with the Vikings since the seventh.

“My captains are great leaders. We do a team vote and it was almost unanimous, which to me says a lot,” said Vikings swim coach Mathew Mixon. “If your peers believe you’re a leader then you’re showing good qualities.”

Mixon said Burton and Wallace are doing well in their leadership roles.

“It is important to show the younger guys what’s to be expected. I think good leaders lead during the year but they also pass on some traditions and some things that are to be expected for the next season,” Mixon said.

The team atmosphere is a family and supportive.

“We practice together, cry after practice together. Pretty much anything we just do it together and get it over with,” Burton said.

He and Wallace share the responsibility of making sure teammates get to their events on time, are enthusiastic about their events and distribute caps and swimsuits. They’ve had people miss races in the past so making sure teammates get to events on time is a big deal to them.

Burton and Wallace exhibit different, but complementary leadership skills. Burton describes himself as a laid back leader and Wallace leads by example.

“I’m not a dictator about it. I make sure I keep it to where they’re happy too,” Burton said.

“I’m always in the pool. If I need to move down a couple of lanes to help people swim I do that. I’m kind of more ‘let me help them by doing it with them,’” Wallace said.

Wallace said it’s difficult to maintain the balance between captain and friendship with her teammates.

“We’re the same age and we go to the same school, but at the same time you have responsibilities over them. It’s a hard balance,” Wallace said. “Outside of swim world we’re not their captains, we’re their friends.”

Although the 100-yard breaststroke is not Wallace’s fastest event, she enjoys it the most because of the rhythm established while swimming.

“You have a rhythm set to breathe, you have a rhythm set when your head goes above the water. With the other strokes you just go and don’t breathe,” Wallace said. “I know what I’m doing and what I’m getting into from the minute I dive until the minute I finish.”

Burton’s favorite event to compete in is the 200-yard freestyle relay. He said it’s the fast relay, which shows trust and unity.

“It shows how our guys team can build up with each other. If one person does bad then the whole team does bad. So we all have to push each other to do our best,” Burton said.

Kaylynne Wallace is the younger sister of Afton Wallace, who died in May following a long battle with cancer. Afton was also a member of Warren Central’s swim team, and there are reminders of her everywhere.

Wallace misses everything about her sister from Afton putting her hair up before events and braiding it the night before so it can be crimpy in the morning, to the talks on the ride to school.

“It’s hard to swim her events and it’s hard to see other people swim what was her spot on the relay and it’s hard to go to practice. It’s not easy but it’s doable,” Kaylynne Wallace said.

The two sisters didn’t swim the same events. Kaylynne swims breaststroke and butterfly, while Afton competed in backstroke and freestyle.

Kaylynne would get embarrassed if she didn’t swim well, but learned from Afton to be confident in her swimming.

“She told me ‘It doesn’t matter what other people think of you. You shouldn’t get embarrassed because you had a bad race. You should be able to make yourself swim better based on what you did wrong,” Wallace said.