Browns Among the Few, the Proud, the Fatigued

OK, let’s all sing the Marine Corps Hymn in honor of the Brown brothers, Brian and Brett, who wake up at the boot camp hour of 4:30 a.m. each weekday morning for swim practice.

“From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli;

We fight our country’s battles

In the air, on land and sea.”

If only the Browns had it as easy as the Marines. There’s no bugle to signal reveille. There’s not even an alarm clock. At 4:30 a.m., their father, Bill, enters the boys’ room, flips on the light and a new day abruptly begins.

“I’m usually up pretty quick,” Brian said. “Then, five minutes later, I look and Brett is usually still crashing. I have to kick the bed.”

At precisely 4:53 a.m.--they have it timed to the minute--the Browns leave their West Hills home by car and arrive seven minutes later at El Camino Real High to board the school bus for the ride to the Pierce College pool.

It’s dark and silent on the bus. Close to two dozen swimmers rest their heads on the side of their seats and try to catch a 15-minute nap before arriving at the pool. Suddenly, the bus stops, lights go on and everyone heads for the locker room.

The Browns change into their swim trunks, work out for 90 minutes, swimming lap after exhausting lap. Then it’s back on the bus to school by 8 a.m. for a day of classes. In the evening, there’s another workout in Calabasas, dinner and sleep.

“You really have to want to do it,” Brian said. “It takes a lot of commitment. I’ve been doing it for so long and I want to keep getting faster and faster. It would be pointless to stop now.”

Brian, an 18-year-old senior, is one of the most prolific swimmers in City Section history. For three consecutive years, he has won the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke. He has more gold medals piling up in his room than pennies in a piggy bank.

Brett, a 16-year-old junior, finished second in the City 100 breaststroke and wants to join his brother with a gold medal when the finals are held next month at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Brett took up swimming at age 6, Brian at 8. Their sister, Jennifer, swam at El Camino Real. Probably the smartest family member is sister Meghan, 10. She’s into softball and gets to sleep in.

The only day the brothers have off is Sunday, their “do nothing day.” If they’re really sleep deprived, they’ll come home from church and conk out. But nobody complains because they are doing something that’s challenging and inspiring.

“It’s real easy to just cruise in practice, but if you want to get faster, you really have to work hard and it takes a lot of mental commitment,” Brian said. “You don’t get much out of it if you just go to practice, swim and go home. It takes a lot to try your best for the entire workout, every day, twice a day.”

Come next year, when Brian hopes he’ll be swimming for Kansas and Brett will be a senior at El Camino Real, there could be a dilemma. What’s Brett going to do at 4:30 a.m. when his father flips the light switch and Brian isn’t there? Who’s going to kick the bed to wake him up?

“It’s going to be pretty hard,” Brett said.

As they’d say in the Marines, Semper Fi.

*

Joe Boskovich, a former Westlake tight end who is a redshirt freshman at USC, is a medical marvel. He’s competing for the starting long snapper position during spring practice after coming back from tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in both knees two years ago.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Boskovich said. “My doctor told me in his entire career, he’s never heard anyone tearing two ACLs at once. I’m just happy to be back.”

The injury occurred in August, 1998 during a football scrimmage. At first, Boskovich didn’t know the seriousness of the injury and tried to come back without surgery. But he missed most of of his senior year at Westlake.

He had reconstructive surgery on the right knee two days before Thanksgiving, then had surgery on the left knee Christmas Eve. For four months, he was on crutches.

He redshirted last season at USC and had his first contact in two years during spring practice.

“It’s a good eye-opener,” he said. “You realize just like that, your career can be taken away.”

Boskovich is the center of attention at any party. Everyone wants to hear the story of suffering two ACL tears simultaneously. He’ll even lift up his pants to show his scars.

“Everybody is blown away,” he said.

Thankfully, he’s back playing football with the help of medical science.

*

After more than three months of college life, Casey Clausen couldn’t be happier at Tennessee. Local observers have the former Alemany quarterback running No. 2 at worst in the competition for starting quarterback this spring.

He completed six of 13 passes for 149 yards with one touchdown and one pass intercepted in a scrimmage Saturday. It was the most yards, completions and passes by any of the four quarterbacks who played.

“The main thing I have to do is every day get better and improve,” he said.

Clausen, who graduated from Alemany in January so he could enroll immediately at Tennessee, ran into a snowstorm when he arrived in Knoxville. He came home briefly for spring break, but football and school seem to be going well and he hasn’t picked up a Tennessee accent. . . .

Kyle Boller, former Hart quarterback, is healthy and running the offense at California during spring drills. He’ll be receiving a visit during Easter break from quarterback Kyle Matter of Hart, who’s considering California and Stanford among his college choices. . . .

Through the years, El Camino Real and Chatsworth have had some memorable pitching matchups: Randy Wolf vs. Jim DeBiase; Shaun Fishman vs. Greg Wold; Kurt Birkins vs. Mike Kunes.

It’s going to be fun watching sophomore pitchers Greg Acheatel (5-2) of El Camino Real and Joe Guntz (5-0) of Chatsworth engage in yearly duels for the next three seasons. The first one is set for the week of April 24.

Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.com