Kevyn Collazo Torres Rises To Puerto Rico National Swim Team

For as long as Kevyn Collazo Torres can remember, swimming has been a lifestyle.

The early-morning practices. The high-pressure meets. The podium finishes and records. The countless hours spent in the pool.

For the St. Bonaventure senior, swimming has been an everyday commitment, one that’s taken him from Trinity Preparatory School in Florida to western New York and now onto the international stage as a member of the Puerto Rico National Team.

Collazo Torres’ path to the Puerto Rican National Team began at the Puerto Rico International Open in April. His St. Bonaventure coach encouraged him to attend the meet and compete for an opportunity to earn a spot on the national team.

Collazo Torres collected two bronze medals in the 50-meter freestyle (24.01) and the 200-meter IM (2:07.07). He also finished fourth in the 100-meter free (52.33).

The next day, he received an email from the Puerto Rico Swimming Federation.

“I went there with the hope of getting invited to the national team,” Collazo Torres said. “I brought three of my friends from college, and we were sitting in the room getting ready for the morning, and I got a letter about the invitation to the PanAm Games. I got to do it in front of my friends and family, so it was a great feeling.”

The PanAm Aquatics Swimming Championships took place this summer and stretched across five days, the 8th-12th. 

Once the invitation arrived, Collazo Torres made the most of his opportunity.

At the PanAm Aquatics Championships, he earned a bronze medal as part of Puerto Rico's 400-meter free relay. Individually, he recorded five top-10 finishes, competing in the 50-meter free (23.73), 100-meter free (52.14), 50-meter fly (25.31), 100-meter fly (55.79) and 200-meter IM (2:10.42).

The PanAm Championships were only part of a summer filled with success.

At the LXIX Campeonato Nacional de Mayagüez, Collazo Torres won the 50-meter freestyle (24.01) and helped Puerto Rico capture victories in the 200-meter free relay, 200-meter medley relay and 400-meter medley relay. He also finished second in the 100-meter fly (57.23).

“Even if you aren't prepared, you can still do things at the highest capacity,” Collazo Torres said. “You just have to take the risk.”

He admitted that stepping onto the blocks without his normal preparation was intimidating.

“I hadn’t trained for a month and a half,” he said. “It was scary showing up and being unprepared.”

While his summer with Puerto Rico introduced him to the international swimming world, the foundation for that success was built over several years at St. Bonaventure.

As a freshman, he finished 11th in the 200-IM and 14th in the 400 individual medley at the Atlantic 10 Championships.

As a sophomore, he improved to ninth in the 400-meter IM (3:55.98) and 11th in the 200-meter IM (1:49.35) at A10s. He also collected his first collegiate individual victories in the 200-IM against Canisius, Le Moyne and Youngstown State. 

Then came his junior season.

At the 2026 A10 Championships, Collazo Torres earned a bronze medal in the 400-IM with a time of 3:53.27 while finishing fourth in the 200-IM clocking in at 1:47.28. He also helped the Bonnies place fourth in both the 800-free relay and 400-free relay and fifth in the 200-free relay.

That meet represented the moment he began to believe that representing Puerto Rico internationally could become a reality.

“It was A10s,” he said. “I had a breakthrough meet and had a bronze medal in the 400 IM. I kept swimming best time over best time and saw a window where I could do it.”

That window opened quickly.

“After A10 (conference championships) there was an inflow of opportunities,” he said. “After the collegiate season I had opportunities internationally and kept racking up bronze medals.”

Collazo Torres' success did not come without obstacles.

He describes his swimming career as an everyday commitment, one that has required him to continually show up even when he did not feel like it.

“I've been swimming my whole life,” he said. “I get no breaks, maybe one month off the entire year. Just showing up.”

“The school has built a sense of resilience,” Collazo Torres said. “There are a lot of days when I don't want to show up and don't want to be active, but you have to wake up and show up. They have helped me build a routine about showing up and competing.”

His approach is fueled by the successes he has experienced throughout his career.

Every medal, record and breakthrough gives him another reason to keep pushing.

“Every little achievement pushes me every day,” Collazo Torres said. “Every time I have success, it pushes me to be more successful. There's hunger in the belly to provide success.”

His success in his swimming career began long before he arrived at St. Bonaventure.

In high school, he was a six-time Florida High School Athletic Association 1A state medalist and set records at Trinity Preparatory School in the 4x50 medley relay. He also holds records in the 200-IM and 200-butterfly for the Great Orlando Aquatics Team.

He qualified for both the summer and winter Junior Nationals in multiple events, including the 100-butterfly, 200-butterfly and 200-IM.

But despite the accomplishments, Collazo Torres does not view success as a reason to stop.

Instead, he sees it as another reason to keep working.

One piece of advice that has stayed with him comes from an unlikely source: the television show “Trailer Park Boys.”

“That's the way she goes,” he said.

For Collazo Torres, the phrase from the show represents his approach to setbacks.

“Always staying positive after failures has been my biggest bet,” he said. “Failure is the key to success. Don't let failure stop you from working.”

That mentality has carried him through years of training and competition and now onto the international stage.

Despite the individual nature of swimming, Collazo Torres does not view his journey as something he accomplished alone.

When asked what makes swimming special, he does not immediately mention medals or records.

He talks about practice.

“It's the practices,” he said. “We get destroyed every day, but we do it together and that's where you make the connections for your life.”

Those connections have followed him from Florida to St. Bonaventure and now to Puerto Rico.

But one person remained at the center of his journey.

His mother.

“The support from my mother has helped me get to this point, and I owe all of this to her,” Collazo Torres said.

Now, when he looks ahead, Collazo Torres sees even more opportunities.

He hopes to return to national competitions with Puerto Rico again next summer while pursuing qualifying opportunities for the Global Championships and South American Championships.

For someone who once only imagined swimming internationally for Puerto Rico, the dream is no longer distant; it’s reality. 

And it all began with a decision to take a chance, get on the blocks and see what could happen.