Although they display typical sibling rivalry behavior, Dax and Kerrington Hill are not your average brothers.
Dax, a sophomore, and Kerrington, a freshman, are Longhorn swimmers who are regular teammates when competing. But things are different when they’re away from team activities.
“Having Kerrington at UT with me is interesting,” Dax said. “The swimming part is all right. Outside of that, we still bump heads over some stuff.”
Despite being team mates, Dax still considers Kerrington to be the typical annoying little brother.
“Sometimes he has his moments when he’s cool,” Dax said. “Other times I just want to, you know, choke him.”
Dax recalled one of their most memorable fights when he was given permission from his parents to teach Kerrington a lesson.
“For the longest time I wasn’t allowed to fight my brother,” Dax said. “My parents gave me the green light one time and we got into it. I’m pretty sure the fight was over a chair. I was sitting in a chair and he got mad at me because he wanted to sit in it. It got intense.”
Despite their differences, the Hill brothers have respect for each other.
“He is pretty clutch,” Dax said. “That’s pretty cool. At our state relay in 2009, my senior year of high school, I was the leg before him and I knew that if I got close he would be able to finish it. I knew he’d be able to knock the guy out.”
The brothers, both freestyle specialists, got their start playing sports like soccer and basketball and made the transition to swimming when they were seven and eight years old.
“I would always jump into the pool before I could swim and my mom would have to jump in and save me. So she put me in swim lessons. I did that for about a year, and then she put me in summer league and I just stuck with it,” Kerrington said.
Kerrington was not too thrilled about being on the same team as Dax when they were younger, but it doesn’t bother him anymore.
“People tease me about having Dax here, but I just try to not think about it and swim my own race,” Kerrington said.
Although the brothers are very different, they are both extremely competitive and grateful for their parents.
“Our parents really supported us and pushed us a lot, especially early on,” Dax said. “As we got older, we were able to push ourselves independently. So they just got to sit back and kick it.”
The two were competitive back then and still are, but it isn’t limited to the pool. Dax and Kerrington are known to go at it on video games, but everything usually ends peacefully — as long as one of them doesn’t sit in the other’s chair.
