It was the second day of finals at the Bob Myashiro pool in Santa Rosa, and exhaustion was setting in. Larwence Thomas was getting ready for the 200 butterfly. He’d already impressed himself in the morning preliminaries, cutting 2 seconds off his best time.
As the last race of the night began, he took his position at the edge of the pool. Fatigue clung to him like chlorine. His expectations were low. It was sink or swim. Against all odds, he summoned the strength to push forward, cutting another two seconds off his record and finishing in first place.
For the first time in months, the hard work had finally paid off. Thomas proved to himself that he can excel even in events outside his specialties. That night, he got home and fell into bed, exhausted but triumphant.
Thomas loves competitive swimming. But in his 14 years in the sport, he’s found that his skin isolates him. It’s nothing new to him. It’s not because other “swim kids” don’t like his skin. It’s the difference in culture and how he was raised. As differences do, it creates an invisible barrier. It doesn’t feel like racial discrimination. More like awkwardness, discomfort and distance. It makes the connection just a little bit harder
But Thomas decided to try harder to scale the barrier, choosing not to let his East Oakland upbringing — which stood in stark contrast to this predominantly white sport – be the reason he felt isolated from everyone else.
He’s tried before as a teen, but the gap with Walnut Creek’s competitive culture was too wide. Now at LPC, he’s determined to break that isolation in swimming by connecting through his personality, character and passion — attributes he views as universal.
It’s working. Finally, with the Hawks, he doesn’t feel so isolated. He’s found camaraderie at Las Positas. Coincidentally, he’s also found faster times.
“I’ve always kind of had this thing in my head where if you don’t approach me, I’m not going to approach you,” Thomas said. “I’ve noticed that being the only Black guy on the team, some people might be afraid to approach me.”
HIS OLYMPIC DREAMS run through the Cambodian national team, through his mother’s heritage. His journey to the Los Angeles Olympics begins with the 2027 Southeast Asian Games. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
Thomas has big goals. He wants to win the state championship and transfer to a Division I program. Eventually, he wants to compete in the 2027 Southeast Asian Games and the 2028 Olympics. It’ll require a lot of time in the pool and around other swimmers. Few will share his background, understand his culture or have his skin.
But if he wants to accomplish his goals, it’s going to take full commitment. That likely means immersing himself in the culture of swimming. That will be much easier if he doesn’t do it alone.
He wasn’t always alone. Thomas grew up in a competitive household with his parents and his older brother Adonis, who also swam competitively. At age six, his parents enrolled him in swim school to learn the basics of water safety. He found a passion for swimming and joined the predominantly Black Oakland Undercurrent.
“I felt like I was a pretty natural swimmer,” Thomas said. “I never really had a fear of the water.”
He said he felt at home with the Undercurrent. However, not all good things last. Ben Sheppard, one of the head coaches of the Undercurrent, was reported for allegedly sending inappropriate messages to underage students, as detailed in a published report from the East Bay Express.
After the scandal, the Undercurrent program lost funding, coaches and community trust.
Thomas was still in elementary school when he switched to Oaklantis, another club team in Oakland.
The team was small and had limited resources. After competing with the team for years, Thomas couldn’t get what he needed from Oaklantis. It forced him to commute to the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel.
Thomas’s mother drove 30 minutes each way to get Thomas to school and practice in Walnut Creek, and to Hayward for Adonis.
His parents warned him that others might view him differently. While it never dulled his motivation to compete, it made it hard to feel like he truly belonged on his own team.
That sense of isolation continued through his time at Northgate High School. He competed on teams where he didn’t feel he belonged.
The cultural differences were stark. Thomas listened to NBA YoungBoy. His teammates listened to Arctic Monkeys. He engaged in trash talk in a sport in which it is frowned upon. And, of course, he was melanated. They were not. So he kept his distance.
“I grew up in East Oakland,” Thomas said. “You grew up in Walnut Creek.”
Despite feeling out of place in high school, Thomas stayed focused on his goals, knowing he could open doors that could help him improve his swimming abilities. He spent his freshman year at King University in Tennessee redshirting. The first setback as he expected to compete immediately. Unlike his high school and middle school years, he found camaraderie with his teammates at King, whom he remembers as some of the coolest he’s had.
By December of that fall semester, Thomas decided he would not return to the university. Although he valued his teammates, he couldn’t see eye to eye with the coaching staff and ultimately felt the program wasn’t the right fit.
After returning to Oakland, Thomas began training with Piankhi Gibson, a mentor who understood his experience. Both have been among the few Black athletes on their teams, which made it easier to talk openly about feeling isolated or different from their teammates. Gibson had taken over the Golden State Aquatics, formerly the Oaklantis club team, and used his connections at UC Berkeley to secure better facilities and better coaches.
Thomas described Gibson as a big brother and a lifesaver. If it hadn’t been for Gibson, he would’ve quit swimming altogether.
Gibson not only kept Thomas in the sport but also convinced him that junior college swimming was a viable route.
Thomas initially planned to enroll at Diablo Valley College. But after Gibson connected him with Las Positas assistant coach Kelly Gentry, Thomas found himself in Livermore.
Thomas doesn’t let the isolation he’s felt during his swimming career affect his performance in the pool. He’s one of Las Positas’ top swimmers, known for his versatility and willingness to race any event the team needs.
“He’s talented and diverse. He’s got a good skill set,” head coach Jason Craighead said. “His ability to want to race anything, fill in wherever needed. He does it with a smile.”
Last May, Thomas proved his skills as a swimmer at the state championships, finishing sixth with a time of 1:55.95 and establishing himself as one of the fastest butterfly swimmers in the state. But it’s not just talent. It’s also his mentality.
It was his brother Adonis who gave him the advice that would stick with him for his entire career: “You’ve got to be a mentality monster.”
“I’ve always backed myself. I’ve always been a big competitor,” Thomas said. “I never go into a race doubting myself.”
HIS OLYMPIC DREAMS run through the Cambodian national team, through his mother’s heritage. His journey to the Los Angeles Olympics begins with the 2027 Southeast Asian Games. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
After years of distancing himself, Thomas is determined to break that pattern and step up as a leader to the team at LPC. He’s learned the hard way that he can only do that if he reaches out first.
He started by attending a lifting session with the new swimmers, introducing himself and making sure everyone on the team knew his name.
This year, Thomas wants to bring more competitive energy to practices and somehow incorporate the trash talk he grew up with. Still, he knows he has to “check the temperature” first, recognizing that not everyone may be interested in that kind of heat.
“I don’t want practice to be like this chill environment,” Thomas said. “I want to get some testosterone boosting for this practice.”
Thomas has his sights set on becoming a state champion. He’s committed to reaching that goal by trusting his coaches and embracing the training plan. With confidence in his team and his own determination, Thomas is prepared to go after the top spot.
After Las Positas, Thomas hopes to transfer to St. Mary’s and become one of the first swimmers in their new Division I aquatics program starting next fall.
Thomas also hopes to compete in the 2028 Olympics and the Southeast Asian Games. Through his Mother’s Cambodian nationality, Thomas is eligible to compete on the Cambodian team, and the federation has already reached out to him.
Even as Thomas sets his sights on international competition, he finds himself in a unique position at Las Positas. As the only Black swimmer on the team, standing out and stepping up are part of his daily reality.
“When you’re the only Black swimmer, you know you want to represent your people well,” he said. “Hopefully, it inspires new Las Positas swimmers to come in and try out the program.”
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TOP PHOTO: Larwence Thomas has found a home on the swim team at Las Positas. It’s a place he can, finally, feel comfortable in his own skin. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
Kian Amininejad is the Senior staff writer of The Express. Follow him on X @Kian_Amininejad.
