Matt Gwinn, a senior swimmer at Greer High School, is the Fall Sports Student-Athlete of the Week. Gwinn maintains a 3.0 grade point average.
Gwinn is 1.5 seconds short of guaranteeing a place in the state championship meet. His time is conditional pending shaving the excess time in the remaining meets. The 3A Regional meet is Saturday and the state championship is Oct. 6.
Gwinn maintains a 3.0 grade point average and is seeking entry into The Citadel or the University of South Carolina Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) program.
Walmart of Greer and GreerToday.com are sponsors of the award.
Paul Dean, Greer swim coach, said Gwinn’s participation, as with his other teammates, help bring attention to the little known sport at GHS. “Greer is not a swimming community at all,” Dean said. “There are no summer leagues and a lot of the swimmers come out for the team when they enter high school.”
Dean said Gwinn is atypical of most athletes in his sport. “Most swimmers have never been on a swim team,” Dean said. Gwinn said he didn’t know about Greer having a swim team until he overhead a student at lunch talking about going to swim practice.
Swimming practice is non-stop. The athletes are swimming, practicing their strokes and breathing, or skills that help saves seconds such as flips and pushing off on the turns. “We try to go as fast as we can,” Gwinn said.
Greer practices and hosts meets at the Sugar Creek Swim Club.
Other Fall Sports Student-Athletes honored are Will Moody, swimming, and Julia Sudduth, volleyball.