Senior Greg Shaw Breaks 37-Year-Old Swim Record
Shaw said that the first thing he saw when he finished was his mother, who “was going crazy.”
April 16, 2016
Greg Shaw (12) is a senior on the Coronado Boys Swim and Dive Team. This past week, he broke a 37-year-old pool record for the 100 butterfly. The original record was a 53.3 seconds, and his time was 52.90 seconds. His mother was the the timer for his lane, and was one of the first people to see his time. He only realized that he broke the record after he saw his mother’s reaction, and said it felt “Amazing.”
This is his last year swimming high school, and his last chance to break the record. It was also senior appreciation day for the Coronado, where the seniors all go up during the diving break. Shaw said, “I’m excited that I will be moving on to college swim and being done with high school swim so I felt ready to be done. My motivator was it was my last meet and I had so many supporters at the meet so I had to do well and show off a little. I just really wanted it.” Shaw will be attending Baldwin Wallace for college, and will swim for the team. His goal for college is to make it to NCAA d3 championships. That, however, is not his ultimate goal. He wishes to one day make it to the Olympic Trails.
Shaw has many friends among his team, and they motivate him during meets. Many of his friends 0n the Coronado team also swim with him on the Colorado Torpedoes Club Team. “We are a team. We need to perform at our best to help each other out, and to win. Most importantly, relays must help each other and cheer each other on,” he said.
As well as swim for the Coronado team, Shaw also is one of the managers for the Manitou Springs Girls’ Swim and Dive Team. He has been the manager for three years, and made many relationships in that time. One of those relationships was with Veronica Morin (12). She says, “Greg is the most outgoing, fantastic, and sassiest person I have ever met. The goals he has accomplished already this year are incredible, and I am so proud of him. Greg has always been the type of person to set a goal and then reach it, not many people can do that to the same extent as he can.”
Not only does Shaw swim with the Coronado Team during high school season, but he swims with the Colorado Torpedoes Club Team. The Torpedoes coach and Manitou High School Girls’ coach, Roy Chaney, is one of his close mentors. Shaw and Chaney have developed a close relationship throughout the years. “Greg’s power and speed was amazing during his record breaking fly. One of the best fly swims I’ve seen in awhile,” Chaney said.
Overall, Shaw’s performance was “impressive,” as Coach Chaney put it. He has high hopes for his future, and is very excited to be able to get to more challenging places with his swimming career.
