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Wood To Continue Swimming Career At DI Buffalo

Southwestern’s Grace Wood, seated center right, signs her letter-of-intent Thursday to continue her academic and athletic career at the University at Buffalo. Pictured, seated from left, are STAR Swimming coach Brad Johnson, former Southwestern head coach Lauren Baker, Wood, and her mother, Laura Nelson. Standing, from left, are STAR Swimming coach Glen Shoup, Southwestern head coach Dan Thomas, Southwestern school counselor Robin Kayner and Southwestern athletic director Kevin Salisbury.

P-J photo by Jay Young

Late next week Southwestern senior Grace Wood will make the journey east to Ithaca College for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association swimming and diving championships with her athletic and academic future already secure.

On Thursday afternoon, Wood was joined by friends, family and teammates as she announced her commitment to attend the University at Buffalo, where she will compete for the Bulls NCAA Division 1 swimming and diving program next year.

“I knew that she was going to go on and swim in college and I knew that she’s been looking at different places over the past three or four years. I know she visited a lot of colleges and really liked University of Buffalo,” said Southwestern swimming and diving coach Dan Thomas.

“Grace has come a long way this year, she has worked really hard. She’s swam whatever we have needed her to swim. She’s gone above and beyond as a captain leading the team and she’s made her state qualifying cuts in the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle this year.”

Since beginning her varsity career with Southwestern as a freshman, Wood has always been thinking about where her swimming career would ultimately take her.

Will all but one or two more high school swims in her rear-view mirror, it is clear that the answer is to a very competitive collegiate program.

“Right when I started I loved it so much that I knew I wanted to keep going,” said Wood. “I didn’t know about the Division 1 level until sophomore, junior year, I would say. When I realized how good I could be or how good I was getting I was like, Division 1 could be my next option. I don’t want to be a big fish in a small pool, I would rather be a small fish in a big pool where I have girls around me to build me and make me better rather than going in on a team where I would be the best.”

Two of those girls that will help Wood over the next four years include former teammate Jillian Lawton and former Jamestown star Allie Stockwell.

Lawton, a junior, and Stockwell, a freshman, are also freestyle specialists and have offered plenty of positive recommendations from their time spent with head coach Andy Bashor.

“They love it. Jillian always talks highly of it and Allie just started this year,” said Wood. “Coach Basher from UB was saying that I would probably mainly be 200 free/100 free there. In varsity, I would swim the 100 free, 200 free and 500 free. But he said based off of my times I would be very strong in the 100 and 200 free.”

The Bulls have gotten off to a 1-1 start, with a win over Ball State on Oct. 26 and a loss to Miami of Ohio on Nov. 2. They will be back in action at the Ohio State Invite, starting on Nov. 21.

Also influencing Wood’s decision was the University at Buffalo’s proximity to home, and her planned academic track.

“UB just has a great academic program in general compared to the other schools I was looking at,” said Wood, who plans to major in biology. “I was kind of comparing distances when I was visiting these other schools. I was comparing how far I wanted to be away from home and how big the college was. The team atmosphere was a big aspect as well, meeting all of the girls from different schools and seeing where I fit in the best.”

In addition to Stockwell and Lawton, Wood is also likely to see several other familiar faces from her career swimming with the STAR travel team.

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