Colton Grimes '20 Recruiting Profile

Swimming has pretty much taught me everything. It has taught me how to work hard at such a young age and a good work ethic on top of time management. Also, how to persevere through successes and failures in my sport and that carries on into my everyday life. I become interested in swimming basically through my mother was a Division 1 swimmer at the University of Illinois. I see how all the hard work, determination and memories made her who she is today. Swimming for me has always been a part of my life because I started at such a young age, 7 years old.  I've learned a lot through swimming, how important it is to be a teammate and know you can support each other through thick and thin because we are all a family to the swimmers and coaches, to even the parents.

Academically i'm looking for a college that has a strong architecture and/or accounting field. Having a speech impediment has helped me as a person, to adapt to challenges within myself and accept who I am,  of course I have worked on it and its not as big of an issue today, but it helped me know who my real friends are that are going to accept me for me. My ability to look through the negative for the good in people and situations will always be one of, if not my best characteristics, I would prefer to look at the glass half full, not half empty. Also something I take pride in is that I take the hard work that swimming takes and learned how to make it fun, I love to make my teammates laugh and not everyone likes going to practice so I give it a positive environment.