Matthew Carper '23 Recruiting Profile

Hi, my name is Matthew Carper and I am a senior at Pine-Richland High School in Gibsonia PA. I have been swimming for 10 years with Pine Richland Aquatics club team and in my fourth year with Pine Richland High School Swim and Dive varsity team. My favorite events are the 100 breastroke and 200 IM and I also swim the 200 breastroke and 400 IM.  My favorite high school events are the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM. I have qualified for Eastern Zones (2019), Sectionals (2021), Senior Sectionals (2021-2022), Senior Zones (2021-2022), JO’s (2018-2022), WPIALs (2020-2022), PIAA (2022), and Futures (2022).

At first I started swimming because my aunts and uncles swam and were very good at it but I soon came to love the sport. It became fun to go to practice and meets though sometimes I didn’t like the early mornings. I soon learned those early mornings are what make the difference between average and very good. Soon I was coming to every morning practice, every evening week day practice, and double practices to continually improve. After 6 years I had finally made my first big meet which was Zones. I made it to the final heat and did well and after this my drive to get better grew even more as I had finally seen the great results of my effort.

Through my swimming career I have been able to meet some amazing coaches but even more amazing people that helped me further develop my goals. I raced some swimmers and lost but they helped me to realize what to work on and I wanted to be where they were next time. The coaches I met all gave me information to better improve my stroke and the way I think about the sport. All the people I have met through swimming have helped me to become the swimmer and person I am today.

My achievements in the pool are not the only things I have accomplished. I have made Highest Honor Role for the past 3 years with taking multiple honors classes and still achieving a cumulative 4.3 GPA.  As a result of my efforts, I was selected into the National Honor Society not only based on my academics but also my leadership and community service.  I am also an active member in the Boy Scouts of America and have achieved the Eagle Scout rank in my junior year and am a member of the Order of the Arrow.  Through these achievements I have been able to learn more about the world and how good it feels to help others especially with all the community service over the last several years.

I have learned many lessons from swimming including “there is no substitute for hard work”,  “losing while learning something is ten times better than losing and learning nothing” and “as long as you keep trying to improve every day, you will never waste any day”. These I keep with me during my daily life to keep me moving forward. I hope to continue growing both academically and athletically.

I am excited to be a swimming student athlete in college.  Thank you for taking your time to consider me as a student athlete at your school.