LG’s Cunningham Swims His Way to County Athlete of the Week Honors
La Grange swimmer Trey Cunningham is one of five seniors on the Leopards swim team and is only one of two swimmers on the team advancing to regional individually. Cunningham is also a part of the three regional-qualifying relays and recently broke the current school record in the 100 meter freestyle race at the district meet, along with beating his personal best time by 2.45 seconds. “We rarely have individual swimmers that get a chance to go on to the next level,” said La Grange head swimming coach Gretchen Ledwik. “We’re very fortunate that Trey achieved his goal and gets to go on and swim at regionals.” Cunningham has defied the odds for La Grange with his recent success, making him our selection for this edition’s Player of the Week.
Question: Who’s a swimmer you look up to and why?
Answer: “Probably the normal Michael Phelps. He has a very big swimming career. He did have his downfalls at one point, but he got back up. I think that’s what swimming’s all about. Getting down, then going right back up. It’s definitely not easy.”
Question: What have been the keys to such a successful season?
Answer: “A lot of practice and hard work. Our team and a good coach. We all work together and boost each other’s morals and everything. It’s really important for staying focused and wanting to continue on swimming.”
Question: Where’s a place you’ve always wanted to visit and why?
Answer: “Rome. I’ve always been fascinated with Roman architecture and the Roman time period. So it would be interest-ing to see all of that in the real world and physically connect with it.”
Question: What’s your favorite song and why?
Answer: “Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves. I love the way that it sounds and it makes me feel good about myself.”
Question: If you could fastforward to the future, what’s something you could see yourself doing and why?
Answer: “Probably coaching a swim team somewhere. It’s something that I like to do. I help coach the summer league swim team and it’s something that I’m very passionate about. I’ll actually wake up early with out fussing to go do it, so I’m sure I will always have a passion for it.”
Question: What kind of animal that’s not a pet would you like to have as a pet and why?
Answer: “One of those tiny, little bitty monkeys. They’re really cute and I think it’d be really cool just to have a teeny-tiny monkey swinging around.”
Question: What’s your best swimming stroke and why?
Answer: “I’m good at all the strokes, but the one that I’m most comfortable with is freestyle because it’s the original stroke and I’ve been swimming it for a long time. I’ve gotten really good at it because of my years of swimming experience, so freestyle is my favorite one.”
Question: How does La Grange stand out from other schools?
Answer: “We stand out with the swim team because we’re 4A, so we don’t have a swimming pool and we don’t get to practice as much as every other school does. They can practice a certain amount of time per day with their school and then a certain amount of time with their club. So they’re constantly in the pool and constantly practicing. We maybe get four to five hours per week, depending on if we’re going to Camp Lonestar or if we’re going to Brenham. So the fact that we can actually be competitive with those big 5A and 6A schools that actually have a pool, it’s actually a very amazing thing that we can do that. That just goes to show how good of a coach we have to be able to compete like that.”
Question: What’s your dream job and why?
Answer: “I’ve been bouncing between CEO and lawyer and the moment. I’ve always been interested in running a business and being in charge of it, making sure that it’s operational and functional and has the best profit margin and everything.”
Question: What’s a bucket list kind of item you’d like to achieve and why?
Answer: “I’d like to go watch the Olympics one day, specifically the swimming. Swimming has been a very big part of my life and I’m very passionate about it, so it’d be interesting to see the top tier of it in person.”
Cunningham brings a special talent for La Grange swimming and even uses his abilities to benefit the next generation of up and coming swimmers.
Fayette Co. Record’s Athlete of the Week
A Weekly Feature by BRIAN PIERSON
Recent FCR’s Athlete of the Week
Dec. 3: Seth Brock, RTC basketball
Dec. 10: Aysia Grant, La Grange basketball
Dec. 17: Luke Law, Flatonia basketball
Jan. 7: Jaxon Cooper, La Grange basketball
Jan. 14: Phillip Arceneaux, La Grange soccer
Jan. 21: Jessalyn Gipson, Schulenburg basketball
Jan. 28: Duke Sodek, Flatonia basketball
* Read about the new honorees in our Friday editions and then watch their interviews on our Facebook page a few days later.