The chilly February weather didn’t stop members of the Georgia Coastal Aquatic Team (GCAT) from celebrating the college signing of one of their own.

Dozens of young swimmers and their families gathered right outside the pool on Ford Avenue to congratulate senior Tess Leftwich on her letter of intent to swim at Berry College, a private university located near Rome, Georgia. 

GCAT coaches Bill Forrester and Ben Umbreit had nothing but praise for Leftwich, who has been swimming competitively with the club since she was 13.

“She never, ever gave up,” said Forrester, a two-time Olympian and bronze medalist. “She didn’t let a bad practice, bad meet…get her down.”

“She just kept attacking, kept showing up with a positive attitude," said Umbreit. “She took a very creative approach with her training, and was willing to try anything and did a lot of work outside the pool [as well].” 

Leftwich’s persistence has certainly paid off; the senior recently achieved a personal best of 26.54 in the women’s 50m freestyle prelims at the Georgia Senior State Championships hosted at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium.     

“It means a lot [to sign with Berry], I’ve come a long way with swimming. I think I had some rough patches with it and didn’t think that I would be able to swim in college so being able to have this opportunity means a lot to me,” said Leftwich.