The alarm blares as junior Georgia Wimberly pushes off the block, starting the 200 medley relay at the UIL 6A State Swim Championship. Once she finishes her 50 backstroke, she watches her teammates, sophomore Kensie Albrecht and seniors Addison Johnson and Ava Goodwill, finish strong, breaking the school record. Together, they break another: the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Wimberly has competed in competitive swimming for 10 years and competes in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard individual medley, and 200-yard backstroke. She currently swims for Prosper High School and Lakeside Aquatic Club and has secured a swim scholarship to Alabama University as well.
“Being a Prosper Eagle has a lot of pride to it,” Wimberly said. “So it just means a lot that I can be able to take our school to state and represent what our school is all about.”
They broke the record at region, and went on to break it again at state. At state, they placed third in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:48.58 and first in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:33.56.
“I knew, like, with the group of girls we had that that’s something we were able to achieve,” Georgia said. “That just gave us confidence. We knew we were gonna break it.”
Wimberly placed fourth at state in the 500 freestyle, winning an all-state award that signified her excellence as both an athlete and a student.
“So for finals, I just had the mindset of, like, I’m just gonna put it all out there,” Wimberly said. “I raced to the best of my ability and gave it all I had.”
Georgia started swimming when she was five years old, but took a two year break to dance before starting up again after moving to Texas.
“[Moving to Texas] was definitely, like, the hardest part, because I wanted to quit again,” Wimberly said. “I feel like swimming always has points where you’re so burned out and you want to quit because it’s so demanding, but I just think you have to keep yourself motivated.”
She went on to compete at state during her freshman year in the 100 yard back-stroke and 200 yard free-style.
“[Competing] is a lot, and you have to prepare yourself mentally that you know it’s going to be hard,” Georgia said, “But at the same time, it teaches you so much about life and pushing through hard times.”
Now, Wimberly is part of the Prosper Swim and Dive team. The team is led by head coach Christopher Stroh and assistant coach Keenan Fogelberg.
“They exaggerate that, like, this is your journey, and you need to do what’s best with what you have,” Georgia said. “I feel like they help a lot of us just in our journey through life, and they keep us and other things way more fun.”
Wimberly said her role models are her older brother, Jacob Wimberly, who also won state, and her parents.
“My parents always teach me to never give up and never quit,” Wimberly said, “so I always strive for more, instead of being okay with where I am.”
This year marks Georgia’s second year in the swim program at Prosper High School.
“I always ask myself that sometimes, like, what other sport would I have done? But I never regret it,” Wimberly said. “I just love hanging out with people that I love. I think that’s something that, like, is definitely a refresher from swimming.”
Georgia has been focusing on improving the underwater portion of her events, like pushing off the wall, and improving her technique in her breast stroke.
“You can do one more of anything,” Georgia said. “Even in races, like, you can do one more lap of anything, you can do one more 50 of anything.”
Wimberly said she enjoys spending time with her friends and teammates on the swim team.
“My best memory was going to state and being with the coaches, cause they’re so funny,” Wimberly said. “And then after [a meet] we’re always hyping each other up, no matter if it was a bad swim or a good swim, because at the end of the day, we’re all still a team. We all still need to encourage each other.”
The season concluded with the Swim & Dive dive banquet on Thursday March 27 at PISD Children’s Health Stadium.
“Once you find out why you love something and why you’re motivated to do something, then it makes things so much easier,” Georgia said. “When you go to practice and do things every day, it’s like, I know why I’m doing this.”
