Young Legends star looks to make waves at provincials
Noah Cumby likely swimming in final provincial meet before he heads off to Texas Christian University on an athletic scholarship
Noah Cumby of the St. John’s Legends, the finest young swimmer in the province today, will be competing in his final allNewfoundland and Labrador championship this weekend when the Legends play host to the Swimming NL provincials starting today at the Aquarena.
Some 170 swimmers from 14 clubs will be competing in the event which opened 8:30 this morning. Heats and evening finals continue throughout the day, and Saturday before wrapping up Sunday.
Individual age group and team awards will be presented at the wrap up of Sunday’s final session.
Cumby, 17, is off to Fort Worth, Tx., in the fall where he’ll be attending Texas Chris- tian University on a full athletic scholarship.
He’s somewhat familiar with the south having lived in Louisiana from the age of two to 12 while his father worked in the oil and gas industry.
The Grade 12 student at Holy Heart of Mary high school had been wooed by a couple of NCAA schools, including Ohio’s Miami University and the University of Denver.
TCU assistant coach Keith Dawley, who was an assistant coach at Miami last season, recruited Cumby, and managed to convince TCU to offer the St. John’s swimmer a scholarship after he joined the Texas coaching staff this season.
“Noah is a game changer,” said TCU head swim coach Sam Busch said. “He’s by far the most accomplished and seasoned athlete we will bring in. As a freshman, we’re expecting him to be a leader and be one of the alpha males in the sprintfreestyle. I think he’s going to really elevate and advance the program.”
Cumby came to Dawley’s attention as a result of a U.S. recruiting service the Cumby family employed to get the swimmer’s name out to NCAA universities.
After taking a look at Cumby’s times, Dawley followed up by speaking with Swimming Canada officials.
A member of Canada’s national team identification squad for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Cumby was Swimming NL’S male swimmer of the year this past spring after a season that saw him, among other things, win five gold medals and set four NL records at the provincial swimming championships.
Last season, the 6-5 Cumby was the top 17 and under 100 metre freestyle swimmer in the country, and the fifth-fastest in the 50m free.
Competing at senior nationals last year, Cumby reached the ‘B’ final in the 100 free, and won a bronze medal in the 100 free at the Eastern Canadian championship.
Cumby hopes to swim in the senior nationals next month in April, and will be shooting for qualifying times this weekend at the Aquarena for the junior world championship in Fiji.