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Quality, Not Quantity For Cooke

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By MATTHEW POSTINS

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 20, 2008

TAMPA - Gregg Cooke admits he's a part-time swimmer. But he performed like a full-time swimmer in 2007.

For a body of work that included the top 50-yard freestyle time in the state, and swimming that time on the state's largest stage, Cooke is The Tampa Tribune's 2008 Hillsborough County Boys Swimming Athlete of the Year.

Cooke shaved nearly a second off his 50 time from the end of the high school season in 2006 to the FHSAA state championships in Orlando in November. He swam a 20.85 in the finals of the 50, netting him All-America honors and a Class 3A state championship. No swimmer had a better 50 time at the state meet in any classification.

And Cooke, who went undefeated in the 50 and swam in three other events at state, did it while also performing for Sickles' baseball team. Cooke made the Tribune's All-Hillsborough County first team as a pitcher.

Gryphons swimming coach Scott Parlett believes Cooke hasn't tapped all of his potential, either.

"Now with someone pushing him he's like a diamond in the rough. He just needs to be polished," Parlett said of his first state champion since his return to the program. "He's always had the athletic ability. He's just channeling it now."

Cooke leaned on both Parlett and his older sister, Alonso girls swimming coach Katrina Cooke, for advice during the season. He swam well, but Cooke realized after swimming a 21.2 at an invitational in Orlando in October - which featured some of the best swimmers in the state - that he might be on to something.

"But the 50 is such a crazy event," Cooke said. "You can be the fastest swimmer one day and the third- or fourth-fastest the next. You just have to keep working."
Parlett hopes Cooke can pull off a double next year, winning state titles in the 50 and 100 freestyles. But Cooke will do it while splitting his time as a baseball player. This past season he threw two no-hitters for the Gryphons and he admits he'll have trouble determining which sport he'll want to pursue in college.

He doesn't have a choice, though. He'll have to choose.

"People ask me all the time which one I'll choose and I just don't know," Cooke said. "I'd love to play both but I can't since they overlap. I'm just going to enjoy my senior year and make the choice when the time comes."
Parlett believes the junior is in great position to make a wise choice next school year.

"He swam the fastest 50 in the state last year and he's a great pitcher," Parlett said. "He's keeping his options open."

BOYS SWIMMING FIRST TEAM

50 freestyle: Gregg Cooke, Sickles

100 freestyle: Gregg Cooke, Sickles

100 butterfly: Jason Taylor, Newsome

100 breaststroke: Matt Stumpf, Tampa Prep

100 backstroke: Jason Khoury, Tampa Prep

200 freestyle: Jonathan Jordan, Berkeley Prep

200 individual medley: Conor Swanson, Sickles

500 freestyle: Jonathan Jordan, Berkeley Prep

200 medley relay: Tampa Prep (Jason Khoury, T.J. Hall, Matt Stumpf, Sam Gagne)

200 freestyle relay: Sickles (Andrew Howard, Sean Davis, Conor Swanson, Gregg Cooke)

400 freestyle relay: Sickles (Andrew Howard, Sean Davis, Conor Swanson, Gregg Cooke)

Diving: Chris Plante, Durant

Coach of the Year: Bill Shaffer, Jesuit

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