Shea signs Bama swim scholarship

MADISON – Andrew Shea, an award-winning swimmer for James Clemens High School, has signed a scholarship offer with the University of Alabama.

“I am extremely happy with my scholarship,” Shea said. “Alabama made me a very strong offer. I started my recruiting process with intentions to stay in the SEC, preferably in my state.”

Shea won the state championship in the 50-Meter Free and finished second in the 100-Meter backstroke. In December 2016, he competed at Junior National Championships in the 50-Meter Free and 100-Meter and 200-Meter Backstroke.

His honors include High School All-American, Alabama state swimming champion and a Southeastern swimming champion in multiple events, Rocky Smith said. Smith is Assistant Principal and Athletic Director at James Clemens.

“Fortunately, I had two great options from Auburn (#10 in the NCAA 2016) and Alabama (#6 in the NCAA 2016). Auburn also came up with a great offer,” Shea said.

“However, since I’m a freestyle sprinter, I felt like Alabama was a better fit for me due to the exceptional world class coaches, Dennis Pursley and sprint coach Jonty Skinner, a former world-record holder,” Shea said.

He also considered Tennessee, North Carolina State and South Carolina.

Shea believes enrolling at Alabama is the only way he can reach his potential as a sprinter and achieve goals on the international level. “I still have plenty of room to improve in terms of strength and endurance, particularly in my 200 freestyle,” he said. “I’m looking forward to finally lifting weights in college, which is an essential aspect of all college sprinters.”

“Not only is Andrew a great swimmer, but he’s also a great student,” Smith said. “He has a 4.1 GPA, is in the top 20 percent of his graduating class and is a member of German Honor Society.”

In addition, he qualified as a state delegate to the Congress Of Future Medical Leaders and was nominated for the National Youth Leadership Forum for medicine. He is a member of the USA Swimming Scholastic All-America Team.

“My father works for the Department of Defense. My mother is German and a former flight attendant for Lufthansa airlines,” Andrew Shea said. “Because I have German citizenship, I’ll hopefully have the opportunity to compete for Germany. I also have two sisters who are married.”

Shea plans to pre-med at UA. “I recently gained interest in this field through the medical internship that I’m doing this semester,” he said.