Sterling, Va. — Dominion High School senior Patrick Cox has committed to Division III Roanoke College to continue his swimming career starting in the 2017-2018 school year.
The 6-foot senior had never envisioned swimming at the collegiate level; however, with hard work and help from coaches, Cox has turned his dream of being a college athlete into a reality. In fact, Cox had never swum competitively prior to his freshman year of high school.
“I actually started swimming because I was cut from the freshman basketball team at my school,” Cox said. “I had always loved to swim and be in the water, but I never got into swimming competitively.”
Cox enters a unique situation at Roanoke, as the school recently decided to add swimming as its twenty-first NCAA Division III sponsored sport in September of 2016. Under head coach Scott Thacker, Cox will look to carve out a role on the newly formed team. While Cox only competed in freestyle and backstroke events at Dominion, he is open to exploring new possibilities with the Maroons.
“I am willing to swim just about any event, and I will work very hard so that I will be able to succeed in that event,” Cox said.
While Cox is headed to southwest Virginia to swim for the Maroons-he was originally attracted to the academics at Roanoke.
“I had a strong appeal to the small-class sizes and the ability to have a personal relationship with my professors,” Cox said. “Swimming was more of a plus that was added on and made the deal even sweeter.”
Before committing to Roanoke, Cox led Dominion to four wins in the 2016-2017 regular season and assisted the Titans in qualifying for the VHSL 4A West region meet. Cox is truly grateful for all the opportunities that the Dominion swim team has provided him.
“Coach [Susan] Schlemmer took me from never having really any competitive swimming experience [to]now [having]the opportunity to swim in college,” Cox said. “I would truly not be where I am today without the help she and coach [Shannon] Freeman have given me.”
