Bellarmine University Strikes Gold with Swim IM'er Parker Tanke

Chattahoochee Gold swim team's Parker Tanke heads for Louisville, Kentucky this fall where he'll swim & study at Bellarmine University. BU's swim team is in NCAA Division I and competes in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association conference.

So we know Waffle House helped tip the scales in Parker's choice of Bellarmine. So why did Bellarmine want Parker as a student-athlete for the Swimming Knights? He says,"Bellarmine chose me because I am a versatile swimmer, being able to do all the strokes. I want to continue swimming the 200 IM (Individual Medley) at Bellarmine. It's always been my favorite event, since you swim every stroke in one race. My swim goals at Bellarmine are to continue to improve my times through refining my stroke and becoming a point leader for my team."

Though Parker has trained with Gold for nearly a dozen years, he's really come on strong in just the last year, "I've been a swimmer with Chattahoochee Gold for 11 years with my most exciting events happening in the past year. At the long course state championships (July 2022) I received my first NCSA cut (qualifying time). Then at the NCSA meet (March 2023) I was a part of the 400-freestyle relay where I dropped two seconds, finishing in 46.25 seconds."

"There were two coaches at Gold that really helped me get to where I am today. First was Coach Andy Shields. He is the reason why I started loving the sport. He made it fun and exciting by turning everything into a game or competition. He encouraged us to do the exercises by doing them alongside us. We would work hard trying to beat him.

"While Coach Andy was my favorite coach, Coach Austin Sumrall has been my best coach. He has worked with me to improve and refine my stroke, enabling me to achieve faster times. He encouraged me when I was injured and shared his own swim story of how he was injured and recovered. If it weren't for Austin, I would have quit swimming a couple of years ago and wouldn’t be swimming in college." Coach Austin looks for big things from Parker as a collegiate swimmer, "We're excited for Parker to continue his time in swimming, and we look forward to him continuing to improve and make an impact at Bellarmine next year. Go Knights!"

Now in its 31st year, Chattahoochee Gold is one of the first swim clubs in the nation to be awarded USA Swimming's Level 4 status. Besides Woodstock Aquatic Center, Gold trains its swimmers at Mountain View Aquatic Center in Marietta and Cumming Aquatic Center in Forsyth County.

goldswim.com