Carson Knox, 16, who lives in Plant City, is the first person in his family not to swim for the Raiders. He is a junior at Lakeland Christian and is doing big things in the pool. Most recently, he swam a 54.65 in the 100 fly at FHSAA State Championship Nov. 8, bumping himself up to 21st overall.
Tell me about this week.
I won best time, and jumped up a few seeds from where I was seeded. I was seeded 24th before.
You broke a few school records this year, including some of your own. How would you say you performed this season?
I’ve wanted to break some records since I was a freshman, and I knew going into this year that I had a good shot at breaking most of them. I just went out there and swam to see what would happen.
What are some of your hobbies?
I really enjoy watching football. College, NFL, whatever it might be. I like hanging out with my friends, going to dinner, eating wings, watching football. My teams are the Florida Gators, who aren’t doing too well, the Tampa Bay Bucs, who (also) aren’t doing too well. … I watch all the other games, though.
Do you have any plans for college?
This spring, I’ll start emailing some colleges and narrow down my list. I probably want to go out of state. There are only three Division I colleges in Florida with a men’s swim team.
You went to Colorado this summer to train. What was that like?
We took a nine-day trip to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. We got to use the Olympic facilities, which were really nice, and practice every day at a high altitude so that, whenever we came back, it was much easier to swim. It really helped us a lot with our performance.