One of Miami's Top Athletes Earns Top GPA
3/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
March 30, 2010
By Alyssa Kozlow
Take a look at Leah Thornton's swimming career after her freshman year at Miami University, and you are sure to be impressed: 18 first-place finishes with a grand total of 43 top-three finishes, a seventh-place finish in the 200 yard backstroke and a 16th-place finish in the 200 butterfly at February's Mid-American Conference Championship meet.
All these factors add up to a very successful season in Thornton's book. She dedicates almost four hours of her day to practicing and lifting to stay in prime condition for the swim season, while still managing a full-time class schedule. Her hard work and dedication paid off when she earned a 4.0 GPA during the Fall 2009 semester.
Leah, originally from Helena, Alabama, recounted her thought process in her decision to come to Miami during her senior year at John Carroll Catholic High School: "When the letter came in the mail, I almost threw it away...[but] I decided to come on a trip and I loved it. I wanted to force myself to do something new. I could have gone in state and swam, but it would have been like High School Part Two. I wanted to meet new people and be in a completely new environment." Leah also says that her parents, Joe and Patricia Thornton, and the rest of her family all have been extremely supportive throughout her swimming career.
Though swimming has become a major part of her career at Miami, Leah's interests go far beyond the depths of the eight lane swimming pool.
Upon arriving at Miami in August, Leah immediately dove in to find her niche outside of the pool. She bravely took Calculus to keep her skills polished in case she decided to enter Miami's prestigious Farmer's School of Business, and found a new outlook on life in her Honors English class. "It was so interesting. It made me think about things like I've never thought about before in my life" said Leah. "We read autobiographies and short stories and it was massively interesting. Our instructor came in the first day and wrote on the board, `Race is a social construct.' Being able to take that and apply it to the everyday world has changed my perspective on a lot of things...to me, that was really profound.'
Her niche, it turned out to be, was English. "[It] has always been one of my favorite subjects" says Leah. "My favorite poem is by J. Alfred Prufrock. He expresses himself so eloquently. I also enjoy Hemingway. I like literary analysis, and symbolism. It's like a puzzle."
Now, after five months of being in a new place with completely new people, Leah says that she, like everyone that leaves home to go to college, got a little homesick. However, it is the deep attachment that she feels to her teammates that is what keeps her going. "Stacia Schachter (teammate) took the Honors English class with me. [Our professor] showed a video of our team singing the fight song. I told [Stacia] after class that I almost got emotional and she said `I know, me, too.' I've only been here for a semester and I already feel massively attached to the team" said Leah.
With another three years and three more swim seasons to look forward to at Miami University, Leah's future looks promising. Optimistically, Leah says "The best advice I have ever been given was `It's OK to mess up sometimes.' If everything is perfect all of the time, you're never going to learn to rebound. Mistakes are inevitably going to happen, so if you can learn to deal with that it will reveal real character. If you can constantly challenge yourself and not be afraid to push yourself to the limit or even fail, that's when you're going to find out who you really are."
-- www.MURedHawks.com --