Gunnels Now Loves the School He Once Had Never Known
1/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 25, 2011
By Bryan McEldowney
OXFORD, Ohio--Though he's now a fixture on Miami University's men's swimming and diving team, Chapel Hills, North Carolina's Chris Gunnels almost never came to Miami. In fact, until March of his senior year of high school he had never heard of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio! At the last minute, he decided to take a visit.
"Obviously, I'm very glad I decided to take a visit," said Gunnels. "I loved everything about the team atmosphere, including our coach (Pete Lindsay), and I felt that Miami was the best fit for me."
Currently a junior on the RedHawks' swimming team, he primarily swims middle-distance freestyle and backstroke events. His time of 1:38.68 in the 200 freestyle ranks third among all Mid-American Conference swimmers and he's also among the top eight in both the 50 (23.75) and 100 backstroke (50.06).
A few days ago, Gunnels was named the MAC Swimmer of the Week. He was a part of five first-place finishes, leading the RedHawks to two team wins. Gunnels won all three individual events he entered during the week. Against Evansville on Jan. 12, he won the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.84. On Jan. 14 against Cincinnati, Gunnels won the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.20, 1.78 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, and the 100 freestyle in 46.60. He also anchored the 400 freestyle relay in a second-place finish against Evansville and was a member of two first-place relay teams against Cincinnati. Miami's 200 medley relay team won in a time of 1:35.17 with Gunnels leading off, and the 200 freestyle relay team took first with a time of 1:24.64, Miami's fastest time of the season in that event.
The goals set forth by Gunnels this season fall in line with those of his team as a whole. And they certainly have a James Bond feel-working for the good of the team (country) and eliminating the competition (bad guys) in the process.
"My personal goals are fairly closely tied with the team goals this year, said Gunnels. "One of our main goals is to come together and show every other team in our conference the hard-work that we have put in and knock some heads off."
During his senior year of high school in 2008, he was both North Carolina's 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke state champion and earned Swimmer of the Year and state MVP awards. Currently, he cites his best event as the 200-meter freestyle, finishing third in the event during last year's MAC meet.
Practicing eleven times a week, Mondays through Saturdays for the NCAA maximum of 20 hours doesn't leave time for much else. In between the two-a-days, Gunnels and his teammates typically go to breakfast, class, and then take naps prior to their afternoon workouts.
"In my free time I like to watch movies or sleep," said Gunnels.
Serving as a collegiate athlete at the Division I level provides some challenges for student-athletes.
Gunnels' biggest complaint is that he only "gets about half as much sleep as I would like to."
"Chris consistently works on improvement," said Lindsay. "He has developed into a versatile competitor because of a desire to improve the finer points of his races, be it the starts, the turns or the routine implications of his body line in the water. He is an outstanding afternoon and evening swimmer who would be an even happier man if morning practices had not been invented. I am thankful the preliminaries at the MAC championships being at noon!"
However, despite sleep deprivation as a Division I student-athlete, Gunnels says, "I enjoy being able to represent Miami University and, simply, the ability to compete against some of the best swimmers in the nation."
Like many other athletes, Gunnels has some pre-race rituals.
"I like to get in the water for warm-ups exactly 55 minutes before the meet starts," he says. "Coach Pete doesn't enjoy this one as he thinks I should be getting in much earlier."
Listening to his iPod prior to races is a must. He tends to listen to artists such as Tonedeff and CunninLynguist, both part of the hip-hop genre.
However, Gunnels shows that his musical interests don't just lie within hip-hop. While this is his music of choice to get ready for practice and races, he also enjoys listening to bands such as O.A.R. (Of a Revolution) and the Dave Matthews Band.
This past summer, Gunnels had the opportunity to see both O.A.R. and the Dave Matthews Band live.
"Both were amazing concerts," he said.
If given the opportunity to take a road trip with some of his college buddies, Gunnels says, "A few of us are very big fans of a couple of bands--O.A.R. and Dave Matthews Band--that tour heavily around the nation. If we were to take a road trip, we would probably go to several [of their] concerts."
Academically, Gunnels faces the same challenges that many college age students face. Notably, he is trying to figure out what he wants to do after his collegiate swimming career ends. He is refreshingly honest about his struggles to find an academic pursuit.
"I have been racking my brain for the last two years, he says. "Psychology interests me, so I decided to see where it would take me. Hopefully, I will figure this out in the near future."
He particularly enjoyed Social Psychology, a course he took last semester.
"[It] studies the way that individuals react to everyday situations and, it studies why we do the things that we do. I find this kind of thing very interesting," he said.
In the James Bond movie series, one of Chris's favorites, the title hero is always trying to escape overly elaborate plans to bring him to his demise. Like Bond, Gunnels is always trying to stay ahead of the sharks in the pool. This year, he is using his best Bond impersonation to try to foil the dastardly plans of his competition and, in the process, bring home a MAC swimming title.
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