PEARCY -- A third member of the Lake Hamilton track and field program joined a Division I team on Wednesday when Colby Swecker signed to run in college for the Little Rock Trojans.
"At least he is getting stay maroon," said Lake Hamilton cross country, track and field coach Karl Koonce. "He is going to be a UALR Trojan, along with his old teammate Hunter Tucker."
Tucker is now a sophomore in Little Rock. He and other teammates were in attendance for Swecker's signing ceremony at Wolf Arena.
"I am not going to try to speak for Colby, but I know I can appreciate all of the people that have supported Colby all of this time," Koonce said at the signing. "Colby is a good example of a guy that has come through some tough times and he has come through very strongly."
Swecker was joined by a number of collections of friends, teammates and coaches for pictures during the ceremony.
"I feel like everybody contributed to helping me get here and were a big part of it," Swecker said. "I look at everybody as family to me."
"I cannot wait until next fall to run with the Trojans of Little Rock," Swecker added. "It is a great day."
Swecker did not run cross country in seventh grade. He instead played football and ran track the following spring.
"He has been a motivated and a very competitive person for as long as I have known him," Koonce said.
Swecker began in cross country as an eighth-grader.
"He has been very motivated since then and he has had his eyes on going to college and running track, since he was a freshman, at least," Koonce said.
Koonce recapped Swecker's accomplishments for supporters in attendance. Swecker has earned All-State honors all four years of high school for cross country and made All-State in each of his first three spring track and field seasons.
Swecker won the Class 6A state 1600-meter run at Russellville in May, ran on the winning 4x400-meter relay team and placed fifth in the 800-meter run for 6A champion Wolves. He helped the Wolves capture a sixth consecutive state championship in cross country at Oaklawn Park in November.
"He had a good season and, of course, he helped lead us to another state championship," Koonce said. "That was great. He is a good team guy. He's got his individual goals, but he also cares about the team. And, as you can see, his teammates care about him, as well."
On display at the signing were 106 medals Swecker accumulated at meets.
The state champion 4x400-meter relay team included Arkansas State freshman runner Cody Weldon and Haze Farmer, who committed to Georgia's track and field program last month. Pole vaulter Edie Murray signed a week ago with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Swecker was slowed twice in the past two years by facial surgeries. His junior season was delayed by about six weeks following reconstructive surgery.
A swollen turbinate required another procedure in the middle of his senior season. He missed about three weeks and returned to close the regular season with a time of 16:52.22 in the Lake Hamilton Invitational at Oaklawn on Oct. 13.
"In the regular season, if affected me a lot, but toward the end, I felt better," Swecker said. "In the last week, I felt like I did pretty good."
Swecker won first place in the 5A-South meet on Oct. 25 at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia with a time of 17:12.30. He qualified for the 25th annual Arkansas-Oklahoma All-Star Cross Country meet by placing third in the Class 5A boys' state cross country race at Oaklawn on Nov. 2 at 17:09.30.
"Under the circumstances, it went well," Koonce said of his season. "He had a good meet at the state meet, but his best was the week after that at the All-Star meet. That was his definite peak.
"I'm not sure why. The state was meet was mud and maybe he doesn't do quite as well in the mud, but, the next week, he led the Arkansas team in the Arkansas-Oklahoma championship there."
Swecker's time improved to 16:19.87 on Nov. 10 in Rogers as the top All-Star runner from Arkansas, placing fifth overall. He was joined at the All-Star meet by fellow Lake Hamilton qualifiers Skylar Davis, a senior, and sophomore William Swecker, his brother.
"I think it was better than doing good all season and then doing the same at the All-Star meet," Swecker said. "I did worse all season, and then I overcame all of that and did really good at the All-Star meet. It worked out better than I thought it would."
Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Central Arkansas in Conway and Southern Arkansas in Magnolia were among Swecker's finalists. He recently visited Arkansas State before making the decision last week to sign with Little Rock.
J.P. Behnke is in his first season as the head coach and director of track and field and cross country for the Trojans. Ray Walker is in his third year as the program's head coach for cross country and distance running.
"When I visited Little Rock, I felt most comfortable with the team and the coach," Swecker said. "It was my favorite team out of all of the colleges I visited, and my favorite coach.
"Coach Walker is a great guy. All of the teammates there made it feel like home to me."
Sports on 12/13/2018