Catching Up With Freshman Chris Lawrence
4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Freshman Chris Lawrence (Chemistry/Austintown, Ohio) gives YSUsports.com an update in this Q&A session.
What is your current location?
I'm currently still here in Youngstown without many of my teammates.
How are you keeping your mind on swimming?
To keep my mind on swimming my younger brother (who is also a competitive swimmer) and I analyze videos of ourselves swimming and critique them.
What are you doing to stay in shape (working out, running)?
To stay in shape I've been biking lately and lifting some weights since I can't swim with the local pools closing.
How have you looked at things differently in the past few weeks?
The past couple of weeks have been pretty interesting given the circumstances, but lately I feel like I've turned into a germaphobe wiping everything down and avoiding close contact with people.
What is going to be the toughest thing about not physically going to class?
The toughest thing about not going to class is simply that. I miss walking through our campus every weekday and being able to see my peers.
How has dealing with the current circumstances brought your team together?
Well for one thing, it sure makes some of us appreciate being able to see each other every day after realizing how much we miss it.
What makes you most excited for next year?
What makes me most excited is being able to see our team grow. And those of us that have been here have more experience now and I believe this team will be able to crush more goals than we already have.
What do you enjoy the most about being at YSU?
What I enjoy most about being at YSU is that this is my hometown and I take a lot of pride in it! There's nothing as great as watching this university expand and grow over the years and now getting to be a part of it.
What do you want or need to improve upon the most?
One area I'd like to see improvement is obviously swimming. Last year, being my first year back in the water in over a year, I feel like I caught up on a lot of what I missed. However, I feel like there is more time for me to drop next year.
How often do you FaceTime your teammates? What do you guys talk about?
Lately I've been in facetiming and communicating with my teammates a lot since we don't see each other face to face nearly everyday like we have.
Have you learned anything about yourself during this?
I've learned that I was never home too much prior to school shutting down.
What are your hobbies and interests outside of your sport?
Outside of my sport I spend a lot of time with my friends or working on cars.
If you weren't a swimmer or diver, what sport would you like to do?
This is a tough one. I've always been a fan of hockey and would have looked into that if I wasn't a competive swimmer.
Any interesting story about yourself you would like to share?
An interesting story, I almost didn't graduate from high school because I didn't wear pants at commencement. Long story short, it was commencement and I wore shorts instead of dress pants and by doing so I violated dress code for the first time in my high school career which nearly prevented me from walking during commencement.
Who on your team has organized any kind of group chats?
Many swimmers have started multiple group chats. In fact there are so many I lose track.
Who is the funniest person on the team?
Without a doubt my guy Charlie Quinn. That guy can effortlessly get me to crack a smile.
Who is the smartest person on the team?
My man Zach (Tomasic) is by far one of the most knowledgeable people I know. He can rattle out facts about a little bit of anything and everything without effort. He's also great at math!
Who is the toughest person on the team?
My dawg Nolan (Dennes) is as tough as they come. In fact I'm pretty sure he eats bowls of nails for breakfast…without any milk.
Who was the most improved member of the team during 2019-20?
I'm not sure who had the most improvement over our 2019-2020 season but I know the whole team overall had big improvements in and out of the water!
