Toast of the Coast: Socastee’s Harwell earns gold, top swimmer honor

Walker Harwell wasn’t going to let his chances at a state title slip twice.

The Socastee freshman held on in a tight race to win the 100 breaststroke at the Class AAA state championships to secure his first state title.

The victory – which helped earned him The Sun News’ Toast of the Coast Boys Swimmer of the Year honor – came not long after a sixth-place finish in the 100 freestyle in which he slipped off the blocks.

“He had a certain psychological obstacle at that point,” Braves coach Jay Preslar said. “Everybody noticed it. They said, ‘What happened to Walker on the start?’ He had to come back from that knowing he had an issue [in the first race]. That’s a small thing but I think it shows his ability to focus mentally and focus on the next event and let that one go and he did that very well.”

Harwell, who was seeded third in the event, was the lone swimming state champ from the Grand Strand this season.

“It felt amazing because I knew I could place high, but I knew it was going to be tough because there were a lot of older seniors I’d be competing against and I knew they’d make it a challenge for me,” he said. “When I saw first place by my name on the scoreboard I was ecstatic, I couldn’t believe it.”

Harwell also was part of the Braves’ 200 freestyle relay team that placed sixth and the 200 medley relay that finished eighth, helping Socastee to a school-record 10th-place finish.

“If you’ve got somebody you know who is going to step up in a relay, we’ll put him last, or anywhere we need to put pressure up on other teams,” Preslar said of having an athlete of Harwell’s caliber. “He’s going to step up in relays and he’s going to go fast. You know he’s going to perform well. … It helps the other guys if they know somebody will finish extremely strong, they’re going to finish incredibly strong.”

Harwell credited his coach and teammates for helping him reach his individual successes, and he is setting the bar high going into next year.

“I’m just going to try to keep improving on my times and get them faster,” Harwell said. “I’m going to try to set the state record, if not next year, my junior year … hopefully try to pull out a few more state titles [also].”