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Shawn Lemarie, a Paul Yetter product from T2 Aquatics in Naples, Florida, has elected to swim for George Washington University. Lemarie gave the Colonials his verbal commitment “because it was one of the top schools in the country for my chosen major, International Affairs, and I have always loved a city lifestyle, which is perfect because George Washington is a city campus. I also love the team and coaches and think I can compete at a high level in the A10 conference.”
Lemarie is primarily a mid- to long-distance freestyler. His best times over the last two seasons include:
| SCY | LCM | |
| 100 free | 47.34 | 53.69 |
| 200 free | 1:40.24 | 1:54.69 |
| 500/400 free | 4:29.36 | 4:06.78 |
| 1000/800 free | 9:24.48 | 8:27.28 |
| 1650 free | 15:44.78 | 16:24.10 |
| 200 fly | 1:50.96 | 2:12.41 |
| 200 IM | 1:55.75 | 2:17.09 |
| 400 IM | 4:03.22 | 4:42.36 |
Lemarie is a nice pick-up for first-year coach James Winchester. His best 500 free would have placed him in the “A” final at 2015 Atlantic-10 Conference Championships, and would have made him the fifth-fastest on the Colonials’ all-time list. Similarly, Lemarie’s 1650 would have scored fifth at conference, and second on GWU’s all-time list.
Lemarie may not have scratched the surface of his true potential yet. Over the last several years, he has been besieged by injury. As he explained to SwimSwam: “ I can honestly say that every year I’ve been swimming, since 8th grade, I have received some form of major injury or illness that has had me out for weeks that I have come back from. In eighth grade I had torn my right bicep tendon in an ill-fated attempt at one arm pull-up; in addition to that I tore off the top half of my thumb climbing a fence and was out for 3 months. In freshman year I’d gotten mono in December and was out for a month; sophomore year, thankfully, I was spared; junior year I had a bacterial infection in my digestive tract and I was out for another month, and twenty pounds lighter for it. It was not always easy, but I have always come back and have gotten faster.”
A senior at Naples High School, Lemarie is a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American. He was named 2014 Naples Daily News boys swimmer of the year after winning the Florida High School 2A title in the 500 free and placing fourth in the 200 free last November. The previous season, Lemarie had finished second in the 500 by seven one hundredths, so his 2014 victory by twenty four one hundredths of a second was all the more satisfying. Lemarie told SwimSwam, “I’m hoping to win both my events in high school states this year. Our school has been moved to 3A this year and it will be tougher. In addition to dropping a lot of time in my 500 and 200 yard freestyle, both which are long overdue due to my illness last winter, I also want to make a really good showing at Winter Juniors and Senior Champs.”
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