Q&A with Tommy Inwood

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Junior Tommy Inwood and the No. 11 Virginia men’s swimming and diving team welcome Princeton and Virginia Tech for a two-day meet this weekend at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. There will be three sessions spread out over two days, beginning at 11 a.m. Friday. Inwood recently caught up with VirginiaSports.com to talk about the men’s most recent dual meet with Navy, his goals for the season and his involvement in the UVa ROTC program.

Question: How would you sum up the Navy meet?
Inwood: It was definitely really emotional. We were all feeling sad and upset for Fran and Claire (Crippen) and we just wanted to swim well to honor both of them. We just put Fran’s initials on our chests and we just swam our best for him. We swam really well and everyone did awesome. I think he was really proud.

Question: With Florida too, that’s two solid meets. A good way to start the year?
Inwood: Absolutely, the Florida meet was crazy. It was an awesome meet, and surprising. We knew we could stand toe-to-toe with them but beating them was definitely really cool.

Question: What are the goals for you personally this season? Do you have some set things you want to accomplish?
Inwood: Yeah, I definitely need to try and make the ACC scoring team again. I made that last year for my first time.

Question: What’s your favorite event to swim?
Inwood: 200 IM. It’s my best event and it’s kind of quick. Doing all four strokes, two lengths of each, it goes by quickly. It’s kind of like a sprint each stroke and switch, and I really like it.

Question: Why did you choose to come to Virginia?
Inwood: I came to Virginia for the brotherhood on the swim team. I really liked all the guys and how it was a family on the team. And then obviously the rest of the package: the campus, the academics, the swim team was great. It was just the all around package. It really sold me.

Question: What is your major?
Inwood: I’m majoring in chemistry. I think eventually I will go into medicine, maybe look into physical therapy. If not that I may pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Question: What about your involvement in the ROTC program?
Inwood: I’ve actually never considered being in the Army until my second year in the fall when I got the idea from a friend. I was basically just trying to do it to get medical school paid for. I was looking into it and then I got the idea to just get my third and fourth year paid for. So after talking to (women’s swimmer) Kristen Moores who’s in ROTC already, I looked into both the Navy and Army. I decided to try it out in the spring, and I really liked it. So I stuck with it, and they sent me to a program over the summer at Fort Knox for four weeks, a mini boot camp, to catch me up on the two years that I missed. It was a big change, but it was awesome.

Question: What do you like to do for fun?
Inwood: I don’t have much free time but I just like to relax, watch TV, movies, play video games, hang out with the guys.

Question: What’s your favorite spot on Grounds?
Inwood: I’d definitely say the Lawn. I hope to never reach a point in my life where I walk by it and take it for granted.