All-American swimmer Shea Furse
MERHS Swimmer Earns Coveted All-American Nod
As one of the top swimmers to ever attend Manchester Essex Regional High School and Middle School, Shea Furse has seen her fair share of, “firsts.” As in, first-place finishes. Whether it was with her club team or with the MERHS swim team, Furse was always a force to be reckoned with in the water, constantly beating out the competition as she strove for better and better times.
The MERHS graduate’s latest first, however, is an achievement that takes her to another level.
Furse is the first MERHS student athlete to earn nods as a High School All-American from the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association in the 200 free and 500 free events. Ranked as the 50th best swimmer in the 200 and 63rd best in the 500 free in the entire country as she heads into college, she also was named a 2021-22 Scholastic All-American by USA Swimming this past week.
“To be ranked in the top 50 nationally for the 200-yard event is an incredible accomplishment,” explains MERHS Athletic Director Cameron Molinare. “This just speaks to Shea’s relentless work ethic and dedication to the sport. Shea's countless hours spent in the pool refining her craft are the reason she has been able to achieve such a high level of success. It’s been an absolute pleasure watching her compete and break records in both the 200 and 500 events over the past year.”
“Being an All-American is a big deal,” says Furse. “In a way, you’re recognized as one of the top high school athletes in the country, reaching that specific swimming time with specific swimming time standards, you have to meet all of that in order to be an All-American. It’s pretty different, a higher level of swimming. You have to be pretty fast to make those times.”
She adds: “When I achieved that, I was super-happy. It’s a nice way to finish my high school career, with something cool like that.”
Trying for and achieving All-American status was something Furse first focused on before the start of her senior year at MERHS, a notion that was introduced by her mother, Donna.
“This past year, it was a new thing for me to be thinking of,” explains Furse. “I didn’t even know what it was. Then my mom brought it up and said, ‘This is something cool, you should try to strive for it.’ I thought, ‘I’m going to make that my goal this season.’ I didn’t even know that no one at Manchester had actually done it before.”
Achieving All-American status is something that friends and role models from other areas had accomplished, and that fact helped to drive Furse to further explore that avenue. She lists Maggie Summit (who swims for University of Minnesota) and Amuan Lilia (an All-American swimmer for University of Michigan) as mentors, role models and friends who accomplished the same feat at the same age.
“This was something a lot of my role models did, and I wanted to do it as well,” says Furse.
With her high school career now complete, Furse is taking a few weeks to rest up before jumping into the deep end of the pool and competing in Div. 1 Swimming at the collegiate level at the University of Georgia. Furse is currently undecided, but is weighing business or psychology as a major once she gets settled. She heads to Georgia in mid-August and begins captains’ practices for the Bulldogs that first week.
“I wanted to go to a school in a competitive conference, and the SEC [Southeastern Conference] has incredible competition from Alabama, Tennessee and Florida – those are all top schools in the country for swimming,” explains Furse about her choice to head to Georgia after earning a spot on the swim team. “I wanted to go to a school where it was warm, and when I visited my junior year, I fell in love with it and wanted to go. I love the big-school aspect, that it’s a big football school.”
The Bulldogs will be getting a hard-working, driven and talented athlete from Cape Ann, who should help them stay competitive in the SEC.
“Immediately upon introduction, I knew Shea was a special student-athlete,” explains Molinare. “Shea's remarkable talent combined with her ambition, strong work-ethic, and willingness to help others along the way is her legacy at MERHS. Shea was a leader, role model, and exceptional teammate.”
