Pasadena Memorial senior Swazi Gurnell has a shot at Olympic Glory. This isn’t his first time either. Gurnell made his first Junior Olympic debut as an eighth grade student.
The now 17-year-old just wrapped his second JO season and is setting his sights on something even bigger.
Gurnell finished his junior year strong competing in the District 22 6A Track and Field Championships and breaking Memorial’s discus throwing record of 143’8 set back in 2008. The record to beat today is now 146’3”. After taking home first place in the District Championships, Gurnell qualified for shotput and discus in Regionals.
Prior to finding his footing in track & field, Gurnell started out on the gridiron, playing pee-wee football, which carried him all the way through his junior year. As he enters his final season at Memorial, Gurnell will focus solely on shotput and discus.
Not only is Swazi a superstar athlete, but he’s also a high-achieving scholar as well. In addition to his athleticism, Gurnell is a dual credit and advanced placement student. In his spare time, he enjoys capturing moments of life, love, lessons and laughter through his camera lens. Gurnell is the Founder and Creative Director of GImages4Life, a digital media company that provides unique photography, video production, film and editing services.
He even extends his talents to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at school, and to his church family, where he is a volunteer member of the Media Ministry.
Between his extracurriculars and academics, he is a standout amongst recruiters. He hasn’t decided on where he will go to school upon graduation, but he has hinted at attending The University of North Carolina A&T, a top achieving Historically Black College and University (HBCU), known for its academics, education abroad programs and athletics.
He has also expressed interest in attending the University of Houston and Brown University to study Media and Communications.
When asked, “what would you tell your younger self – the one who first attended the Junior Olympics in eighth grade?”, Gurnell replied, “Trust the process. Don’t try to rush it.”
To learn more about Gurnell’s love of media, visit Work — GImages4Life