The lights are bright, and the atmosphere is buzzing as Grey Davis prepares to take to the water on the biggest stage of her life. She never thought she would be in this position in her 9th grade year—participating in the 2021 Omaha Olympic Trials. She certainly didn’t expect to be preparing for another Olympic Trials appearance just a few years later.

Davis began her competitive swimming career at age 5 with the Jefferson Swim League. At 7, she began swimming year-round for the Virginia Gators. “When I first started Gators, I said I wasn’t going to go to any meets and I was hardly going to practice,” Davis said. “Then, I guess [my coach] convinced me to go to my first meet and I loved it, and I just started going to every single one that I could.”

Growing up, Davis dabbled in a few other sports, but swimming presented itself as the clear favorite. “I did gymnastics, horseback riding—girly sports. But by the time I was 9 or so, I had quit everything and it was just swimming.”

Gradually, she fell in love with the sport. “I don’t know if there was ever really a moment, I just kept swimming and was enjoying it,” she said. “It was exciting, and it pushed me to keep trying to have higher goals and make bigger and better meets.”

Davis’ motivation was also significantly influenced by her older brother, Walker (AHS ‘21). “He’s probably one of the biggest reasons that I swim. He did it, and I wanted to be like him and do everything he did,” she said. “I was always in his lanes at practice, trying to keep up with him.”

Her brother, who now swims at UNC Chapel Hill, didn’t just have an impression on her—he was an encouraging presence as well. “A lot of the time, especially on Gators, it was just him and I at meets,” Davis said. “He was probably one of my biggest supporters; he pushed me to do what I’m doing.”

In 2021, Davis’ freshman year, her hard work paid off. In the 100m butterfly, she qualified for the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. This sparked many feelings, “…mainly excitement and being proud of what I put in actually resulting in something big.”

As the sole swimmer present from her team, Davis only had her coach as company. “It was really, really scary,” she said. “It was the biggest pool I’d ever swam in before, and I didn’t know many people, so at prelims I was terrified.”

Still, she was able to enjoy it. “I made TikToks with some of the girls behind the blocks, and that was the only way to calm my nerves and ignore everything going on.”

In the trials, she made it to finals in her wave (trials were separated into waves as a result of COVID), but finished seventh in the next heat and didn’t advance.

Now, in her senior year, Davis has qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, which will take place on June 15-23. Despite her previous success however, qualification this time around wasn’t an easy path. Davis described it as a huge relief.

As the qualification crept up on her, she wasn’t entirely positive she was going to make it. “I went through a rough spot sophomore year, and haven’t really been back to where I was freshman year at all since then,” she said. “But, the last meet of the season I went into it and made up my mind that I was going to do it, so I was definitely very excited to have done it again.”

With the qualifying time being 1:00.19, she again qualified in the 100m butterfly, with a time of 1:00.15.

“I am tremendously proud of the way Grey has gone through the process of achieving greatness,” AHS swimming head coach JJ Bean said via email. “She has had her ups and downs, but has always been resilient and persistent to believe in herself and bounce back better!”

Davis is entering this year’s trials with a low-pressure mindset, her greatest hope just being to have a good time. “This year, all the Olympians will be there, so I’m definitely not making finals or anything, but I just want to go and have fun and get photos with fast swimmers,” she said. “I’m hoping to make another cut, but for the actual meet I’m just going to go see what I can do, so no crazy expectations.”

Training-wise, she’s maintaining the priority of enjoying what she loves. “Freshman year, my training was definitely a lot harder. It was COVID, so I didn’t really have anything else to do, so I never missed a practice during that time,” she said. “I was on a different team, and that team was a lot bigger and a lot more pressure-filled. This year, on my new team, it was just more fun-filled, which made me want to go [to Olympic Trials], but it wasn’t as intense as freshman year.”

Additionally, she made a huge commitment in September 2022, committing to a full scholarship to attend and swim at Northwestern. “It got added to my list by my dad. I didn’t really know anything about it. I started talking to the coaches and did some research on it and really liked it, but it probably wasn’t at the top of my list until I visited and it was just absolutely gorgeous,” she said.

“I got there early and went out to the beach with my family and just loved it. Then, I met the coaches, and they were all so sweet. I think once I got there, I definitely knew. I committed the day after my trip.”

In terms of the future, she has clear goals. “I’m hoping to go to NCAA [tournaments] hopefully all four years, and win the Big Ten,” she said. “The next [Olympic] trials is right after I graduate college, so I want to go to that and then I’ll be done.”

While she might be finished with competitive swimming after university, Davis has left a lasting local legacy. “Grey has reinforced to me, and hopefully others, that with great fundamentals, a strong work ethic, and a positive mindset that people can achieve what they strive for,” Bean said.

For young, aspiring swimmers and athletes hoping to experience similar success, her advice is to “keep having fun with it and don’t put too much pressure on yourself, especially at a young age. That can ruin the sport, and it’s a lot of work—you don’t want to burn out.”

This story was originally published on The Revolution on February 14, 2024.