Campus celebrity: Luke Burton
Year: Senior
Hometown: Kennesaw, Georgia
Relationship Status: Single
Celebrity Crush: Does it have to be a girl? Because it’s Matthew McConaughey…I have a weird obsession. So have you seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Well he’s kind of creepy in it. He’s an old guy that hangs out a high school, but his acting is insane! He’s just a smooth guy. And you know those Lincoln commercials with him? I want a drive a Lincoln one day.
What’s the weirdest moment that you’ve had either at swim practice or a swim meet?
We were at a meet in Ohio and we had a 4 hour break and usually people try to sleep, but we couldn’t go back to the hotel so we slept at the bottom of a cold, cement, stairwell—it was like penguins huddling for warmth. One of those moments where social norms just go out the window.
Was it always your goal to get to this point?
Not all. I swam in the summer swimming league when I was younger, but it was never competitive. I started swimming my sophomore year of high school. Swimming was really the last resort. I tried every other sport and failed at them. So I went with swimming as long as I didn’t have to throw or catch anything. My goals as swimmer have been last minute. Really, last year there was this one practice that I was at and one of my coaches came up to me and told me that I should consider staying over the summer to practice for trials.
Who were the first people you told?
So you have to get a qualifying time so I panned my summer so I had a meet to go to at the end of the summer. I took two of my friends who are also on the swim team, Trey Harris and Riley League, to this meet in California. They were cheering me on and the first ones to know, but I called my dad first and he was so excited. I actually had a really bad meet. I woke up that morning and I couldn’t see anything. My eyes clouded over and it felt like someone was stabbing me in the eyes. I went to the doctor because the pain was so bad and he told me that chlorine had gotten in between my eye and my contact. So I went back the next day and competed in the 50 free which I hadn’t trained for, but I thought I’d do it for fun since I was already there and I got the cut!
What are you doing after this/Davidson?
Originally, I would have been done in February, but not my season has extended to mid-July so I’ll be here training. There’s a team called MAC that has a group of Olympians that train so they let me train with them.
Looking back on Davidson, what stood out to you? Good moments, bad moments? (Sorry, I know that’s the last thing you want to hear)
The thing that stands out the most isn’t a practice or a meet, it wasn’t a single accomplishment, but a strange sense of camaraderie that you build with people when you suffer with them every day. It was this brotherhood and sisterhood with my teammates. Davidson is a hard place to be no matter what you’re doing here. To say that I am a D1 athlete and I put time in here is something that I’m proud of.
Alright, so the question that I had been waiting to ask but was very hesitant about…Shaving? What’s the deal with that? You have to do it right?
Luke chuckled and said “Yes bring it on, I love questions about shaving”. It’s actually really connected with the way that I sympathize with the female gender if that makes sense? I really feel for you guys, shaving sucks! We only shave once a year and we need to be completely shaven for four days. It takes forever and we have to do everything—armpits, toes, hands…everything. But you know that feeling after you shave and you get into bed and it’s just soft? (yes, yes I do) that’s just great, but when it grows out a little and you put jeans it sucks. Not a good feeling. (ladies, he knows all too well). And for guys, since we grow out our hair so much, we have to trim it first and then shave it so it takes about three hours. A bunch of us get together and just shave (it’s a shaving party!) yeah, another time where social norms just go out the window.