With his parents alongside, Thomas County Central High School senior swimmer Collin Dillard signs a letter of intent with Berry College on Thursday morning.

THOMASVILLE — Collin Dillard has set a ton of records in his time as a Thomas County Central High School swimmer.

Thursday morning, he logged another first.

Dillard became the first Black swimmer in Central history to sign a national letter of intent, making official his decision to attend and swim at Berry College in Rome.

“It’s a great college, a great campus,” Dillard said of Berry. “Everyone there was amazing. I think it’s a great place.”

During his high school career, Dillard set 29 TCCHS records. He broke his own record nine times.  

He began his swimming career at the Thomasville YMCA and at ATAC, the Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club. 

“He has commuted back and forth to train, sometimes up to six days a week,” said Central head swimming coach Todd Wilson. 

He won the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association 100 yard breaststroke gold medal in 2016 and was on the first swim team at Thomas County Middle School.

Dillard won four varsity letters in swimming and also was a four-year member of the swimming scholar athlete team. He was named outstanding freshman and earned MVP and high-point awards his last two years at TCCHS.

He was also a four-time region champ in the 100 breaststroke and member of several region championship relay teams. Dillard also helped lead the Yellow Jackets to a Region 1-AAAA team championship this year.

Dillard is also graduating with a grade point average above 3.4.

“Not only is Collin an incredible high school athlete,” Wilson said, “he also excels in the classroom.”

Dillard will study environmental science at Berry and expects to swim in the 100 and 200 meter breaststrokes. 

He was recruited by 15 colleges, and his recruiting process has brought newfound attention to the Central swim program. 

“Now these schools are emailing me, texting me and calling me on a weekly basis about our rising seniors, juniors and sophomores,” Wilson said. “Generally, on my cell phone, I don’t answer unknown calls. Now, because of Collin, I have to answer those unknown calls because it could be a college coach. It happened to me twice this past week.”