SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Ever since she was four years old, Grace Moody has been swimming competitively in the pool. On April 3, 2025, in front of her friends, family, and coaches outside of the Rick Insell Gymnasium at Shelbyville Central, Moody officially signed with the University of Evansville (IN) to take her swimming career to the collegiate level, making history as the first member from the Bedford County Swim Team to swim at the next level.

“Just swimming my whole life, you kind of learn what you want in a team along with what you don’t like, and everything there that I saw I instantly loved,” Moody said.

After a decorated high school career that saw Moody excel both in and out of the water, the superstar swimmer is set to graduate from Shelbyville Central ranked 7th in her graduating class, and she is extremely enthusiastic about starting her academic career in the medical field as well as continuing her swimming career.

“The main thing [about Evansville] was my intended major,” Moody explained. “The first thing when I was looking into Evansville is that they have a really good Exercise Science program – Sports Medicine and Pre-Med which I was looking at – and when I went on an unofficial visit they showed me all their Pre-Med stuff. I just thought it was really cool and I clicked with some of the professors…The medical field has always fascinated me. I guess growing up as an athlete, working with kids – especially athletic children – has always been a thing that I’ve wanted to do.” 

“I’m just kinda seeing where it [Exercise Science] takes me at first; I’m not totally sure yet because I was thinking about physical therapy or sports medicine physician, but I am also trying to work towards being a pediatrician as well so I’m more so keeping my options open by doing exercise science/pre-med so I have some choices and wiggle room.”

“Swim related, I went on my recruitment in September and the team really reminds me of my club team,” Moody continued. “I really like Coach Toby [Wilcox] – he’s playful but can be really serious, and I feel like I clicked almost instantly with the team and their atmosphere. Coming home from Evansville afterwards, I really already knew that’s where I wanted to go.”

“Just swimming my whole life, you kind of learn what you want in a team along with what you don’t like, and everything there that I saw I instantly loved.”

She took her official visit to southwestern Indiana in September of last year after the Purple Aces’ Head Coach, Toby Wilcox, reached out to her earlier in August. Evansville finished seventh in the MVC Championships in late February.

“I was recruited there for sprint freestyle and butterfly, but backstroke is definitely my backup event,” Moody said. “I’ll still swim backstroke races at smaller meets – like little dual meets – but at championship meets, I’ll be a relay [freestyle and medley] swimmer and then I’ll do butterfly and freestyle.”

Moody was a trailblazer in the pool from her earliest days swimming for the Shelbyville Sharks in the summer before finishing her high school career ranked 10th in the entire state of Tennessee, per Swimcloud.

She qualified for the TISCA State Meet all four years, finishing a career-best sixth-place in the 100-yard freestyle and a career-best ninth-place in the 100-yard butterfly. 

Her accomplishments extend beyond the school competitions for the Bedford County Swim Team as she qualified for the Southeastern Swimming Championships for eight-consecutive years. Moody earned top-three finishes in both the 50-yard and 100-yard butterfly events, a fourth-place finish in the 50-yard backstroke, and a 10th-place showing in the 50-yard freestyle. She also has National Club Swimming Association (NCSA) National Cuts across five events to her name including the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle, and 200-yard backstroke.

USA Swimming is divided up into regions, and there are seven states in the southeastern region, including Tennessee. Every event has qualifying times to attend the meet, and Moody started qualifying for them even before she was in high school. 

“It’s the big championship meet for my club team, Excel, and we take a big group down there [Huntsville, AL],” said Moody. 

The NCSA cut-times are even tougher, and this past season, Moody qualified for those five strokes for the first time. Some cut-times do change every year based on how fast the community is as whole, and they are typically made up from how much of a percentage around the country they want to attend. 

“If that percentage gets too high – too many swimmers qualify – they make the times faster.”

Even still, National’s have anywhere from 15 to 17 heats per event as part of a five-day event in Orlando, FL. Comparatively, the Southeastern Championships typically have around nine heats per event.

"Honestly the biggest thing [about Nationals] was just the change in scenery,” Moody explained. “There were so many swimmers there – the security is intense – and it just reminds you of how many people are in the sport. Coming from Shelbyville, it’s sometimes easy to forget that this sport is such a big deal because here it’s not so much and a lot of people don’t know about it, but going to those big national meets you can really see the potential in the sport and the crazy amount of people who put work into swimming and want to see it grow.”

Moody’s personal bests for her main five events are: 55.78 in the 100-yard butterfly, 51.60 in the 100-yard freestyle, 2:02.67 in the 200-yard backstroke, 23.94 in the 50-yard freestyle, and 57.15 in the 100-yard backstroke. Her best two strokes in the 50 long-course meters [olympic pool] best are 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle. 

Outside of the pool, Moody was heavily involved in the Shining Stars Foundation, FCA, National Honors Society, and the SCHS Student Council, with Shining Stars being her primary community service outlet. 

“We would go bowling with some kids, and we would help set up things like dances for them as well just to be able to get out in the community and help out,” Moody said about Shining Stars.

Per its website, the Foundation’s mission is to “transform lives through year-round recreational and social programs for children and their families challenged with pediatric cancer or another life-threatening illness. We provide programs that help these children move past just trying to survive, to thriving and truly living again. We serve not only the child, but their entire immediate family, including siblings and parents.” 

Moody also had to balance training eight times a week with her USA Swimming affiliate in Murfreesboro, Xcel Aquatics.

“It was definitely difficult, but since I started swimming at such a young age, it was kinda just wired in me,” said Moody. “Staying busy helped me because I learned at such a young age how to balance schoolwork and homework and swimming. All my extracurricular activities I usually do at school or during school, so just learning how to balance it at a young age was super important. And then just keeping your priorities straight – church, making sure you’re getting your homework done, and then making sure you still have time to go to practice while maintaining good grades.” 

She started swimming on club teams in Murfreesboro because there was nothing like that here in Shelbyville, beginning with the now-defunct Riverdale Rapids when she was nine years old before joining Xcel  Aquatics at 11 years old. 

“Honestly, to get to where I am now, you kind of have to be on a club team or at least doing some sort of extra training,” Moody explained. “I really loved the sport, and so I knew that I had to do something extra. Driving to Murfreesboro was really the only option because it’s a lot different. The intensity in training is much different, the amount that we train – I practiced eight times a week – and then also the discipline there is intense, not to mention the meets themselves.”

Moody also expressed her gratitude towards everyone associated with Xcel swimming, especially her coaches.

“We’re with each other all the time, and these teams have taught me perseverance and dedication even in spite of failure,” she said. “There’s definitely been times where I wouldn’t perform as well as I wanted, and the coaches have taught me how to deal with failure and disappointment while also teaching me how to deal with success and staying humble.”

“I’ve built such a family at Xcel,” Moody continued. “Brett Hoehn at Riverdale, he kind of set my love for the sport and made me realize that I was pretty good at what I was doing, and then JJ Langhals – my coach now. I have gotten significantly faster the past year. Honestly, it is because of the work that I’ve put in, but it’s also just his attitude – he’s very uplifting and has made such an impact on me and the way that I view the sport in general.” 

“There was a span of about a year or so where I wasn’t really dropping any time, and I got discouraged, but then JJ came to the team and he helped me realize that I am good at what I do. Having a positive mindset really increases performance for sure.”

Moody also made sure to shout out the place where her passion for swimming began at such a young age: the Shelbyville Sharks.

“Those people  on the Sharks are like family. Obviously that’s where I learned to swim in the first place, and so if I didn’t have the Sharks, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she said. “I hope one day that I’ll be able to come back and hopefully give them something and help them out in return.”

Moody is set to move into Evansville in just under three months on August 16, and she’s going in with a wide-open mind on what possibilities await her in Indiana.

“I don’t really have any expectations other than go up there and get my studies done, meet the team, and make lifelong friendships,” she concluded. 

Moody’s coach with the Bedford County Swim Team, Linsy Devlin, released a statement after Moody signed with the Purple Aces in April, closing by praising her legacy and impact left behind here in Shelbyville.

“Known for her relentless work ethic and commitment to her goals, Moody has become a role model both in and out of the water. As she heads to the University of Evansville, Grace Moody leaves behind a legacy of excellence and a trailblazing path for future swimmers in Bedford County. Congratulations, Grace—you've made a splash that won’t be forgotten.”