Westfield’s Carson Swanson was named High School on Sports Illustrated’s National Boys Athlete of the Week for Jan. 6-12. Photo courtesy of Jason Bower

Back on Jan. 6, Westfield senior Carson Swanson thrust himself into pretty elite company when he threw down a dunk for his 2,000th career point.

All Swanson has done since then is win more games for the Wolverines and climb his way toward the top of the Section VI all-time scoring list.

Acknowledging his terrific week, Swanson was nominated for the High School on Sports Illustrated National Boys Athlete of the Week.

On Wednesday, the voting results came in and they were not particularly close with Swanson receiving 43.22% of the nearly 55,000 votes to earn the honor of Player of the Week for Jan. 6-13.

“The thing that made it special to us was the community support,” Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson said about the honor. “Our athletic director Neil Huber contributed to promoting it and to get that many thousands of votes, that’s what made it pretty cool.”

“The dunk made it special,” Coach Swanson added about reaching 2,000 points. “He found a little path through the wing there and got one down. We think he knew he needed two more and found a special way to get it.”

While Swanson’s name captured national headlines this week, he has been working his entire career etching his name into the history of Western New York basketball.

The Westfield senior currently sits at 2,137 career points, which has him just 247 points away from the Western New York record set by Jaiden Harrison last year at Bishop Timon with 2,384.

Scoring at his season average over the final six games of the regular season, Swanson would find himself at 2,328 points entering the playoffs. He then would need just 56 points in the postseason for the record.

“It just comes along with how he’s prepared himself,” Coach Swanson said about Carson nearing the Western New York scoring record. “It’s never been something you can make a goal along the lines of being a team sport, he plays the right way, his assist numbers are high. He’s just physically worked on his body, he’s done his work in the weight room, he gets hit a lot and he’s prepared for that.”

The current Chautauqua County record holder is Jamestown’s Maceo Wofford, who reached 2,258. With six games remaining, Swanson should eclipse that mark before the playoffs.

However, while records are fine that is not the goal of this Westfield team it is just an added bonus.

Currently the Westfield Wolverines are the No. 2 team in the state at Class C and stack up as arguably the best team during Swanson’s career, including the team his freshman year that won the Section VI Class D title.

Along with Swanson, fellow senior Zach Maguire provides a second scoring threat with great height. Juniors Lincoln Thomas and Grant Beadle add more depth scoring that will be needed deeper in the playoffs.

“The team is on a win streak similar to what we had a few years ago even throughout our league,” Coach Swanson said in comparison to the 2021-22 team. “But this team, a high percentage of the guys have put in time. Over the summer with our camp and extra time in the gym, they’ve worked to achieve what they’ve attained.”

Swanson has the opportunity to accomplish all of these goals and it can be done surrounded by his family with his dad at the helm as the coach and again with a brother. In Carson’s freshman year he was able to capture a sectional title with his older brother Darien in his senior season. Now, as a senior himself, Carson is joined by his younger brother Braylon, a freshman on the Westfield squad.

“A blessed occurrence,” Coach Swanson said about having two sons playing on the same team again. “They’re definitely the three years apart. Being the father of a freshman playing, the kid has to go out there and prove he belongs. Bray’s had a couple of cool assists for a dunk and Carson a couple of assists kicking back for a 3.”

No matter how the season ends for Carson Swanson he has already cemented himself with one of the best careers in Western New York history.

“Carson gets a lot of individual attention,” Coach Swanson stated. “And sometimes it’s a little much, but he’s a unique player. He’s almost had 30 dunks this year, it’s very exciting, it makes our gym a very exciting place to be.”