Richard Caldwell, former head coach of the football program said, “Overall [the freshmen] are hard workers with a lot of potential.  The key is to stay together and the way [they] do that is by keeping [their] grades up.”

Freshman this year have been known for their dedication and skill in the sports they play, and have been standouts from the very beginning. Due to their ages, mostly between 13-15, the newest members of Gregori High School have been doing extremely well, and a number of freshmen teams have had winning seasons already.

Tanner Goudeau,  the freshman quarterback for the football team said, “The freshman athletes are doing so good because we are able to work together, we have a good work ethic, and we all work hard off the field and in the classroom.” The freshman football team’s record does seem to support that, with a 7 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie.

Along with Goudeau, freshman athletes like Garret Ingle (varsity golf) and Lacey Fitzgerald (JV soccer) have been influencing the program from the bottom up.

Ingle said, “[Varsity golf] is different from what I’m used to playing. It was just something that took a while to get used to.” Ingle has adjusted well to the new level of play, and is having fun playing alongside his teammates.

Athletes like Fitzgerald, who is captain of the JV girls soccer team as well as their goalie, are accountable for more than themselves on the field. She said, “My biggest responsibility with this team would be keeping the girls motivated to work work together in order to succeed.”

Maybe the school is going to have to wait until the freshmen are juniors and seniors to become a real powerhouse for the overall sports program. Or maybe we do just have to wait until we have seniors next year. It’s a total toss up right now, only time will tell. One thing’s for sure though, these freshmen are a force to be reckoned with.

“It’s swimming time,” she thinks to herself as she focuses her thoughts, like an archer taking aim at a bullseye.

“Swimmers on your mark,” the loudspeaker says.

Britton’s head snaps up and stares into the reflecting water. The buzzer sounds and she’s in the water before the silence befalls the pool again.

“No breaths on this lap,” Britton thinks to herself as she shoots ahead of the competition, “focus.”

Nothing crosses her mind except making sure she is ahead of the girl in lane three.

“When I get in the water, I get to forget about everything about school, everything about life, and just swim,” Britton said in a later interview.

And swim she did. Swam to a first place finish in the 200 yard individual medley. Swam to a triumphant victory in the 100 yard butterfly. And even swam her relay team, respectively, to a win in the 200 medley relay as the anchor , the finishing swimmer, all in one meet against Johansen on March 9. But she’s not leaving her relay team in the dust, she wants to go all the way with these girls.

“My goal for this year is to get to sections as a relay team,” Britton said. “They’re a great bunch of girls and it’d be awesome if we could make it that far.”

After high school sections, college qualifying is the next step.

“I’d say a good goal for me in college would be to be a top qualifier for NCAA 2A,” Britton said.

Although the main goal is qualifying in college, that is a stepping stone to the ultimate dream.

“Well, when you join other sports, the ultimate goal is to reach the pro level,” said Britton. “Like when you’re in basketball, you say ‘I really wanna get to the NBA.’ So in swimming that ultimate goal is reaching the Olympics.”

Britton said that although her dreams reach as far as the Olympics, it is a stretch.

“The thing about the Olympics is they only take the top two in every event,” said Britton,“That’s the top two swimmers in all of America. So unless I’m extremely close to the qualifying times as a senior in college, I don’t know if it’s going to happen.”

What could put her ahead of the pack is having ten summers, three full years, of swimming training under her belt. But even if she doesn’t make it, her favorite part of swimming isn’t winning.

“I like the social aspect of being on the swim team,” said Britton. “I get to leave the school and go to swim practice, forget about school and life, and just swim with my friends.”

Diver Cammi Baumann, a varsity freshman diver, was up to the board. She performed 6 dives at the meet. Her finishing dive was a front somersault half twist.

Six girls took the board at the Davis meet on March 16th. Taking a look back into last year’s season, only two girls stepped up to the board. The team has now tripled in size.

“I think more girls came out this year because it’s a great sport. You compete individually so it’s not necessarily a team sport more an individual,” said sophomore Elizabeth Murdock.

Just the diver and the board.

Diving allows the girls to attempt new complicated dives. They say, you never know if your dive will work out. Diving is a cross between a water sport, and it takes place in the pool but the tricks need skill and flexibility.

Baumann scored well with the judges. She placed 3rd.

3 judges determine each diver’s placement at a district meet. The judges rate the dive on a scale from 1-10, then add up the scores and the total of that is multiplied by a number, which is determined by the difficulty level of your dive.

“I’m just really happy that I’m competing with the other girls. I’m proud that I’m learning new dives and actually doing them right,” said Baumann.

At the Davis meet, the wind was blowing strong and the rain was falling. The divers stayed strong and determined despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions. The team had a tie for first with junior Kristine Paulson tying with the best diver in our MMC.  Cammi Baumann took 3rd.

“Tying one of the best divers was a great accomplishment for me,” said Paulson.

“Run your own race, run your own race.”

Her only opponent was the clock. No need to rush? Hardly. She could feel the intensity in the air and see her opponent just ahead of her but her head was nowhere else accept taking the next step.

Her pregame warm-up isn’t much different. She jogs alone, oblivious to everything else. Her head slowly clears of distracting thoughts. She stretches alone, slowly reaching towards the ground and feeling that pull in her hamstring.

Now her head was in the race, and there were just 200 meters of track left to conquer. Now comes the hard part: the kick. She took another deep breath and felt that surge of energy earned from months of workouts. This was the moment, almost at the finish line with that last ounce of energy driving her legs toward her destination. She bolted forward, eager to reach the finish line and stop the burning in her lungs.

Roland placed second in this race against Enochs and was ranked 5th in the county as of April 5. In her first year running the 800 meter race, she has already shown her potential and lead the girls varsity team to an undefeated record, an impressive feat for a second year school.

“Once I got out there and did [the 800], I started to like it because I was succeeding in it, and now it’s my main race,” said Roland.

Roland said her success in the 800 has many reasons, one of the dominant ones being her time in another sport this year.

“Last year I was mainly a sprinter, but I got approached by one of the coaches for cross country,” Roland said. “So I decided to run it this year and I think it really helped me get my stamina up and be able to run those longer races.”

Although they challenge her physically and mentally, Roland said that the races are by far her favorite part of track.

“Every race I just try and go out there and PR (personal record) and just run as hard as I can,” Roland said.

One race in particular was that race against Enochs High School.

“That race was really intense,” Roland said. “I knew their top runner was really fast but I didn’t run her race, I still ran my own race and I’m happy with how I did.”

Even though it’s been a lot of hard work, Roland said that track has been a lot of fun.

“This year on track has been amazing,” she said. “It’s been a great experience with our varsity girls going undefeated and I think next year will be even better.”