Sought Out Seniors

 It’s a new semester, and with that comes more college recruitments for senior athletes. Here are some of your fellow panthers that have committed to colleges for sports.

 Megan White

Recruited for: track and field

Committed to: Concordia University

Sports career: Began running in seventh grade

Achievements: running the Simplot Meet in Idaho, the Dream Indor Meet in Fresno and the Stanford Invitational.

“I like running with other people who have a passion for the sport and have created many friendships throughout my years at Pres.”

Katy Tagart

Recruited for: volleyball

Committed to: University of the Pacific

Sports Career: Began playing in seventh grade.

Achievements: Took third at the Junior Olympics last summer

“I love playing in big matches under pressure. Nothing compares to the feeling of winning a big match with your team.”

 Tori Tsolis

Recruited for: track and field

Committed to: UC Santa Barbara

Sports Career: Has been playing since age 7.

Achievements: 800M WCAL champion freshman and sophomore year, 1600M WCAL champion junior year.

“ What I enjoy most about cross country and track is the team atmosphere. Running seems like an individual sport, but it really takes the support from your entire team to succeed.”

Track Overview

As the track and field team changes every year, one thing stays the same: the Presentation Panthers have always done what they could with the small number of people available. They finished this season with a well deserved 3-3-0 record below the top three of Archbishop Mitty, Saint Francis, and Saint Ignatius, respectively.
With a tough season that featured many injuries, the long distance section of the Panther’s team still came out undefeated. Although the sprinting section did not finish off as well, junior Allison Bajet, whose best time in the 100-meter is 12.9 seconds, said,
“The individual races within the team really help build confidence because usually, when someone goes into a race thinking they are going to win and they lose, they can’t get out of the mental downspin. I like that little competition within the team. The races really help you learn that while you lose a few, you win a few. Your teammates make you go faster and strive to become better.” Bajet took part in many of the relays for Varsity this year, improving considerably since the first practice after coming out of her junior varsity soccer.
With all of the help this year from seven coaches and the volunteer coach for pole vaults, the athletes kept their heads ups with the wins and losses. Still, according to Coach Chris Cozort, consistent attendance at practices and meets remained a challenge.  “Mr. Cooling encourages athletes to participate in multiple sports at Pres, which helps our programs by spreading the school’s athletic ability around to multiple teams,” said Cozort, who will be leaving Presentation at the end of the year to work at Bellarmine. “Many athletes unfortunately choose to participate in club sports outside of Pres which has a generally negative impact on school sports participation.”
Overall, the team had a good year with many personal bests and young freshmen and sophomores making a difference. With this said, next year is expected to break new heights. With the size of Presentation, it is tricky to form a strong team overall, but Cozort believes we can do it. “We want the caliber team, which is easier to find in a bigger group of students, but we’ve assembled some great, strong, quick runners even with endurance. There will be a young team out there next year.”