MALE
Zach Clark, Columbus East senior track athlete
Clark won the shot put with a throw of 49 feet, 8 1/2 inches at the Hoosier Hills Conference meet to lead the Olympians to a fourth-place team finish. He also tied a school weightlifting record with a 365-pound clean on Saturday.
His performance last week: “I’m pretty happy about it. It’s what we’ve been working for. It’s one of those steppingstones, looking to improve every week. Last week’s done with, and right now, we’re looking forward to sectional.”
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Do you do anything special to prepare? “I just kid of like to go at it like any other day. We lift in the morning, and I don’t really like to change up my routine a whole lot.”
Favorite drink: “Chocolate milk after a workout”
Favorite food: “Pasta, a lot of carbs, especially earlier in the morning before lifting”
Favorite book: “Catch 22”
Favorite class: “AP Physics”
Role model: “I’d say I’ve looked up to my older brother (Jared) a lot, especially with academics and especially athletics, with him being All-State (last year) and playing in college now. That was something I looked forward to compete with his reputation.”
Best advice: “Stick with what’s fun and find something that really makes you happy, something you really enjoy, and just take that opportunity and be able to run with it and do the most you can with whatever that might be.”
Athletics goal: “I’m going to retry my power clean and try to get 370, and then also looking forward to college (playing football at University of Indianapolis), getting bigger, faster, stronger.”
If you could travel anywhere: “I’ve always wanted to go to Australia. It’s a cool place.”
FEMALE
Bailey Lofton, Columbus North junior softball player
Lofton went 3 for 4 with two home runs and four RBIs in an 18-7 loss to Greensburg. Ealier in the week, she had two doubles in a 23-9 loss to Bloomington South and went 3 for 4 with two RBIs in a 9-8 win against Brownstown Central.
Her performance last week: ”It wasn’t just me. My team hyped me up to hit, I was in a hitting streak and I kept going. They were there by my side the whole time.”
Do you do anything special to prepare? “For me, it’s just mental. ‘I can hit this pitcher, I haven’t seen her but I can hit her.’ It’s all mental for me.”
Favorite drink: “Raspberry tea”
Favorite food: “Pizza”
Favorite book: “The Fault in our Stars”
Favorite class: “Math”
Role model: ”Some of the girls on my team are my role models. I see how positive they are, some that don’t play. I see how positive they are and I realize how lucky I am, so they’re my role models.”
Best advice: “Keep your head up. Just flush everything that’s happened. If you’ve made mistakes, you can only grow from your mistakes, so just keep your head up.”
Athletics goal: ”I want to be a doctor, but I want to play (in college) if I have the opportunity.”
If you could travel anywhere: “I love to travel so anywhere. I went to Jamaica, and it was really nice, so I would go there again if I could.”
