The walk to graduation is not too far for the WCHS seniors. For WCHS spring athletes, lateral jumps, sprints and constant tennis matches have shaped WCHS seniors. To say goodbye to all of it will devastate the graduating class of 2022. They unfortunately missed out on a lot, but has that actually stopped them? Sebby Breton, a WCHS senior athlete. says it hasn’t.

“To be honest, COVID hasn’t slowed me down. It has helped me to keep working hard and keep getting better in my training. The more I train the stronger I become. What you get out of it, is because of what you put into it,”  Breton said.

During the pandemic, Breton began to train excessively, increasing his mileage to up to 40-50 miles per week, with the urge to improve himself immensely. 

“I kept on doing speedworks, split repeats. That’s how I get stronger and faster. It felt weird to come back because I was ready to show everyone what I was capable of and what I could do,” Breton said.

The track star has truly shown commitment to the sport over the past year, having progressed a lot during his WCHS sports career. Over the past few years, Breton has overcome injuries and improved his 5k time from 16:37 to 15:44 in addition to winning several championships for WCHS’ trophy case. 

“The experience of competing changed me by teaching me to not set any limits for myself, to always keep pushing myself, and not to give up,” Breton said.

WCHS senior Bella Mayr is on the school’s tennis team and has adjusted well to coming back to play after a long year.

“It’s been going well. We’ve had a lot of rainy days but overall it’s been fun. I liked being a senior on the team because I get more leadership opportunities and I get to meet the new freshmen on the team,” Mayr said.

Mayr has come a long way, from her start at Churchill to having to say goodbye in a few weeks as a senior. Mayr’s experience differs from others because of the time she has spent on the team and the experience she’s gained compared to her teammates. Losing vital time between sophomore and senior year was hard on WCHS athletes. But, the shortened season wasn’t the only opportunity Mayr lost out on.

“It was a shortened season when we came back during COVID because I was playing a lot in the matches last year. Personally, I think for me tenth grade was the worst year to miss out on since it was my first year on the team and it was also an accomplishment for me to make the team after only playing tennis for a couple of weeks. I only had my junior season and senior season compared to others,” Mayr said.

Although the pandemic had its woes, there were some benefits. As students were confined to their homes, they had opportunities to try out new hobbies, and skills, and watch new TV shows. WCHS athletes took the opportunity to improve their craft and prove themselves once things started to get back to normal.

“Honestly the pandemic freed up my time and allowed me to play more tennis because I had less to do during that period of time. I also had a lot more freetime because school was shorter. I think I also improved the most because of the extra time to balance everything,” Mayr said. 

Unsurprisingly, WCHS seniors must manage to study for their AP classes, do their homework, socialize with friends, and be at the top of their sports. It can have a toll on their mental health but allows them to have time management skills.

“It’s really hard. Sometimes I do my homework during lunch or during the school day. I have to create for myself so I don’t lose focus on my school work or tennis. I also usually try to get most of my work done in school because after tennis I’m exhausted,” Mayr said.

Most students feel the overall pressure from their families and schools and deserve an activity to look forward to. Sports like tennis create families and unbreakable bonds for athletes to rely on and use the sport as a coping mechanism.

“I’m definitely going to miss my teammates but I’m definitely looking forward to playing recreational in college.,” Mayr said.