Outstanding senior athletes at Carthage
Alyssa Scott, Copy Editor
May 8, 2012
Filed under Sports
Even though Carthage is a Division III school, the quality of our athletes is superb, and at the end of this year many of them will be leaving us.
Greg Raimondi, ’12 has come to be a great asset to our Track and Field team, as he spent all four of his years working hard with his fellow team members to maintain their consistent third place ranking. Just this season, Raimondi was named conference champion in the weight throw indoors, as well as finishing 16th in the nation for shot put and 17th for weight throw.
Raimondi says of his involvement, “I believe that sports has helped me stay focused and on track with the goals I have set out, for my sports as well as school work.”
Next year he hopes to be a Graduate Assistant at North Central College, working as a coach for their track and field program while also working on his Master’s degree. If this plan does not pan out he will be student teaching in the Kenosha area in order to earn his certification.
Although this marks an end for Raimondi, he says he has learned a lot from his time on the Track and Field team including “being able to develop a real strong sense of team building, determination, responsibility, effort, character, and enthusiasm,” which he hopes to take with him to achieve his goals for the future.
Another amazing athlete that will soon be leaving Carthage is Lauren Dembkowski, ’12, a member of the women’s volleyball team. They also had an awesome season, making it to the NCAA Final Four and beating their all-time rival Washington University.
Being a member of the volleyball team played a huge role in Dembkowski’s life while she was here. “It confirmed that I wanted to be a coach as well as a teacher. Athletics help children to develop into the people they will be for the future. It teaches them sportsmanship, communication skills, time management, among many others,” she said.
Dembkowski also learned valuable life skills from her athletic participation, such as understanding and dealing with different personality types. She says, “ I’ve already begun to apply this to my student teaching, and feel that it is more than applicable to every social situation someone might encounter.”
She will be taking all that she has gained from her four years on the team and at Carthage to help run a day camp in Kenosha for the summer, and find a teaching or coaching job in Wisconsin or Illinois. She hopes to make a positive difference for students as well as athletes.
Although only two athletes are mentioned here in detail, it would be a shame not to mention a few others who also earned mention at the Honors Convocation a few weeks ago. Adam Van Huis, ’12 from the men’s swim team, Zachary Khoshbin, ’12 from the men’s soccer team, and Diana Jacklin, ’12 along with all their other senior teammates will be greatly missed next year.