by Dillion Gallagher ‘19
In every school, there is an unspoken, inevitable understanding that freshmen will undoubtedly cause more pain for everyone else due to first-year confusion and what-not. However, this year the class of 2019 has two students that could bring more than emotional pain to the table.
Graeme Agronin won third place at the World Karate and Kickboxing Championships in Orlando, Florida just this year, which is quite the accomplishment for a freshman of only three months. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Graeme (without fear for my health), and this is what he had to say:
“I started karate for fun at the rec center and stuff like that when I was two, but I eventually moved away from it to play other sports.” Despite his short recess from the ancient art, Graeme said he eventually came back to it after his older sister started dating a student at Ignatius who also did karate, “I thought that [was] really cool so I started going again and really started seriously at the age of four.” Not only has he been practicing since he was four, but Graeme also says that intense and methodical preparation is key. “Usually, if I’m training for something big, like this tournament, I’m up at the karate school four or so days a week and at home I have to train at least once or twice a day.” Graeme isn’t all about the international fame though, he says that he likes karate and kickboxing because it teaches discipline and self defense.
However, Graeme isn’t the only freak of freshman nature. Zach Morgan placed first at the 2015 National Powerlifting Tournament, held in Scranton, Pennsylvania in September, and took home the hardware by lifting 116 pounds.
“I started competing in sixth grade,” Morgan says. His experience stacks up quite well, but his time commitment isn’t quite as brutal as lifting those 116 pounds were: “I usually lift twice a week and I stay in shape and work out with wrestling and track.” The national champ doesn’t find the sport lonely either. Zach says that he does it with a few friends and his dad is a trainer, so he thinks “it’s pretty enjoyable.”
So this year’s freshman class might already have made some very substantial impacts on the world, the country, and the Saint Ignatius community here at home. The class of 2019 already has some world-renowned talents but only falls in line with the Ignatian status quo. Whether you’re kickboxing or weightlifting; whether you have ten years of experience or four, there’s work being done, so “God bless the work.”
