HRVHS names its December athletes of the month

Tomlinson swims for the Eagles, is on the Speech and Debate team, and has a 3.9 GPA.

“It definitely takes a lot of hard work and time management to get that 3.9 GPA, especially since I do swim year-round,” Tomlinson said. “I also take a lot of hard classes. I do like challenging myself. It’s not tedious work. I really enjoy working hard.”

One example of Tomlinson’s work ethic is her decision to take medical biology. The senior plans on pursing a STEM-related career but wanted to immerse and challenge herself in an unfamiliar subject. (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering Technology.)

In the pool, Tomlinson is the third-highest scorer for the team but enjoys the team atmosphere more than com peting.

“I love the high school swim team,” Tomlinson said. “I do club team too, so I swim all year, but my favorite season is high school season because it’s just a really great team.”

HRV’s second athlete of the month is Meyers. The senior played soccer in the fall and currently plays basketball. Last season, Meyers suffered a hand injury but was still committed to the team.

“Last year I didn’t play at all because I broke my wrist before the season started. But I still tried to maintain and be a part of the team itself,” Meyers said. “So, I would always attend the practices and games that I could. Also, trying to be a part of the program sets good examples for future people coming into the program.”

As she entered her final season of basketball, Meyers knew she’d have to step up to the plate since many players on the team graduated last year. It’s taken a few games, but Meyers said she’s finally found her scoring and rebounding stride.

Outside the court, Meyers keeps herself busy with homework. Her hard work has earned her straight A’s in her report card.

“It’s definitely hard to maintain but I think it’s really rewarding when you complete it and you keep it there,” Meyers said. “It’s definitely a lot of time management and hard work but I like to be able to do multiple things and keep myself occupied.”

Like Tomlinson, Southall is also a swimmer. The junior is a three-sport athlete, competing in water polo, track and has a 4.0 GPA.

“It’s not hard to get the 4.0. It’s hard to keep it,” Southall said. “It’s hard with sports to try to manage the time, but I’m committed to sports, but I also want to stay on top of school because that’s what comes first. It goes hand in hand.”

Southall is currently taking pre-calculus, AP chemistry and AP history. Most advanced placement classes have a large workload, but chemistry has been the hardest, Southall said. He also wanted to take advantage and earn college credits with the AP classes.

Even though Southall won’t see college for about two years, he’s already been researching different universities.

“I want to swim in college. I thought about playing water polo but it’s just super competitive and swimming is a bit easier to get on the teams,” Southall said. “For college I don’t want to be too close but not too far away. I’m looking at Colorado and a couple California schools.”

Like Meyers, Siekkinen currently plays basketball and does track in the spring. Siekkinen is one of the team’s top scorers, rebounders and leads in field goal percentage.

“It’s just playing hard every game. It’s been a big focus for our team this year,” the junior said. “Trying to work every minute on the court and if that means you have to sub out after two minutes instead of after the whole quarter then that’s what you have to do. I’ve seen a big difference when I focus on playing hard and in the moment then worrying about the ball game.”

Besides basketball, Siekkinen is a math tutor for seventh and eight graders. He began tutoring during his freshman year and eventually turned into a job.

There are some difficulties when working with middle schoolers but it’s rewarding to see them finally understand a concept, Siekkinen said.