And Then There Were Ten

By Christine Manning

Over the past few years, this column has focused on several Kentuckiana high school students who not only excel at a certain sport, but are also excellent students. It is very unusual though that one local high school could boast of the fact that 100 percent of their male graduates in the Class of 2004 are all lettermen on varsity teams and are headed to four-year universities this fall.

Such is the case at Louisville Collegiate High School , where the senior class has 34 students graduating this month. Ten are boys and between all of them they have lettered in every sport the school has offered during their four years there. As graduation approaches, these boys can say that although their class is a very small one, that they have taken advantage of all the athletics the school has to offer, while excelling in the classroom and being accepted at some of the best universities in the country.

Leading the way, athletically is 17-year-old Kenny Hodge. Hodge is the 2nd ranked tennis player in Kentucky in the 18-under category, ranking behind Nolan Polley of Lexington . Polley beat Hodge in 2003 for the KHSAA Tennis State Championship. Kenny said the two will be teammates this fall at the University of Kentucky .

Seniors Peter Seely, Kyle Manning and Court Jackson were co-captains of this year's Titan soccer team, that lost in regional play to eventual state champion St. Xavier two years in a row. All three have also played baseball. In addition, Seely played basketball, Jackson ran track and Manning played golf. Phillip Wojda, who has also run for the track team and Parker Brody were members of the soccer team and Brody's father Mike was an assistant coach. Brody, who also played baseball, is one of four LCS seniors to be named National Merit Scholars (the others are female students) and will attend the University of Kentucky . Seely said he will possibly play soccer while attending either Emory University or Rhodes College . Manning, senior class president, said he would attend either the University of the South (Sewanee) or UK . Wojda, who will attend Bellarmine University , said he plans to spend this summer in Poland teaching English to Polish children.

David Heinicke, Logan Chariker and Percy Fitzpatrick have all ran Collegiate cross-country and Heinicke was named the team's MVP last fall. Fitzpatrick plans to run track while attending George Washington University in Washington , D.C. , where he received a Presidential Academic Scholarship. Heinicke will attend Dartmouth or Colgate University and has not decided if he will continue running in college. Chariker, who has also played baseball, will attend the University of Chicago . He jokes that he is also a member of the school's chess team, which he said should be considered a sport "because of all of the calories burned during a match."

Collegiate is one of a few schools in Kentuckiana with a varsity crew team. Paul Herrington was a rower with the team for three seasons and was named the team's Titan, an athletic award given to a student -athlete based on ability, effort and conduct during games or matches.

Herrington, who has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and gave soccer a try playing on the JV team, said playing sports at Collegiate is probably not as intensive as programs at rival schools and that his personal focus has been on "having fun." He will attend Grinnell College in Iowa , a small school that he describes as a "creative writing mecca." He spent this past Spring Break backpacking and hiking in Ireland with classmates Heinicke and Chariker. Heinicke and Jackson are also Eagle Scouts.

"Most of us would have probably had to have chosen only one sport to play if we would have gone to any other high school around here," Jackson said. "I really wish I could have had time to play all the sports we have." His younger brother Jamie is a freshman at LCS and is also on the soccer team. Court is headed to Rice University in Houston .

Collegiate has more than 600 students in grades Kindergarten through high school. Heinicke, Herrington and Wojda have attended the school since Kindergarten and are known as "lifers," while Hodge and Brody have attended since 1st grade. These five along with the other five all started high school together in 2000 and have neither lost nor gained another boy student in their class.

All of the ten agree that Collegiate's middle school is always competitive in sports and then normally with attrition to other schools after 8th grade, Collegiate loses good athletes each year. At Collegiate, 7th and 8th graders are allowed to play for high school teams as well. Decisions on that policy are left up to the coaches and the athletic director.

"If they leave here after 8th grade, they don't know what they're missing," Jackson said. "The important thing about sports at Collegiate is that we all have strong leadership and effort qualities." Fitzpatrick added that there is "more of a chance to participate and get to actually play the sports you enjoy."