LOHS senior will play two sports next year
MORGAN HILL — The biggest decision of Katie Rick’s life turned out to be an easy one.
Her choosing of which college to compete for didn’t require that the decorated Live Oak senior pick which sport she prefers more: swimming or water polo. Rick is going with the school that will let her do both.
This week, she will sign her Letter of Intent to play for two Division I programs under a partial scholarship at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Doubling up in water polo and swimming shouldn’t be too difficult, Rick said. Water polo season picks up less than a month before the swim season ends in February.
“I want to push myself,” said Rick, who was also considering Hawaii, Maryland and San Jose State. “Loyola is definitely the right place for me to do that. I like that it’s a small school that’s very athlete-friendly. They have a great program that watches out for athletes and makes sure everything’s in order for them.”
Self-motivation is a Rick-family value. In athletics and academics, Katie is following the pace of her older brother, Steven, a swimmer and pre-med bio-engineering major at UC-San Diego. Katie tentatively wants to study sports medicine and graduate in four years.
The two Ricks will cross paths the next three years at the Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference Championships.
“This might actually be tough for us — he told me the San Diego women’s team hates LMU,” Katie said.
Loyola Marymount is ranked seventh in the country in swimming. The women’s water polo team is 22-4 and in contention for a Western Water Polo Association title.
Katie Rick saw the Lions play last weekend in the Santa Clara Invitational. She hopes to fill in at driver, a position she specialized in while earning first-team all-Mount Hamilton Division honors as a utility player in fall.
“I don’t think she’s going to have any trouble fitting in with the polo team,” Katie’s mother, Lisa, said. “Her teammates are built just like her: fit and thin.”
Seeing her future team in action was part of a big week for Katie. She swam four events in the Far Western Short Course Championship meet held in her hometown, including the 400-yard individual medley that she plans to swim at LMU.
Friday’s final heat of the 400 IM in the Aquatics Center saw Rick place fourth in four minutes, 43.32 seconds.
“Katie’s been having a great season,” said Live Oak coach Lynn Gautschi, a two-time Olympic medalist in the 200-yard individual medley. “She’s in remarkable shape, and her mental attitude is great; it always has been. The best part about her is she’s never satisfied. That’s how a good athlete’s supposed to be.”
On top of practicing with her prep team, Rick trains with the Almaden Swim & Racquet Club and plays water polo on the side with a Peninsula-based club. Last week, her team played in the Alberta Open in Washington.
“She’s been working hard trying to balance the two sports,” Katie’s father, John, said. “Her big focus, though, is doing well her senior year of swimming.”
Katie has qualified for the May 21 Central Coast Section Championships in six events, the 200 IM, 100-yard freestyle and breaststroke and all three relays: 200-yard medley, 200-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle.
Since the 400 IM isn’t offered in high school, Rick has put added focus on the 200 this spring.
“It’s my last year; I want to do my best,” she said. “I’m going to push myself just as hard.”
