TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - Lincoln Trojan senior's Nathaniel Lata, Bryce Aparicio and Peyton Ryan started high school with one thing in common - they'd never played lacrosse before.
"I was thinking about maybe playing baseball, running cross country or something," remembered Lata.
"I had some friends that were playing it, and I thought it looked fun," added Aparicio.
"I said hey, why not try it?" laughed Ryan. "I haven't been doing a sport, something I wanted to do in high school before I left for college. So I stuck with it and I've been doing it since.
Good thing the Trojan trio stuck with it, as all three are contributors for this Varsity team.
"It really comes down to a desire to get better," said head coach Mark Williams. "All of them actually have that, that's their approach to everything that they do.
Everything that they do,counts in the classroom as well. Lata, Aparicio, and Ryan have 4.6, 4.59, and 4.47 GPA's respectively, and all three will leave high school with that National Merit recognition on their resumes.
"It is something to be proud of that all three of us happen to be on the same team," said Lata. "It is really cool to be able to talk about and be recognized."
"It's very competitive. We joke around with Nate, we say he's going to Vanderbilt," laughed Ryan. "That's just because we're just competing with him to see who can get the better plays or who can do better. It's all in good spirit and we all want to do the best we can.
It's a good, competitive spirit, and something that also drives the trio in making sure they leave their senior season with good memories.
"My hope is that all three will continue to rise up to the occasion and continue to do things that will help us rise up to the occasion for the remainder of the year," said Williams.
"We all want to stay dedicated to sports, and we're also pretty dedicated to academics. It just grows because of that," added Aparicio.
"It's crazy to think that this is my final year because I've come so far," said Aparicio. "At the same time , I'm going to miss all the times we did have."
They are times that this Trojan trifecta is hoping to make last as long as they can.
