Grosse Pointe North Athletics
Mario Lorelli 12th grade varsity
Senior Mario Lorelli has played hockey since he was little, when his father first introduced him to the sport.
“Well my dad played and all of his brothers played, so I started playing when I was young, and it’s something I liked so kept with it,” Lorelli said.
And while his current team has not won many of their games, Lorelli said that it is still a fun team to be a part of because of the players’ hard work.
His favorite part of hockey is skating on the ice with his team.
“I think just skating on the ice (is the best part). It’s something different than just walking or running around,” Lorelli said. “You get to actually skate out there, and it’s just a lot of fun.”
Zoe Lightbody 12th grade
With the synchronized swimming team’s first figure meet on Jan. 19 in Ann Arbor, senior Zoey Lightbody is preparing for the meet by practicing her moves.
“The figure meets is just you one specific move, or two, actually,” Lightbody said. “And we prepare for that by getting the move and then we try and do it as best we can and figure out exactly how to do it. And then we get scored on how well it is.”
While this is Lightbody’s fourth year participating in the synchronized swimming team at North, she has been participating in the sport since she was in seventh grade.
“At all the Grosse Pointe parks, there’s miniature synchronized swim teams for middle school and elementary schoolers, so in seventh grade, a couple of my friends were doing it, and I decided to do it then. And I continued to do it then for high school.”
So far at North, her favorite thing about her team is how close they are.
“My favorite thing about the team is probably how close everyone is. We are just like a family,” Lightbody said. “We are really close, and it’s really fun, and we just have a lot of fun at practice and stuff too.”
Senior Thomas Schaden
Over the past four years, senior Thomas Schaden has made many lasting memories from being on the swim team. The tradition of pasta parties before home games was his most favorite.
He has been on the team for four years, but also swims outside the team.
“I’ve been swimming for pretty much my whole life and doing swim clubs in the summer to help me get on the team.”
And while he does not plan to continue swimming competitively after high school, he has been swimming for most of his life and has gotten a lot out of the sport.
“Developing lasting friendships is probably the most meaningful part,” Schaden said.
