This summer senior Alexa Harmon-Thomas hopped on a plane to Ukraine to do her own kind of flying– on a track.  Harmon-Thomas made the World Youth track and field team by placing first in high jump and the heptathlon at the World Youth Trials.

Of all the competitors that placed within the top two, 20 girls were selected to travel to Ukraine.

“My dream was to make the U.S. Team, so I just couldn’t contain myself,” Harmon-Thomas said.

She celebrated with a room full of screaming girls after their selection, overjoyed that they would represent their country.

Harmon Thomas’s friends were equally excited. They threw a party laden with red, white, and blue upon her return.

“It’s a big deal having one of your friends compete for team U.S.A.,” senior Bret Watson said.

While the trip to Ukraine consisted mostly of training, eating and meetings, it wasn’t strictly centered around competing. Athletes from different countries got to know each other over breakfasts in a large hotel.  They also watched a FC Shakhtar professional soccer game and met some interesting Australian track and field competitors.

Harmon-Thomas placed 10th in high jump with a 5 foot 10 inch jump. She also took 15th place in the heptathlon with 5,200 points. The U.S. team placed first overall. They racked up the most medals of any country.

Back in the United States, Harmon-Thomas faces a new challenge: senior year.

Deciding on a college is the most immediate task at hand.

“It’s pretty stressful,” Harmon-Thomas said. “I mean, having so many people call you and your phone just ringing.”

Despite the stress of recruitment, she’s confident she’s found a path.

“…Figuring out what’s important to me and what I want out of a school has been really tough, but I think I’m starting to realize what I want and starting to try to narrow down my choices,” Harmon-Thomas said.

At spring and summer sectionals this year, junior Courtney Caldwell qualified in two events to swim at U.S. Open.  This feat was comparable to making olympic trials, a goal of her’s since she was 11.

She qualified in the 100 meter freestyle at spring sectionals. The cutoff time was 49.99 seconds.  She finished in 49.98.

“…It was kind of like a relief,” Caldwell said. “Like, finally I got the time.  Finally I’m qualified.”

She placed first in that event and stood on the podium, receiving hugs from her supporters.

At summer sectionals in mid-July, she made the cut in the 100 yard backstroke.

However, a pre-scheduled family vacation made it impossible to compete at the U.S. open.

“And so my parents are great planners apparently,” Caldwell said.

She initially thought about skipping the vacation to compete but decided against it.

“…I was pretty disappointed, but there will be other opportunities for me to swim,” Caldwell said.

Fortunately, she got another chance shortly after the vacation. Junior Nationals was the week after her trip.

“I didn’t necessarily swim how I wanted to, but I was out of the water for two weeks before, so it doesn’t really set me up for swimming well,” Caldwell said. “I went down there for more of the experience. Kind of practice I would say.”

Even though it was a low-pressure meet, there were still added stressors.

“I would say the energy level just walking into the meet … was high, because, you know, it’s: Am I gonna make it back? Am I fast enough to make it back to the afternoon, so I can medal and get all these college coaches’ attention?” Caldwell said.

Entering an important year for advancing her swimming career, she has her sights set on a goal: to continue to improve upon her performances.

“…I guess the goal for [upcoming meets] would be to make it back to finals and just hopefully train really well so I can just keep getting faster,” Caldwell said. “I guess the goal is just to constantly get faster and improve.”

While senior Logan Brown was at Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) nationals, she received a call from her debate coach Jo Ball informing her that she had qualified to compete at the Nationals Forensics League Championship.

“I was so excited,” Brown said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

In December, she debated with her partner senior Grace Phillips at the qualifier tournament at Lawrence High School.  They earned fourth place, becoming the first alternates to go to Nationals in Birmingham, Alabama.

In April, the third place team decided they would not compete at Nationals.  Ball found out and called Brown.  By the time Brown learned she was debating at Nationals, she was a few months behind her competition.

“…Everybody else had been preparing since December, but I hadn’t done any debate work at all since then,” Brown said.

Despite the disadvantage, Brown and Phillips did extremely well. They were a single ballot away from moving into advanced rounds.

“…That was really heartbreaking, but we did have a good time, and we did end up doing well,” Brown said. “We were just really close to breaking.”

Aside from debating, other aspects added to the positive experience of the trip.

“We got to eat at a lot of different places and experience a lot of different things,” Brown said.

However, the actual debating was the most interesting part of the trip. Accustomed to debating Kansans, Brown was exposed to debaters from across the country.

“I thought it was cool to see all of the different types of debate styles,” Brown said.

Appreciative of alternative debate cultures and the knowledge she gained at 2013 Nationals, she hopes to qualify again.