Salute To Seniors is a medium for "senior farewells". We invited the 2021 seniors to tell their stories from the past four years. We hope we can offer a chance to reflect on all the great moments these student athletes were able to experience.
Submissions for this year's series is closed, we have our last submissions in queue to publish all this week.
Julia Bannan
Holy Spirit HS
Bannan had a fantastic spring 2021 season to close out her high school career, bringing home the NJSIAA Meet of Champions discus title with a PR of 129-0.
What was your most memorable race/throw/jump/vault/moment? Why is that?
The 2019 NJSIAA Group NPB. It was my sophomore year and I was just figuring out the discus. This was my first real championship win and I had won it with my last throw. It was crazy and gave me so much motivation for the future in discus.
What was your personal greatest accomplishment?
My personal greatest accomplishment was winning the 2021 Meet of Champions in the discus this past season. It was not something I could have imagined myself doing when I started throwing. I ended up throwing my personal best, breaking my own school record, and winning the State title. It was an insane feeling.
What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?
I think the most difficult and clear obstacle was Covid-19. Everyone missed their spring season last year. Coming back into this past season, I had to work even harder just to get back to where I had been and then improve on top of that. I know this was a struggle for everybody, but I think we made the most of it.
What will you miss the most?
I'll definitely miss practices the most with my teammates. Although there weren't too many people on the throwing team, there were so many fun times out there.
What advice would you give to younger upcoming athletes?
That hard work truly does pay off. Don't give up if you aren't seeing results, because they will come. But more importantly, have fun with it. It goes by just as fast as everybody says.
What influence has your coach had with respect to your performance and overall life goals?
My throws coach, Butch Drozdov, was obviously a huge reason for my success. He had faith in me from the beginning and always trained me hard. He encouraged me in all three events, including shot put and javelin, even though I mostly focused on discus. I'm so grateful that he pushed me up until the last meet.
What are your post-high school or college plans?
I am going to the University of Notre Dame to study mechanical engineering. I hope to walk onto the Notre Dame throwing team.
Who would you like to say 'thank you' to?
I would like to say thank you to Coach Butch for not giving up on me and always making me work hard. Also a thank you to Spirit's Head Coach, David Pfeifer, who gave me so much motivation throughout my four years and would always hype me up before each meet. I would also like to thank my parents who attended almost every meet and watched me throw. And lastly, my teammates who pushed me to work harder and made me laugh through the process.
