Future Olympians of Penn State Harrisburg

February 24, 2018

By: Liam Quirin

 

As the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea come to an end, we look at how each participating country has performed throughout the last few weeks of competitions. Norway leads the medal count with 37 total, followed by Canada (27), Germany (26), and the United States in fourth with 21.

However, for anyone keeping up with the events, it’d be clear that the age of winners is continually getting lower and lower. United States’ first gold medal in the 2018 Olympics was earned by 17-year-old Red Gerard, winning gold in snowboard slopestyle. Chloe Kim became the youngest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the snowboarding halfpipe, also at the age of 17. The list goes on not only with numerous 20-year-olds winning medals in various events.

Penn State Harrisburg has at least 200 student athletes on campus. As it pertains to the Olympics, two that stand out are international players: Jessica Roelli and Zachary Koroneos.

Jess was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and is currently a catcher for the softball team here on campus. After asking her about the opportunity to play for her national team, she responded by saying “It’s an incredible opportunity to not only represent your own country at a tournament, but also to witness other teams from other countries like the US, Japan, the Dutch and many others. It’s also given me the chance to play in a lot of places all over Europe, such as Italy, Germany, England, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and more. Our team even got to play at the World Championships in Canada in 2016. We ended up not ranking well, but it was an extraordinary event to be a part of, and it has definitely helped promote softball in Switzerland.”

Switzerland is ranked 10th during these games with 13 total medals, three of which are gold.

“It has helped me immensely in regard to playing…” Jess responds after having been asked about how the experience has helped her. “…since we sometimes get to play very good teams, and the best way to improve your own game is to play a team that’s better than you. It’s also improved my understanding of different cultures by playing teams from other countries, in other countries. Last but not least, it's let me see how many people around the world love this sport, which is simply amazing.”

Zak, born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, now plays as a first-baseman for the Lions. Zak has also been recruited to play for the Greek national team in the upcoming months.

“It’s going to be a phenomenal opportunity for me. Every kid dreams of having the opportunity to represent their country, and now the fact that I actually get to is what’s so exciting,” Zak mentions after asking him what he’s most happy about given the chance to play on an international level.

The athletic talent on campus gets greater and greater year by year, so it is very exciting to see how far students like Jess and Zak can test their skill.