By Kyra Murry
Desperately striving to touch the wall first with every fiber of his being. Coming up to gasp for air only once during a 50-meter swim. This is what former Delta High School athlete Brady Samuels goes through every day he is at practice.
“You have to be at your best every day or you get called out,” Samuels said.
Samuels is swimming at Purdue University, where he is in his senior year. While at Delta he won state championships in the 50 free and 100 fly as a senior. Samuels also was the 2021 Indiana Senior State champion in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 back.
Samuels decided to go to Purdue University because it was close to home and also was a part of the Big 10 Conference.
He made the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Qualifier (50m and 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly) this year. Last season he was also recognized as the Boilermakers’ co-MVP. He finished top 10 in all three of his individual events at the Big Ten Championships, accounting for 65 team points to rank second on the team.
He had Purdue’s season-best times in the 50 (:19.46) and 100 free (:42.40), 100 back (:45.57) and 100 fly (:46.26).
Many students at Delta are given great opportunities for athletics. When given these opportunities some may realize that they will be given more challenges to overcome.
Those challenges make them learn new lessons, but also can make them think about old ones that they’ve learned. Those lessons are important for younger athletes to learn and grow from so that they can have even more success than those before them.
Camaya Murry, former Delta athlete, is now an Indiana Wesleyan University volleyball player. She is in her freshman year and has a total of 275 digs and 44 aces.
“The expectations are way higher here (Indiana Wesleyan) than high school and club,” Murry said.
During high school she had been given the award of All-County and All- .
Delta’s volleyball coach, Kylie Johnson, always believed in Murry’s ability to play at the collegiate level, due to her leadership and ability to persevere and adapt to different situations.
“There were no cons of having Camaya as a player,” Johnson said. “There were only pros.”
Ms. Shelli Smith, Murry’s former math teacher, also gave her the courage to be a good academic student. Murry said she was academically challenged due to her moving a lot during high school and middle school along with having depression.
Former weight room teacher Chris Overholt, now assistant principal, has pushed many students in the weight room, including Murry, but also former Delta athlete Sam Bennett.
Bennett said he was greatly influenced by Overholt. He said Overholt helped him become strong enough to dive at the collegiate level.
During high school, he signed to the dive team at Purdue University. In his time at Delta, he won two state championships for 1-meter diving.
Bennett is about to enter his junior season diving at Purdue. So far, he’s qualified for the NCAA Championships his freshman and sophomore year and qualified for the World University Games his sophomore year on top of other accomplishments.
Bennett had the chance to go to the qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics but unfortunately due to an injury he was not able to participate. He had overworked his shoulder while diving. Bennett has worked during the offseason to heal his shoulder.
Dedicated is a trait that describes Bennet, but it also describes Nicki Southerland, a 2024 Delta graduate.
Southerland’s work ethic has led to not only great success in academics but also athletics.
“I learned to just work hard and even when things are tough to just keep going,” Southerland said.
She believes that her friends inspired her to do great things and pushed her to be able to reach her goals.
She decided to go to the University of Notre Dame because she really liked the team and coaches. She knew she wanted to run for a good program but didn’t know she would commit to an NCAA Division 1 school.
“I knew I would have people to run with and they would push me to be better,” Southerland said.
While at Delta High School she would have to run with the boys during practice because none of the girls could run at the same pace as her.
Southerland won three state championships in track and field for Delta. She won the state titles in the 3,200-meter run, 1,600-meter run and 800-meter run. She also was state runner-up in cross country three times. She was chosen as Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year for girls’ track and field this past school year.
This past season she redshirted at Notre Dame so she can have an additional year of eligibility.
She believes that her many successes gave her the chance to go to Notre Dame for track and cross country.
Athletes have many different experiences, though. For example, Addie Chester, a former Delta High School athlete, is in her junior year of college at Ball State. She is a midfielder for the women’s soccer team.
She committed to the University of Louisville at first and played two years there, then transferred to Ball State University.
While at Delta Chester got the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year 2019. Chester scored 59 goals during her junior season, which stands as an Indiana state record for goals in a season.
While at Louisville during her sophomore year Chester had played a total of 18 games and scored 10 points.
This year Chester was voted First Team All-Conference by the Mid-American Conference head coaches. She played 18 games and scored a total of 28 points.
Chester believes that Delta had a pivotal role in helping her grow as a student and a player. Being at Delta gave Chester the ability to show leadership on the field, which she believes set her up for doing well at the collegiate level.
When things are tough, Chester handles that by believing that one bad game isn’t something to worry about. Instead, it’s a string of them that creates a problem.
“I just make sure that my work ethic is always where it needs to be and the rest usually follows,” Chester said.
