Student Athlete of the Week – Kamryn Mercado

Kamryn Mercado will be the spotlight for La Quinta water polo this season. An experienced swimmer that is stepping into a leadership role. 

It's been a great experience to have her on the team. Right away, it was really obvious that she had leadership skills," said LQ head coach Gregg Garczynski. "And so that's why I made her captain. She's got great speed in the water; she's got a lot of talent so that that leadership and that skill has been really much of a precedent for the kids." 

"It's definitely one of those sports where it's very underrated, it gets overshadowed a lot. But it takes a lot of mental strength trying to not to fight your defender," said Mercado. "It takes a lot of strength. It's a full body workout." 

What do you think about in the pool?

"Really thinking that I just want to score. That's like my main point, I just want to score or get the ball to one of my teammates to score," said Mercado. 

"In yesterday's game, she had quite a few goals on a counter, she was able to break away pretty quickly and it was great to see. The other team didn't really have much defense for her so it was actually a really nice thing for the other girls to see too," said Garczynski. "It's been a great experience to have her and I'm hoping that a lot of girls will follow that example."

What are you looking forward to the most this season?

"I'm really hoping that we make it to CIF in water polo and I'm really hoping to break the backstroke record in swim," said Mercado. 

Big time goals in the pool for her senior campaign, Mercado is dialed and determined.

"She's got a bright future ahead of her and we're really glad that she's on the team," said Garczynski. "And a great senior leader for us."