The four year P.E. vet is a title that many want to hold but few can achieve. The honor began with Andrew Skaggs ‘22 and was passed down to Hunter Miller ‘23. This is the first year since the honor began where there is more than one. This year Mount Michael has five P.E. vets in the Class of 2024, those being Connor McLain ‘24, Max Coover ‘24, Luke Albers ‘24, Noah Seward ‘24, and Jonathan Montour ‘24.
When asked about their favorite unit McLain, Coover, and Albers all responded with Pickleball. “Pickleball is my favorite P.E. unit because of my sheer dominance in the sport,” said McLain. Coover said, “The unit is so far above the others, it is funny. Pickleball requires not only unmatched coordination, but also endurance. It is a team battle as much as it is a personal one, therefore you and your teammate must be “Locked in” at all times.” And lastly, it is Albers’ favorite because he is “tuff.”
The Veterans were then asked why they took P.E. for all four years. Coover said “I took P.E. all four years to prove myself to my peers. That is, that I can push through when I am tired and drenched in sweat, that I can recover from the most draining volleyball matches, and most importantly, I can crush the hope of any enemy combatants who dare contest me.” McLain took P.E. because of his “deep compassion for exercise.” And Albers said he took it because “It’s some nice exercise in the middle of the day and it’s an easy thing to do.”
Being a four year vet is a goal that is hard to achieve so we asked the vets what it means to them. Albers said “I take pride in my experience; I see it as an accomplishment and not something to be ashamed of.” McLain said “I mean more to the people that were able to witness my dominance.” And Coover responded with “To be a four-year P.E. vet means that you are, in a word, strong. We have been through all the cold and hot days, foggy and dry mornings, rainy or sunny afternoons. We four-year PE vets have an inseparable bond that cannot and will not be broken that will always connect us and the future vets to come.”
There have been many great individual performances in P.E. over the last four years, so we wanted to know about our veterans best performances. McLain said his greatest was his “Immaculate round in elimination junior year, eliminating every single opposition in my path.” Coover said his was “The pickleball tournament with a fellow four-year P.E. vet, Connor McLain . This took place our junior year at the doubles pickleball tournament. The teammates are selected at random, and it seemed to be fate that brought Connor and I together because even though it was rough in the start, our chemistry got better and better, so good in fact that we ended up winning the tournament. I still shed a tear or two thinking about how proud I was of our team and our victory that week.” And Albers’ was “Putting up five goals, three assists, and 21 saves in one hockey game.”
This title doesn’t just come around often and this is a year that will go down in history due to there being five of them.
