Freshman Torri Pugh hopes to play her third varsity sport at PRHS

Sometimes freshmen have the skill set to be moved up to varsity for their one main sport, however in the short time freshman Torri Pugh has attended PRHS, she has already made two Varsity sports and is hoping to claim her third.

CROSS COUNTRY 
Pugh was brought up to the seventh man on the varsity cross country squad after only training with the team for two months. Out of the seven girls on the team, Pugh consistently ranked in the top five, bouncing from third to fourth to fifth, depending on who was faster that week. A surge of excitement came over Pugh on Sep. 5 at the Big Ditch Invitational meet, in which she qualified to run for the Varsity squad, running a 17:33 for the shorter course. Pugh credits her best race to the CIF Prelims meet on Nov. 14, in Riverside where she ran a 19:25. Pugh dedicated that race to family friend DJ Bigelow, whose memorial service was the same day, making her unable to attend.

WATER POLO
This winter, Pugh abandoned her lifelong sport of soccer, in order to “try something new” and play on the Varsity water polo team with her older sister senior Makenna Pugh.
“It’s fabulous…I love playing with Makenna. It’s really fun because she’s a really good player, and I feel like since she’s one of the captains, everyone looks up to her a lot, including myself, ” said Pugh, who is currently playing an outside position of wing or flat, due to her small, quick stature.
Pugh was pleasantly surprised at the amount of playing time she had earned for being “just a freshman.” Although she misses her Madrid club soccer team family, Pugh has enjoyed her first season in the pool and is looking forward to continuing her waterpolo career next winter. Pugh, who is currently number seven, is excited to carry on the family legacy next year, wearing cap number two like her older sisters Makenna and Kylie both did.
“It’s fun getting to be on a team with my sister! She’s a great athlete and hilarious, she’s just fun to be around! We get along well, so it’s cool that we can work well in the pool together also. I like that we are teammates, best friends, and sisters!” said Makenna, who also runs Cross Country and Track.

TRACK
Entering the spring season, Pugh is looking forward to getting back on land for the track team. As she hopes to run for the varsity squad, she also plans to pole vault along with running the distance races of the 400 meter and 800 meter.
“If I run fast enough, then I definitely think I could be on varsity!” Pugh said with a hopeful smile.
As her freshman year comes to a close, with possibly three varsity sports under her arm, Pugh runs and swims off into a bright future in athletics in her high school career.