It’s 4:00 a.m. While most high school students are snoring away, senior Jack Potash packs his bags and loads his car, preparing to leave for early morning hockey practice. Besides practice, the only thing on his mind is the long school day ahead of him, which includes football practice right after. 

Potash, who plays lacrosse in the spring, football in the fall, and hockey in the winter, has become no stranger to balancing his sports and academics throughout the year. Balancing these heavy tasks daily can be exhausting and often leaves no free time, but Potash manages. 

“Often I find myself a little behind when it comes to school work, but I take advantage of the free time I have and grind out schoolwork,” Potash said.

Potash has played sports throughout high school and has been a part of many flaunt-worthy accomplishments. Potash was not only a part of the 2023 varsity football team that recorded the best regular season record in school history, but the senior also won the state championship with the varsity hockey team during his sophomore year. 

While athletic performance and winning are important to the tri-sport athlete, Potash not only takes pride in his performance on the field but also is a positive teammate and creates strong relationships with his teammates and coaches in order to help his teams be as successful as possible. 

Devin Markert, a senior teammate of Potash’s on the varsity football team, acknowledges that Potash’s hard work and positive attitude towards the team haven’t gone unnoticed. Markert knows a thing or two about the hard work it takes to keep up with these sports, as Markert also plays lacrosse and football.

“Jack is a super positive guy and you rarely see him upset or angry. This is good because the team sees and copies it,” Markert said.

Making relationships through sports is crucial for a successful team but also super fun for long-time friends like senior Jake Greenfeld and Potash. Greenfeld, a member of the varsity lacrosse team, has been building his relationship with one of his best friends since elementary school and hopes to continue the friendship in the future. 

“Jack has been one of my best friends for a long time and we’ve grown so much together, especially through sports,” Greenfeld said.  

Potash will finish up his football career this fall and has already begun his hockey season, followed by lacrosse in the spring. Potash has not yet decided if he wants to play sports in college.