Michael Crinion, a senior at Albion College, grew up playing goalkeeper in soccer. So in spring 2013, when he heard the men’s swimming and diving team was looking for divers, he thought he would be a natural: Goalkeeping, after all, involves diving.

When Bev Ball’s friends join the 85-year-old swim coach at a restaurant in Abilene, Texas, they know what to expect: She will run into someone she’s gotten to know – or coached – over six decades spent by the local pools.

Natalie Bach-Prather was home-schooled while growing up in Marshall, Texas, where her only taste of running came from racing her dad. But now she is making up for lost time – all without leaving her hometown.

Anna Kottkamp would prefer not to be labeled a perfect example of a student-athlete, even if she is the first from the University of Notre Dame to be named valedictorian of a graduating class. But her successes are certainly an example to uphold. Kottkamp walked on to the rowing team as a freshman with no experience, yet finished with a full scholarship.

Maria Hauer, who was born deaf but can now hear at a 60-80 percent level after seven surgeries, competed for the Huskies’ cross country team in the fall, the Nordic ski team in the winter and ran the 800-meter and the 1,600-meter relay for the track team in the spring. She also dabbles in music, playing the violin, piano, baritone, trombone and the clarinet.

Both of Darik Dillard’s older siblings earned valedictorian honors in high school, but Dillard is proving he is a formidable player and scholar in his own right. He ranked third in his high school class of 557 and is now studying mechanical engineering at Rice, where he scored 16 touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Owls.

During her first humanitarian trip to Haiti at age 15, Alyssa Brandt saw a boy with malnourished skin that was rotting and falling off his body. A passionate mission has driven her ever since.

One year has passed since St. john Fisher College sprinter Alex Caldwell learned that what she thought was a sinus infection was actually a brain tumor.