Name: Jessica Chu

Team: UC Davis Women’s Swimming

“[I enjoy] surviving really hard [practice] sets with my teammates and [when] everyone pushes each other towards the same goal, like to qualify for a meet or to drop [time].”

Name: Luka Mandic

Team: Cal Poly Men’s Soccer

“It’s a lot of being with friends, a lot of getting your mind off of any stress that you have in your life. When I’m playing soccer, I’m going to be completely focused on that and I don’t have to worry about anything else.”

Name: Anika Kanchi

Team: Columbia University Women’s Squash

“Whenever I’m on the court during a tournament, I’m always composed on the outside but on the inside I’m raging. That kind of feeling on the court just feels amazing and I really enjoy that.”

Name: Avni Anand

Team: University of Pennsylvania Women’s Squash

“I just kept on going just because [squash] was always a big constant in my life. School is hard [and] friends are annoying, but you still have that one thing to fall back on.”

Name: Pooja Muvva

Team: NYU Stern Women’s Tennis

“My favorite tournament would be the USTA Zone Team Championships. That’s really close to how college tennis is. I had to learn a lot, [to] not keep looking at my failures and learn to come back from that.”

Name: Lauren Okamoto

Team: Princeton University Women’s Diving

“I’m always doing handstands everywhere; I’ve been walking on my hands from a really young age so I think I just loved being upside down. I always just thought that was really fun.”