Mike Ridaught
Today’s senior spotlight is on Lars Hammersmark of Gainesville High School.
Hammersmark was on the varsity swim team and the GHS Water Polo team. His favorite high school sports moment was when the Hurricanes’ swim team won the district championship this past year.
He also excelled in the classroom. Lars is in the National Honor Society. He was also on the A/B Honor roll in the Cambridge program.
Hammersmark is also a USA Water Polo Academic All-American. He played in the 2018 USA water polo Junior Olympics in Riverside, California. As a goalie for the Gainesville Water Polo team this season, Lars had 106 saves. The Hurricanes’ program is relatively new, getting its start as a club team in 2016. They went undefeated in district play this year and Hammersmark was named Region 1, District 2 Champions. Their overall record was 9-3.
Hammersmark was accepted to the University of Florida, where he will study civil engineering. He plans to continue playing water polo at UF for the Gators’ club team, which finished sixth at the national championship last year.
If you or someone you know is a graduating senior who participated in spring sports this season, we want to hear from you. You can either send us an audio shout out which we will play on the radio, or send us your bio and I will voice it for you. For more information, please email mike@ThePrepZone.com.
Mike Ridaught is the founder and publisher of ThePrepZone.com, the foremost website for high school sports in northeast Florida.