This is the story of five student-athletes who, amidst nursing clinicals, cross-country practices, late nights with friends and early mornings of exams, became 草莓社区鈥檚 . Their story is told in the student-produced documentary film Persist.
Follow the team as they pound mile after mile on foot, bicycle, and in the water. The film was shot and produced by students in Professor Jerry Holsopple鈥檚 video production class at races, on the track, and in the pool.
Watch the trailer:
Women鈥檚 triathlon is labeled a 鈥渆merging sport鈥� within the NCAA, so all events and championships include teams from Division I-III. This means the team regularly competed against much larger schools in their four-event season, culminating in an October qualifier for the national championships. Senior Abigail Shelly ended her season with a finish in Tempe, Arizona.
From pre-competition jitters to simply mastering the many skills of three different sports, the film showcases how individual courage and dedication inspired the entire team. Senior Emma Hoover particularly struggled to learn how to swim competitively.
In the documentary, Hoover recalls, 鈥渨e get to the point where we鈥檙e starting our swim warm-ups, and there鈥檚 this moment, where Abigail will look at everybody, and Abigail goes, 鈥榦kay, no more negative thoughts.鈥� And she did it every single race. And I just felt like, 鈥榦kay 鈥� now is the time to just let it all go, this is what it is. It鈥檚 time to work.鈥欌��
The team included Hoover, a history, social science and education major; Shelly, an education and liberal arts major; Mim Beck, a nursing major, Lydia Chappell Deckert, an English major; and Leah Lapp, a biology and chemistry double-major.
The team is coached by .
The video production crew is Keith Bell, Mykenzie Davis, Ethan Green, Jared Oyer, and Anthony Parker.