As the fall sports season winds down, and Walter Johnson sports teams prepare for the upcoming playoffs, we interviewed some of the top athletes in their respective sports.

Magni Mata

If someone has been paying a sport for nine years, it’s fair to assume they will have developed a strong skill-set. In senior Magni Mata’s case, she both fits and exceeds that expectation.

“I’ve been playing field hockey since I was in third grade,” Mata said. “My sister was going into her freshman year of high school and needed someone to play field hockey with her, so she asked me to play with her, and that’s really where it all started.”

For Mata, being captain of the field hockey team means that she is being looked up to and is expected to lead by example.

“As captains, we need to step up and become better role models for our underclassmen,” Mata said. “We need to get them pumped up for every game so that they can perform better…we try to get everyone focused so they can play their hardest.”

Mata certainly has come a long way in high school field hockey, playing on varsity as a freshman, which is a rare accomplishment. Though there are many people who have helped her along the way, Mata would thank her sister the most for how far she’s come.

“I would really thank my sister,” Mata said. “She really believes in me and believes that I have the potential to go far, and she is always at all of my games supporting me and cheering me on.”

As for the future, after her tenure here at WJ, Mata looks to play field hockey in college.

“I’m looking at a few different colleges,” Mata said, “but I have really two schools that it’s come down to, Pacific and Syracuse… Syracuse is the number one team in the country so it would be great to play for them.”

Patrick Winter

Senior captain Patrick Winter looks to bring his competitive side with him for his fourth year running on the cross country team. Winter, who has been running for almost 12 months out of the year since he was in the seventh grade, has always had a competitive edge. 

“I played other sports in middle school, like baseball and swimming,” Winter said, “But I found that I was the best at running, and I really like what I’m best at.”

Winter also appreciates how much it takes to get to his current level.

“The best part about running is the practicing and the work that you put in, and what you get out of yourself each and every day,” he said.

Aside from focusing on his personal running, Winter is also one of the captains of the team. He holds the responsibility of leading a hopeful team of almost 80, which lost many key runners last year, to the county, and maybe even state championships,

“We lost four very good runners last year,” Winter said, “and even though we have almost 80 people on the team, it all comes to seven people, and we lost four out of those seven people; it is a very hard thing to make up so the other seniors and I really need to step it up this year.”

Though many athletes always have their eyes set on the championship from the get-go of the season, Winter likes to have his goals focused on more reasonable accomplishments.

“Last year the whole team was focusing on really broad goals like winning states, but I set smaller goals,” Winter said. “Winning the next meet, beating the team that beat you before…when you set medium goals you gain a sense of accomplishment through every victory, and it keeps everyone’s morale very high throughout the year.”

Throughout his four years running here at WJ, Winter has accomplished a lot more than the average runner . Winter credits a lot of his success to graduate and fellow teammate Itai Bezherano.

“I would thank Itai,” Winter said. “He really mentored me from my freshman year on, and even through bad races and injuries and hard times he’s always been with me, and because of that throughout the years, he’s become one of my closest friends.”