Congratulations to Zack Novak for being named the Tim Bishop Memorial Times Male Athlete of the Year. The Northwest Indiana Times has a lengthy feature on Zack who is the first Chesterton athlete to win the award.
“I’m thankful obviously for what I have,” Novak said. “The biggest thing is the hard work that’s gone into making it happen. You can have all the God-given ability in the world, but at some point you’ve got to work at it.”
The process of figuring out which direction to go wasn’t a simple one. Early on, Novak played soccer, but a broken ankle ended his days as a forward, at least on grass, in seventh grade. He had brief fling with cross country in eighth grade, using it as conditioning for basketball. He cracked the top five before back problems ended that.
That spring, in track, he was the Lake-Porter Conference champion in the high jump, long jump and the 400-meter relay. He was only beaten in three events all season, including a loss by 2 inches in the long jump to Taft’s Randy Hudi, who won a medal in the event at state this year for Crown Point.
“I got pretty upset when I lost in that,” Novak said. “Once I started playing, it was impossible for me to accept things going wrong.”
Read the whole article here, congrats again to Novak and can’t wait to see him in the Maize and Blue. Thanks to Sheryl for the link.
