Season Interrupted: Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Quintin Lyons is going the distance
Throughout the spring, The Times will interview high school seniors whose athletic careers were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.
Name: Quintin Lyons.
School: Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
Sport: Football, track and field.
Key stats: All-league offensive lineman for the football team and a top shot putter/discus thrower, which he’ll pursue in college; finished fifth in the shot put at the 2019 state championships.
Fall plans: Will attend Iowa.
A look at the high school sport standouts whose seasons were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.
On the season being canceled:
“It sucked. Everything started clicking. I felt big things were about to be happening. I was about to hit new marks and new personal bests. For that to be taken away from me all in one second, it really made me feel down.”
On the new things he’s discovered with his free time:
“I started drawing again. I’m trying to get a keyboard so I can learn how to play the piano.”
What he misses most:
“Competing. It was so much fun to compete with the other throwers. It made each of us better.”
On the protests:
“I agree with the protests. I just don’t like [the] rioting.”
On his college choice:
“I could have stayed in California, but I wanted to experience something new.”
Where he sees himself in 10 years:
“I’m trying to study psychology and criminal justice.”
The West Hills Chaminade couple, one headed to Stanford, the other committed to Vanderbilt, are in this together.
On being a two-sport athlete:
“Just go for it. It’s always going to be a lot of hard work. You just have to be determined. Don’t be afraid. Take on your challenge head on.”
On the lessons he’s learned:
“We all appreciated the life we had so little and when it got taken away we never realized how much we loved it until it was gone.”
Video interviews of each athlete can be found at latimes.com/sports/highschool.
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