Brad Elmgren and Andy Alfieri pose for a shot with Olympian Mariel Zagunis.
Valley Catholic photo
BEAVERTON — Students of all ages got a thrill when two-time gold medalist and Olympic women’s sabre fencer Mariel Zagunis came to visit the Valley Catholic campus last month.
Zagunis attended school here from Kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating in 2003. She brought with her the fencing gear she used at the games and both gold medals earned in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008.
Her first stop was to see the toddlers and preschoolers at Valley Catholic Early Learning School. Zagunis went there for after-school care in the 1990s when it was called Little Flower. The children, all dressed in red, white and blue, sat cross-legged in the front lobby listening carefully to what the venerable graduate had to say. Each student got an up-close look at the Olympic gold medals.
She told the students that they can compete in the Olympic Games if they want to when they get older. One of the boys went to the Beijing Olympics last summer with his family and he and Zagunis compared matching USA shirts. When a group of toddlers in little wagons came up to see her, they were mesmerized by the bling of the gold circles on ribbons she held before them. Zagunis swung the medals hypnotically back and forth saying softly to them, “Go team!”
On the way over to the Eagle Gym to meet with almost 400 students in grades K-6, Zagunis spoke to KXL Radio for a brief interview. In the hallway in front of the gym, she ran into one of her old teachers and autographed the back of someone else’s t-shirt.
When she entered the gym waving to the large group of elementary schoolers, the crowd went wild. Zagunis’ kindergarten teacher, Lauri Davis, introduced her and spoke of her former student’s success as one of the most amazing outcomes in her 30 years of teaching at Valley Catholic.
Before she took queries from the audience, Zagunis answered everyone’s burning question: No, she did not get to meet multi-medalist and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
She did, however, see him eating in the dining hall.
One of the students wanted to know how she felt when she won her second gold medal in August.
“I felt every emotion all at once, except for sad,” said Zagunis. “The biggest feeling was probably uncontrollable laughter.”
In remembering her teachers and her early years of fencing, Zagunis said whenever she left for travel instructors always asked two things. First, they wondered how she did at her latest competition. Next, they asked if she did her homework.
Zagunis admitted that she gets “really nervous” when preparing to compete at the Olympics, but that it helps her to concentrate, focus and get “pumped up.”
She related well to the younger students. She started fencing in fourth grade at age 10 after standing on the sidelines for years watching her brother, Martin, practice and compete. Zagunis set her sights on the Olympics early on and her parents were supportive. Both Robert and Cathy Zagunis competed in the 1976 Olympics as rowers. Her preparation for the 2008 Olympics ran one year and five months with five hours of practice every day.
The atmosphere in the Valiant gym was even more charged when Zagunis ran out to the stage in front of a bigger group of 600 screaming students, faculty, staff and a rousing pep band. Zagunis’ introduction by Claudia Thomas, Valley Catholic High School admissions director, was poignant because Thomas herself competed as a swimmer in the Olympics in the 1960s. She was a breaststroke and medley swimmer who won her first Olympic medal at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics when she was 14. It was a silver, in the 200-meter breaststroke. Four years later, when Mexico City hosted the Games, Claudia ruled in the women’s individual medley, and won gold in the 200 meters and in the 400 meters. In that decade, she set numerous world records in the medley.
The middle and high school students especially enjoyed a fencing bout between Zagunis and Valley’s head football coach, John Perrigo. After she gave him a few pointers, they had a close match but Zagunis remained on top as the undefeated fencing champion.
At the end of the assembly, several teachers from Zagunis’ time at Valley Catholic gathered around her to present her with the school’s first Distinguished Alumni Award, given by the school and the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Foundation to graduates who excel in their life’s work, demonstrate a high standard of personal integrity, and strive for excellence to live a valiant life.
Zagunis plans to compete again at the 2012 games in London. She will begin training after she graduates from Notre Dame sometime in 2010.
