Toriana Wilson
Lake City High School
Hard work and dedication have led Lake City High School senior Toriana Wilson to be ranked fourth in her class of 374 seniors and maintain a 4.287 GPA. Her course load is nothing less than challenging with honors, advanced placement and dual-credit courses. In addition to a challenging academic schedule, Toriana has been a member of the Lake City High School varsity swim team for the past four years, serving as captain this year.
“This year our LCHS women’s team won the Idaho Fall Sports Academic State Championship with an average GPA of 3.9,” said Toriana of her team’s accomplishment. Toriana is also a senior squad member of the local year-round club Coeur d’Alene Area Swim Team where she serves as co-captain.
She describes herself as a people person who especially enjoys working with children. “I also have a passion for math and science, so a degree in nursing seems to be my calling,” said Toriana, adding that she hopes to solidify a specialty study such as oncology, pediatric or neonatal nursing but is yet undecided as to what college she will attend. “I am also very interested in exploring travel-abroad experiences in college and may also pursue similar opportunities in the first few years of my career as a nurse.”
Toriana experienced an injury her freshman year that set her back when it came to swimming. She shares that the biggest challenge was learning how to heal herself mentally following her injury.
“Fixing your body is mechanical—it’s easier. It’s external. But fixing your mentality is exhausting and difficult. There’s a formula of patience and determination and self-love that is used to heal people’s broken minds,” said Toriana.
Toriana is grateful for the experiences and life lessons that swimming has taught her. The most important one, she said, is how much one’s attitude can influence another person, something she learned in her role as a team captain.
Karter Rasmussen
Coeur d’Alene High School
A senior at Coeur d’Alene High School, Karter Rasmussen began to swim competitively when he was 8 years old and living in Germany where his father was stationed in the U.S. Army. His natural talent was quickly discovered and, through a great deal of hard work, Karter was soon traveling around Europe to various meets and placing well in his events.
“I really started to enjoy the exhilaration,” said Karter. He recently experienced that again when he placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke and third in the 200-yard individual medley at the Idaho High School State Championship Meet in Boise.
“I originally hadn’t planned to compete in the breaststroke because freestyle has been my best stroke for the past few years, but I wanted to switch it up a bit,” said Karter, who is also a member of Coeur d’Alene Area Swim Team with whom he swims year round.
“One of my accomplishments during the club swim season is qualifying for Senior Sectionals in Seattle for the past three years. This is a very large and fast meet with some difficult qualifying times,” he said.
Still undecided as to where he will attend college, Karter says he is considering becoming a mechanical engineer or possibly an anesthesiologist.
While training can be grueling at times, Karter said he really enjoys the competition.
“There’s no better feeling than when I touch the wall, look at the board and see either first place or the time I was aiming for,” said Karter. “With swimming, I like how I know exactly what I’m training for. It’s not like a football game where other people determine the win or loss. If I work hard and do my best, then the end result was based solely on whether I achieved what I was working for during all my training.”