Warren Arceneaux

Ivan Appleton arrived at St. Louis Catholic High with big expectations, athletically and academically. He met them all en route to a stellar career in soccer, track, cross country and in the classroom.

He said watching his older sister, India, excel in soccer and track made him want to do the same.

“I had high expectations because she ran and played soccer at St. Louis and I was looking forward to doing what she did,” he said. “Watching her have success, going to state and seeing all of the excitement really made me want to experience that.”

It didn’t take long for Ivan to reach the big stage as he won a cross country state championship as a sophomore, a feat he repeated last fall as a senior.

“The first one was maybe more exciting because I was so young,” he said. “It was my first year competing at the varsity level and that race was a mess. It was muddy and like 39 degrees, a really cool experience.

“This year was a lot more special because of everything we had to overcome. It was nice to cross the finish line and know that I had finished something that I had started a long time ago, even though I was living in basically half a house and we were going to school in trailers.”

In addition to the hardships caused by the hurricanes and coronavirus pandemic, Appleton had to overcome physical obstacles as well.

“I set the school record in the 3,200 in outdoor track, which was nice because I had knee surgery in December,” he said. “It was cool to come back. We (finished) second in the 4×800 and it was fun being with a team, being on the podium with other guys.”

The injury caused Appleton to miss his last year of soccer.

“That was disappointing because I was so excited for this season,” he said. “Even with the injury, I gave my all in the leadership and motivation departments, but it is nothing like being on the field and fighting with your comrades.”

In the classroom, Appleton earned a 4.64 grade point average and will attend Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he will compete in cross country and track and field.

He is the winner of the American Press Scholar Athlete of the Year award.

“I knew that academics were the priority,” he said. “I enjoyed all my English classes, AP government and politics, all of the AP history classes, but my favorite class was philosophy with Father (Ruben) Villareal and Father (Nathan) Long. There were only five of us in that class so we were able to have discussions, open dialogue the entire year about issues in our lives.”

Appleton said Tufts provides an opportunity to keep competing while earning a quality education.

“I chose Tufts because the coaches were phenomenal and the team was pretty cool,” he said. “Not only that but it is located in Boston and I wanted to go to a big city after having a small-town experience my whole life. As of right now I plan to major in English. I like the creative side of academia.”

He added that participating in sports enriched his high school experience.

“Besides the great discussions with teachers and classmates in the classroom, some of the best memories were traveling around with the track, cross country and soccer teams,” he said. “Getting to experience the things I did in sports, those are memories that are going to live forever.”

American Press Scholar Athletes of the Year

Jeriah Warren, LaGrange

Ivan Appleton, St. Louis Catholic