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You don’t often hear about many freshmen breaking records or setting the benchmark in their respective sport. Henry Mensman is the exception.
The Catholic High star hasn’t taken long to make his mark in multiple sports, setting records both on the track and in the pool.
Mensman recently ran a 48.95 in the 400-meter dash, which was the No. 1 best time in the country for his age group at the time and still ranks as one of the 10 best times in the country. “Before high school I never expected to even dream of this level,” says Mensman, who only started running track two years ago. “(Track) is still pretty new to me, so this was never on my radar.”
The Bears’ freshman grew up as a swimmer, swimming competitively since middle school. As he got older, Mensman was looking for ways to improve his leg strength in the water, so his coach at the time recommended he look into running track.
“For swimming, of course you’re using your whole body to swim,” Mensman says. “I noticed that on sets at practice when we would just use our legs, I was falling behind. (My coach and I) talked about how to strengthen them, so then I figured I might as well join track.”
The efforts have paid off. Not only did Mensman win first place in the 50-meter backstroke and the 100-meter IM in 8th grade, he also made the state swim team as a freshman and competed at the state tournament in his first prep season. The multi-sport star also broke the freshman record at Catholic High in the 400 and 800-meter dash, ran the 4×8 relay and the 4×4 relay at state and broke the freshman all-time Louisiana record in the 800.
“I’m just trying to get better,” says Mensman, who also boasts a 4.0 GPA in all honors/AP classes. “I don’t want to limit myself on what I can do. I just want to keep getting better. Wherever I am, I want to improve from there.
As Mensman continues to dominate the track and make headlines, it’s clear that he has the potential to become a future star in the world of athletics.
Read more Rising Stars profiles here.
