PROFILE Sargent juggles 3 sports, studies

The Lake Erie College sophomore is a starter in all three and holds a 3.5 GPA.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
PAINESVILLE -- Very few college student-athletes have the incentive and time to play three sports.
For most students, it would exert too great a demand on time needed for academic study, employment and social life over the entire school year.
But Loni Sargent, a sophomore at Lake Erie College, participates in softball, basketball and soccer, and considers athletics an enjoyable asset that helps her to do better academically and in other areas of her life.
"I love it," said Sargent, who has been a two-year starter in all three sports. "If you love doing it, you can always blend it in with everything else."
In fact, loving to do it is the key to its success.
"The fact that I like it has to be an asset," said Sargent, the daughter of Teri Tate-Sargent of Hubbard. "It has to help me to do better. I guess it is helping me keep my grades up. My grades are really good. I have about a 3.5 grade-point average in majoring in biology. I want to become a physical therapist."
Career objective
Sargent expects to graduate in the fall of 2007, and would like to pursue master's and doctor's degrees in a combined three-year program in physical therapy.
So, how does Sargent play three sports and succeed academically?
"Time management. I am really organized," said Sargent. "The hard part is I can't participate in the off-season practices [for the other two sports].
"Overall it is not that hard. Anyone can do it, But you have to have time management. You have to make [the right] choices."
She also said it helps that "The school is flexible. We schedule practices when no one has classes. Stuff like that.
"I don't feel like I can quit one. I would feel bad that I was going to let my teammates down."
While at Hubbard High, Sargent was involved in soccer, basketball and softball as a junior and senior, and basketball, soccer and track as a freshman and sophomore.
Started young in sports
She got an early start in sports.
"I started playing soccer when I was four. My parents enrolled me in T-ball when I was six. I started playing basketball in the seventh and eighth grade," said Sargent. "[Sports are] just something I like and stuck with it."
Sargent currently is playing softball and is batting .250 (11-for-44) with six RBIs and seven runs scored. She has helped the Storm to a 15-9-1 record, including 6-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
Last season as a freshman, she batted .290 (27-for-93).
Also on the Lake Erie softball team is Brittney Binko, a freshman third and first baseman from Warren JFK, who leads the team in batting average (.414 on 29-for-70), RBIs (21) and homers (4).
Sargent also completed her second outstanding basketball season in a leadership role. The 5-foot-9 forward led Lake Erie in scoring (12.2) and rebounding (9.6) averages and field goal percentage (42.6 percent, 95-for-223) for the second season in a row. She also shared the team lead in steals (45).
Sargent has scored 573 points over the two-year span.
The previous season, Sargent led the team in 3-point percentage (35.7, 5-for-14) and steals (65).
In soccer, Sargent plays the sweeper position and was named all-conference honorable mention.
She was the team MVP in soccer and basketball as a freshman.
Nine area students cited
Sargent also was one of 61 Lake Erie student-athletes, including nine from the area, who were selected to the college's first Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
The other eight area selections were Tom Angelo, sophomore, Hubbard, soccer; Travis Clark, junior, Salem, soccer; Justin Daly, junior, Hubbard, soccer; Theresa Hunter, junior, Hartford, soccer; J.D. Johnson, junior, Warren, basketball and cross country; Brad McFadden, junior, Niles, soccer; Katie Roberts, senior, Niles, soccer, and Matt Tringhese, sophomore, Hubbard, soccer.
kovach@vindy.com