This Gig Harbor High athlete had an idea. Why not become an Olympic skeleton racer?

While watching the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea, Taggert Hudson was struck by what he saw.

“I was thinking, ‘Dang, how can I be on the Olympics?’” Hudson said.

Hudson, one of the top runners on the Gig Harbor High School track team, figured his options were limited. Olympic sports liking skiing or skating require years of dedication and training. Undeterred, he opted to look into some of the other, obscure sports like bobsled and skeleton.

Hudson found a lot of the skeleton athletes were recruited track athletes and football players. So skeleton it was.

Between college visits this summer, Hudson squeezed in a tryout for the Team USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation in late June in Colorado Springs. He was tested in a variety of activities intended to measure leg strength and explosiveness.

After showing well, Hudson earned an invite to a rookie training camp in Lake Placid, New York, in August.

So far, he hasn’t even touched a skeleton sled.

“There’s not too many people who want to jump on a skeleton head first,” Gig Harbor track coach Kevin Eager said.

More than anything, the sport requires an explosive start. Hudson’s skill set fit the bill.

“The guys that can accelerate are the ones that end up making the winter sports teams,” Eager said.

Gig Harbor had a state champion hurdler this past spring in Jurrian Hering. But in practice, Hudson often beat Hering to the first hurdle. While Hering’s top-end speed was ultimately superior, Hudson boasts an unusually explosive start. For skeleton, that’s the most important skill.

It’s that competitiveness that makes Hudson a unique athlete. For most, flying down a track of solid ice head first at a high speed has little to no appeal. For Hudson, it’ll have to be truly awful to deter him from pursuing his dream.

“It’s going to have to be absolutely terrifying for me to give up a shot at competing in the Olympics,” he said.

For Hudson, there’s still a lot of unknown. He has a lot to learn, and still has plenty of work to do to ultimately make the team and have a shot at representing the country in the Olympics, whether it’s in the 2022 Olympics in Bejing, China, or the 2026 Olympics.

But Hudson is in the mix, and he plans to make the most of his opportunity.

“I’m really excited for it,” he said. “I’m just super excited to get that exposure and be able to compete at an elite level with other elite-level athletes. I hope to make it to one of the Olympics, just to experience that. To represent the U.S. would be a really cool opportunity.”

Hudson still has his senior year at Gig Harbor before college. That means one more season with the track team, also, where he’ll help the Tides try to defend their state title from last spring.

“He loves to compete,” Eager said. “The (skeleton) is just another outlet for him that’s kind of unique. … We just have a good culture right now, and he’s certainly a part of that. He’s super competitive, super focused. We’re very excited for him. He’s a really good athlete.”

Hudson will have plenty to balance: AP classes, track, training with the USA Bobsled and Skeleton team, maintaining a social life, etc. He’s ready for the challenge.

“I just want to stay dedicated to the training, follow all the steps the Olympic coaches give me, make sure I find ways to make it work with the rest of my life.”