Peninsula female athlete of the year: Three-sport standout Lovrovich excelled in everything

Teammates love to be around Linsey Lovrovich. She works hard and encourages her friends to reach the same heights that she does.

And there have been plenty of teammates over the past four years. Lovrovich played four different sports while attending Peninsula High School: volleyball, basketball, track and cross country. Her sophomore year was the busiest, when she participated in three sports.

She will continue her athletic career with Boise State, where she’s signed to play basketball.

“Doing all these sports made me pretty busy, but that is just normal for me,” she said. “It was really fun and cool to play with [my sister] Laney sophomore year. Obviously, I was not the best at volleyball. Laney is way better at it, but it was something that I liked to do… I’m super excited to play at the next level against higher competition and meet my new team.”

The future Bronco is no stranger to playing at a high level, as her competitive nature has earned her several awards in her career. Although she did not yield anything as a sophomore playing volleyball, she did earn her way onto the 3A South Sound Conference all-league second team in 2018 for basketball. In 2019, she was a first-team selection.

In track, Lovrovich favored events like the 400 and 800-meter dash, as well as being on several relay teams. She found major success at the state track meet at Mount Tahoma in the 400 as she finished fourth as a freshman with a time of 58.76 seconds, and second as a sophomore with a 58.33 time. Also as a freshman, she came second in state in the 800 with a time of 2:12.30.

Lovrovich is The Peninsula Gateway’s female Athlete of the Year from Peninsula High School.

“For me, she’s been huge. Linsey has been there ever since I took over that program four years ago now,” said basketball coach Mike Schick. “Seeing her grow from a timid little eighth grader playing summer league on her way into freshman year to who she’s grown into now as a senior leader, it’s been unbelievable. She is such a great athlete, but she puts in the work. She cannot stand to lose.”

Lovrovich is one of two players that Schick has had play in his program all four years they attended Peninsula. The other is Piper Bauer, who Lovrovich was co-captains with this past basketball season.

The Seahawks posted a 5-9 record this season. They finished the season with a 59-50 win over crosstown rival Gig Harbor.

“We were really lucky that we even got a season. It was really delayed,” Lovrovich said. “We felt so grateful to play at the Puyallup Fairgrounds for our first few games because we couldn’t play in any gyms. That was a lot of fun, and I am thankful to get the opportunity to play because we did not know for sure if we were going to have a season. Playing in 4A is a different competition and it was a lot of fun. It was a different experience than what we were used to.”

Lovrovich took everything in stride and decided running track would help keep her in shape year-round and for basketball.

And what a decision that turned out to be.

“Going into track, it was just something to get in shape for basketball,” she said. “I enjoyed playing sports so much that I didn’t consider track a sport. But working at it for so long, getting better and working at it, it has become part of who I am. Track became a part of who I am. Placing second in state in the 800 freshman year and then 400 sophomore was such a fun time and cool opportunity to race against high competition.”

Someone coming in and dominating from the start is rare, but Lovrovich figures that her preparation was the key to her placing among the state’s best runners.

She didn’t have much confidence going into either state championship meets she competed in. Lovrovich credits her family, friends, and coaches for believing in her more than she did herself.

“I was just planning on going out there and doing my best, I think my coaches, my family and everyone supporting me had more confidence in me than I did,” she said. “They said I could do it, and I didn’t much believe them. But I went out there and won second.”

That undying conviction from her support system sparked a sentiment that Lovrovich will carry on with her to Boise, where she hopes to continue to flourish on the basketball court.

For Lovrovich, her personal belief is that putting everything you can onto the court or track is all a person can do. That is what has got her to where she is now and will carry her onward to bigger and better things.

“I hope to be remembered as someone that worked hard and had a big impact in helping the team win overall in both basketball and track,” Lovrovich said. “Doing your best is all you can do. It doesn’t matter how good your competition is, just always do your best and that’s all you can do, really.”