Colden Hernandez is a true Penn Kingsmen all-around athlete as a junior in high school. In his Sophomore year, he participated in four sports at Penn High School. Hernandez was able to participate in Football, Basketball, Track, and Rugby.
Hernandez started the season of his sophomore year by playing on both the Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity (V) football team. He says playing on the varsity level and having friends was a big learning experience.
He was able to see how the upperclassmen seniors carried themselves on and off the field. During the Winter of 2023, Hernandez was one of the leading scorers on the team and helped them get to a 20-2 JV record. He says that after not playing much on an undefeated Penn Freshman team he felt like this year he had to step it up and train harder during the off season. After the JV season was over he was invited to stay and help the varsity practice. They made their run trying to get out of the sectionals but unfortunately ended up losing in the sectional final round.
Meanwhile, Hernandez placed in the top 15 in the early hours of Speed Training sessions. He was able to earn himself a Speed King shirt. With this new heightened speed, Hernandez was able to try out for the track team and make it. By becoming a sprinter he was able to earn a spot running in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and also the 4×1 team spot. He successfully made the B Team 4×1 spot while the A Team was ranked first in the state. Hernandez made the postseason track team which was only for the Varsity teams. Unfortunately, this moment was cut short due to a hip injury which was limiting his speed and acceleration to run fast.
While the track season was going on Hernandez was also a key Varsity player for the Kingsmen Rugby team.
He stated, “I’m very thankful and grateful for the training staff because they are the reason that I was still able to play the sports I love and wasn’t able to have such a setback with my injury.”
At this time Hernandez ended up having a great rugby season even though this was his first year playing. Hernandez is fortunate to have caught the attention of college recruiters to start to notice him. They have even had a few of them reach out to him to stay in contact with the hopes of gaining a scholarship from the schools.
Hernandez is in his junior year now and is playing on the Varsity Penn football team as a starting defensive back. The Pennant is mid season with a record of 5-1 and is ranked second in the conference and 33rd in Indiana.
Hernandez is unsure if he wants to continue playing basketball and track this year as he goes into his junior year. He knows he will definitely play Rugby in the spring season, a sport he truly enjoys.
