While completing a bachelor’s degree in management in the early nineties, Prendergast was a star tennis player for RIC. A starter all four years, he used his incredible talent and determination to work his way up to the top, becoming the team’s #1 singles player during his junior and senior years. He started his career as the #3 singles player, before moving to the #2 ranking his sophomore year. By the time he earned his degree in 1993, Prendergast had earned an impressive singles record of 34-14, ranking him 5th of all-time for singles wins. In 2001, he returned to RIC for a degree in secondary education before coming to LHS.

Prendergast wasn’t always a star player though. Motivated by his desire to surpass the talent of his family members, the key to his success was hard work and lots of practice.

“Sometimes I’d go practice with my brother and my father,” he said. “My father would play with my brother and then he wouldn’t play with me because they were tired at the end, and I felt like I wasn’t good enough. So I wanted to practice and get better. My goal was to beat my father and my brother.”

Although his playing days came to an end years ago, Prendergast hasn’t abandoned tennis completely. He still coaches, taking great pride in his ability to help lead LHS student athletes to greatness. He served as the head coach of the LHS boys tennis team from 2003 to 2011, and has now been the assistant coach since 2024.

“My coach used to say, get the last point,” he said. “So that’s what I used to focus on. I probably wasn’t the most talented player, but I just worked hard.”

With his many wins, Prendergast has also faced many losses throughout his tennis career. He believes that it is important for athletes to accept these inevitable losses and remain motivated.

“Be determined, work hard, practice,” he said. “Sometimes you’ll have matches where you lose, and you just have to overcome that. Put that in the rearview mirror, and try to go forward.”

Before graduating in 2020 with a double bachelor’s in mathematics and secondary education, Eleni wasn’t afraid to be competitive out on the soccer field as well as the running track. She was a three-time All-American for track and field and was a starter for 33 out of the 35 games she played for the women’s soccer team.

By far, Eleni was most successful in sprinting events for track and field. She made it to the NCAA National Championship during her sophomore, junior, and senior years, earning second place in the 4x100m relay as a senior. At the New England Alliance Championship her senior year in 2019, Eleni placed first in the 100m sprint, 4x100m relay, and the 4x400m relay.

Eleni’s extraordinary athleticism and commitment led her to win the Helen M. Murphy Award at her graduation, a prestigious award given each year to the best graduating female athlete.

“When I graduated, it was the COVID year,” Eleni said. “So usually they bring you on stage, and I didn’t get any of that, but I didn’t need any of that recognition. I was just happy to be recognized by the school for that award, because at the end of the day, it is such an honor.”

Out of all of her accomplishments, making it to the national championships was one of the most fulfilling for Eleni.

“I am a very goal oriented person, and the first time that I qualified for the national championships was my sophomore year of college,” she said. “Once I got a taste for the national championships, I set a goal that I wanted to come back, and once I set a goal, I have to achieve it. I will do anything in my power to achieve it, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Before starting her career in track and field, Eleni was a fierce competitor in soccer. Her coach encouraged her and her sister to start running track after noticing their impressive speed on the field. From there, Eleni fell in love with the sport and grew to enjoy track more than soccer. After playing for her first two years of college, she eventually stopped playing soccer to focus completely on running.

“Your time is your time,” she said. “I enjoyed that because no one can take your skill away from you.”

Out of fear of getting injured, Eleni largely stopped playing either sport after college, aside from briefly playing in a few coed soccer pickup leagues. However, she did spend a considerable amount of time as a coach for both soccer and track.

Competing alongside Eleni was her twin sister, Nicole, who she claims to be faster than.

“I am actually the faster twin,” she said. “We both were All-Americans together in the 4×100 meter, but individually, in terms of short distances, I win. And she would say the same thing.”

Nicole does in fact agree.

“She’s not lying, but I would catch her in a 400 or 600 any day of the week,” Nicole said.

Not far behind her sister, Nicole will be inducted into the RIC Hall of Fame later this month.

Her four years on the track team undeniably showcased her athletic talent. During her senior year in 2019, she earned All-American honors status at the NCAA National Championship, finishing 2nd place in the 4x100m relay, which she ran with Eleni. She finished first in numerous events, including 4x400m relay, 4x100m relay, and 400m at the Sean Collier Invitational as a senior. Nicole was also an All-American during her junior year, after placing second in the 4x100m relay at the NCAA Div. III National Championship. While dedicating so much time and effort to her sport, Nicole graduated RIC in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, with a concentration in general science.

Hard work was equally important to her success as her athleticism.

“With track, you have to, in some ways, be born with the speed or be born with the stamina, but you also have to really work at it,” She said.

During both of their high school and college years, Eleni and Nicole built strong connections with their teammates, making the over seven-hour track meets not just bearable, but enjoyable.

“We had an awesome group of teammates,” Nicole said. “We were really close with the boys team and the girls team, so we were viewed as one.”

“We just had fun from the start of the meet to the end of the day,” Eleni said.

Like her sister, Nicole ended her soccer career after two years at RIC, but she actually played soccer for much longer than she ran track, and still cherishes that significant part of her past.

“I loved the camaraderie of playing as a team with soccer,” said Nicole. “I love both of them for different reasons, but in the end, track was what I loved the most.”

With Nicole’s busy life inside and outside of school, she simply doesn’t have the time right now to stay involved with either sport, despite how much she misses it. She encourages other student-athletes to reduce the amount of pressure they put on themselves by remembering that hard work will always pay off.

“In hindsight, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be successful, so I would get really anxious to run or compete,” she said. “During my last race, I knew it was my last race, and it was probably one of my best ones because I just took all the pressure off and just enjoyed it.”