BY SOPHIA EHLERS (17’)

High school sports have become more and more competitive each year as the expectations are set higher and higher for student athletes. In just this past year our high school was blessed with three more state championships, owed to our dedicated coaches and incredibly hard working athletes. As each sport season rolls around more freshman roll around with it, otherwise known as “fresh meat.”

One of the greatest honors as a freshman is having the opportunity to make, or even start on varsity. Freshman Katie Cox is making noise on the varsity girls’ soccer team. 

She felt a mix of emotions when she stepped on the field the first time as a varsity player.

“I was nervous for sure, but excited at the same time,” Cox said. “I fit well with the team and I knew they would have my back.”

Cox is predicted to earn league, district, and maybe even state honors this year with her performance so far. Her All American sister, Niki Cox, was also a freshman starter on the 2012 girls’ soccer team.

“I love playing with my sister,” Katie Cox said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to play my last high school season with her.”

Katie’s teammates feel she is a wonderful edition to the team and her coaches believe she will be very vital player during her four years of high school.

Though making varsity as a freshman is an honor it also comes with a large amount of pressure that can make or break each athlete. To have the spot light always shinning on an athlete means they must have a great deal of confidence.

Rose Sawyers, now a sophomore, made three varsity sports her freshman year, though it came with struggles at times she persevered to be a key player on all three teams and even played a part in winning the first ever softball state championship at Granville High school.

“We had made it to states in soccer during the fall season so I understood what the pressure would be like and how a loss would feel,” Sawyers said. “We were not going to come up short this time.”

Sawyers started at second base and batted leadoff, if you don’t know softball, those are impressive positions at any grade level.

Halle Garmen, the starting catcher, was also a freshman, but what she overcame was something to be proud.  Halle started off the season not knowing where she would play, but when junior Anna Moorehead had a devastating basketball injury, Halle Garmen stepped up to catch the teams All-state pitcher Abby Barker.

“I’ve never been so nervous in my life, but I’ve never been so excited either,” Garmen said. “That game will always be a special memory that I will never forget.”

Garmen and Sawyers will continue to play necessary roles on the team and both have ambition to continue their career in college.

Freshman are crucial to the teams and to championships. The more experience an athlete can get on varsity develops them into a better player and leader. Exceptional  freshman athletes end up being captains as seniors, juniors or even sophomores, and sometimes they go on to play at the collegiate level.