Track and field thrower carries lessons from high school as she moves on to compete in college

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Grace Whyrick

Senior Grace Whyrick prepares to throw the shotput. Whyrick has multiple scholarship offers for next year.

Kathryn Broderius, Staff Writer

Whether she’s in the classroom learning, practicing for sports, or helping those around her, senior Grace Whyrick is ready to pour her heart out into whatever she’s doing. 

These attributes and her Spartan Pride are what has allowed Whyrich to  lead her team to regional qualifiers for volleyball, qualify for state swim and also compete at the state track meet the past three years. She said that, “My favorite memories of the past four years have been with my teams from volleyball, swim and track. Each sport I competed in gave me a unique experience and allowed me to meet a lot of different people. My all time favorite memory was throwing my personal record at state, placed 4th, and then turning around and to see my dad. I was feeling so happy because it had been something I had worked towards forever.”  

Unfortunately like many other opportunities, the corona virus also took away her likely chance to qualify for state a fourth year. Despite the 2020 spring sports season cancellation, Whyrick is not done with her athletic career yet. 

“I am planning on continuing my track and field career at a four year university. The most exciting thing will be to see what I can accomplish at the next level in academics and athletics,” explained Whyrick. 

Even though she has not officially selected a school to attend, she has five different scholarship offers from college track and field programs in both Colorado and Nebraska. Her love for sports is what has led her to major in sports and exercise science no matter where she decides to continue her education at.  

Throughout these past four years, if Whyrich has learned one thing it would be, “To trust the process. Success doesn’t come overnight. It truly takes months to achieve your goals.” 

Even through all the ups and downs seniors have experienced these past few months, she made sure to reiterate that people shouldn’t take things for granted.  “Especially this year, I learned not everything goes as planned. Having the opportunity to beat the school record, become a state champion and so much more have been stripped away from me which has made me realize you have to make the most of stuff in the moment because it’s going to end eventually and you honestly never know when,” Whyrick said.