Fall sports seniors are spending their last hours on the fields and courts that they have dedicated so much of their time to over the last four years. While there are many bittersweet emotions swirling around, seniors have many positive experiences to reflect on.
This season has marked not only the end of these veteran athletes’ high school careers, but it has become a celebration of all that they have achieved as a Bulldog.
“Throughout my high school cheer career, I’ve definitely grown to be more of a leader to the younger athletes,” Abby Coullahan said. “When I was a freshman, I was definitely on the other side of that. I feel that it has given me a new perspective on the sport itself.”
As Class of ’26 looks back on their last four years, they realize how much their sport impacted their lives for the better.
For many, this final season feels different, as the seniors make sure to leave all that they have learned behind for the grades that follow them.
“I think what has made this season special to me is that it’s my last high school year for cross country and track, so everything I’ve learned from everybody else, I get to take and show people how to lead and improve,” Shepard said.
Every fall team made memories this season, but some moments stood out among the rest.
“The game that was most memorable to me this season was our first game against Freedom [High School],” volleyball player Izzy Moore said. “I just thought the energy and the feeling that the whole team had was really good. We also played really well that night so it gave us a taste of what we could do.”
Although the on-field play for these athletes may be coming to an end, the lessons they learned left them with words of advice to pass onto their younger teammates.
”I would tell younger players to enjoy every moment of your sport and play like it’s your last because honestly you never know when it will be,” Coullahan said. “I have definitely learned that you need to push through hardships to be able to reach success and that you can’t stop when things get hard because that is when the best success will come.”
The experience of playing as a Bulldog athlete has shaped each senior’s high school years in different ways. For many, their team has become more than a group of players, they have become a family.
”The thing I am going to miss the most about the field hockey team is being able to see my friends everyday and playing with them,” Ashley Royer said. “I loved going to practice everyday because I was hanging out with my closest friends and playing the sport I love.”
As senior nights come and go, teams got together to celebrate and thank their seniors for all their hard work, guidance, and dedication they had shown throughout their years on the team. With senior night embodying the end of the fall season and a large part of student-athletes’ high school experience, the athletes celebrated were hit with a culmination of mixed emotions.
”I am definitely feeling really sad because it’s not only my last time playing in this gym, it’s my last time playing with this team which is one of my favorite teams I’ve been a part of,” Moore said. “I’m also excited for the rest of the school year. Next year, I am going to be playing in college, so I’m looking forward to closing this chapter of my life and moving forward.”
