A L E AGU E O F T H E I R OW N What two W.T. White athletes took away from sports AFTER SHE GRADUATED from W.T. White High School, Makayla Ford planned on attending community college. But during the year, she star ted communicating with the wrestling coach at Ottawa University in Arizona. Ford updated him on her progress throughout the season, and eventually, the coach offered her a scholarship to join the wrestling team, even though she had only wrestled one season.
“It happened out of nowhere,” Ford says. Incoming junior Kayden Parry is another W.T. White student with some athletic accomplishments under her belt. When she first started high school, she was one of three ninth-graders to make the varsity cheerleading team, which hadn’t happened for 21 years. “I was just so scared,” Parry says. “But I was invited by all of these girls with warm hearts and huge hugs.”
Ford and Parry are two of about 300 girls who participated in athletics at their school last year. Although there was a small decrease in athletic participation, the Longhorns achieved some victories, athletic director Tony Johnson says. Eleven girls on the track team competed in the regional meet, and the softball team made the playoffs for the first time in five years. Following a district win last season, the girls soccer team advanced to the
Story by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by JESSICA TURNER
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JULY 2021
