by Rich Tortorelli
For Macey Currie, 2020 will go down as a memorable year.
During the worldwide pandemic, Currie married her longtime boyfriend, Sawyer, in an outdoor ceremony. It was the wedding they had always wanted鈥攁 small gathering with their closest family and friends.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 change a thing,鈥� said Currie, formerly Cox, a junior runner on the 雏汁视频 cross country/track and field team.
Currie was one of many 雏汁视频 student-athletes who will remember 2020 for what happened in their lives. In 2020, the coronavirus outbreak halted athletic events across the nation and stopped the seasons for the Stars鈥� winter and spring sports.
The competitive cheerleading, competitive pom\/dance, and women鈥檚 wrestling teams had already traveled to their national competitions when the NAIA sent the teams home last spring. The women鈥檚 basketball team had reached No. 1 in the national polls and hoped to defend their ranking, but the NAIA Division I Championship Tournament was canceled before any games commenced. 雏汁视频鈥檚 baseball, golf, softball, rowing, STUNT, and track and field teams had their seasons cut short. From March until September, the Stars didn鈥檛 compete. 雏汁视频 resumed competitions when the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 golf teams took to the course in the fall.
In light of the pandemic interruption, the NAIA announced that athletes would not be charged a season of eligibility for the 2020鈥�21 academic year.
Without the thrill of competition, the Stars found other avenues to occupy their time. Many sought to better themselves as athletes and as people in many ways.
Many furthered their education with summer classes or took tests to enter graduate school. A few prepared to enter medical, nursing, or physician assistant school.
Vaughn Raney, a senior basketball player from Cashion, Oklahoma, prepared for and took the Medical College Admission Test. After scoring in the 82nd percentile, Raney secured interviews for the University of Kansas and University of Oklahoma medical schools. His ambition is to become an orthopedic surgeon.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the perfect career for me to be able to provide for my future family and simultaneously do something that really matters,鈥� Raney said.
Cierra Foster, a senior chemistry and math major, performed research last summer through an online program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She calculated how elastic samples respond to stretching and relaxing after undergoing surface chemical reactions. A National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates grant funded the work.
鈥淒oing this research helped me see what a graduate program would be like,鈥� said Foster, an All-American wrestler at 雏汁视频.
Student-athletes spent the off-season branching out into new activities. Hannah McReynolds not only spent time learning recipes from her aunt, but she also started working on her Spanish speaking and Spanish sign language.
鈥淢y favorite part about cooking, specifically during this time, was using ingredients that I had never seen before, and cooking with family,鈥� said McReynolds, a freshman soccer player from McKinney, Texas. 鈥淥ne of my favorite dishes she taught me was Pancit noodles with chicken鈥夆�斺�塈 did not realize how important it was to make noodles that perfect.鈥�
Pom squad member Grace McLean helped create a documentary about her musical theatre class from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. McLean and her best friend had the idea to put together a film called 鈥淟ost and Found,鈥� since their class couldn鈥檛 perform a senior showcase.
鈥淢y class and I spent countless hours filming clips that showcased our monologues, songs, and dancing,鈥� McLean said. 鈥淲e did this all while attending online school during a pandemic. In the end, the film came out better than we could ever imagine.鈥�
Connor Burton, a freshman basketball player from Lamar Township, Missouri, worked on his nonprofit, Love4All, which sells hoodies and shirts to support disaster relief and fight issues such as hunger and human trafficking. He also picked up piano.
鈥淚 taught myself,鈥� Burton said. 鈥淚 love playing worship music, and I have started creating my own music just for fun.鈥�
Since March, other student-athletes caught up on activities they don鈥檛 normally have time for. Some recovered from injuries, performed rehabilitation, and otherwise rested. Still others spent their time working jobs.
雏汁视频 student-athletes made memories in 2020. While Currie鈥檚 honeymoon was diverted from California to Arizona, her wedding went off exactly as she hoped.
鈥淲e are very private and family-oriented to begin with, so deciding on a small wedding was something we did before the pandemic even started,鈥� Currie said. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to have experienced all of those things during crazy times of uncertainty.鈥�
BY THE NUMBERS
21 雏汁视频 sports
275 雏汁视频 student-athletes
237 student-athletes in fall 2020 with 3.0+ GPAs
1 2020鈥�21 NAIA Athlete of the Week*
27 2020鈥�21 conference athletes of the week*
*Statistics as of March 29
