Republic’s spring seniors got a final shot to compete last week. Here’s what a few participants had to say about the COC senior competitions:
“When our season was canceled, I was crushed, because I knew the last time I stepped on the field was my junior year, and I would never see the field again. It’s tough when you’ve lived your whole life and played the same game crowing up. It’s been the hardest few months of my life, it means everything to come out here one last time with the guys and be able to play with them and put on this jersey one last time.”
- Nicholas Rose (baseball)
“I feel bad for the guys, because I think we were going to be pretty successful this spring, and now we’ll just never know. But being able to get out and compete with them one more time was great.”
- Coach Curt Plotner (baseball)
“It was extremely important . I don’t think I’ve ever thought one game could mean as much as this does, but I’ve been looking forward to it the whole time I knew about it. It’s good to have one final thing, since we didn’t get Senior Night or anything like that. I didn’t realize how much it would mean to me, and how much fun it would be to finally be back out here again.”
- Megan Garbee (soccer)
“It’s fun. It’s a little different, though, not having our whole team out there, and trying to figure out the new teammates – working together when you’ve never played with them. It’s weird playing our biggest competitors – Ozark and Nixa, now they’re on our team. So it’s a bit strange.”
- Hannah Lease (soccer)
“It really feels great, because I worked really hard over the summer and I wanted to improve my game. For it to be flat-out canceled and all my work goes to waste would have been sad, so I’m really happy to be out here, especially on a great day like this.”
- Ethan Ragsdale (tennis)
“It felt really good being back on the courts. I was really bummed when our season got canceled, but it was good to come back and compete.”
- Isaac Jordan (tennis)
“It felt good. I needed some competition, let me tell you. You get in the mode to play a tennis season, and it’s taken away from you, and you’re kind of needing some of that competition. It’s good to get out here, get a few wins for the day, and wrap up the experience. I just beat Nixa for the last time. That’s about as much closure as you can get.”
- Jack Cook (tennis)
