The awards and accolades keep coming for Lauren McClellan.
McClellan was voted as the best Durango High School spring athlete on durangoherald.com after earning all-state and all-league honors for her stellar play for the Durango girls soccer team.
“I'd definitely say my senior year season has been my favorite season by far,” McClellan said. “We had a really great team and it feels really nice to be recognized, especially since I played more like this season compared to others. All the girls, I had a great time with. But, I really didn't expect any of the awards or anything that I got and so it's a really cool thing.”
McClellan won the poll with 35% of the votes, followed by Xavier Sutherlin from the track and field team with 23% of the vote and Dawson McInnes from the baseball team with 22% of the vote.
As a senior, McClellan played center back for the Demons and scored four goals and had two assists. She was also a key reason Durango had a 14-game stretch where it allowed one goal or less in each game before losing 3-0 to Lutheran in the 4A state quarterfinals.
McClellan played club as well as for Durango and focused a little more on her training in the offseason before her senior year. She credits first-year head coach Zac Keeler for being one of the main reasons for her success with him giving her an opportunity to play more.
The Demons went 14-4 overall and finished 10-0 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League before losing to Lutheran 3-0 in the 4A state quarterfinal. Durango won 14 consecutive games before losing in the playoffs.
“Our team, my senior year, was also just incredible,” McClellan said. “All the girls were super supportive and we were really competitive, but in a good kind of way. We wanted to more build on each other's skills and compete at a healthy level with one another. In years past, our team hasn't been as close as we were this year.”
McClellan will miss traveling with the team to all the away games. She’ll also miss the home games, where the Demons went undefeated.
Now that she’s graduated, McClellan is looking forward to attending the University of Utah and she plans to major in nursing.
Although her high school career is over, she still plans to have a soccer ball at her feet in college. McClellan wants to try out for the club team because she can’t imagine not playing soccer.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
