Natalie Cohen

Senior Avery Allmer decides to leave her track and basketball journey in high school and attend the University of Texas at Austin next year. “Being a college athlete is something that not a lot of people get to do so it was definitely hard for me to make the decision that I don’t want to run anymore, but thinking about the school that I’m going to, also not a lot of people get to go there,” Allmer said. “It kind of made my decision easier because I am super grateful to get to go to UT. I’m giving up track, but I’m still gaining a good education, so it wasn’t like I was giving something up completely.”

Catching her breath and preparing her mind for what could be her last race ever, she steps onto the track and runs her heart out. Anxiety fills her entire body knowing that her time is ticking as a high school athlete. This feeling was familiar to her, though, as she thinks back to hearing the last buzzer that announced the final loss of her high school basketball career. Despite the bittersweet memories flooding back, senior Avery Allmer continues to push on in her 4×4 race and break the school record.

Allmer has been a crucial part of the girls track and basketball teams for her entire high school sports career. Being a track captain since her sophomore year and a basketball captain since her junior year, Allmer continues to prove her excellence on and off the field. In her senior year, however, Allmer has faced struggles with the sports she loved, but continued to push through for her teammates and coaches.

“This season was definitely tough for me,” Allmer said. “My experience was not very good this year, which sucks since it was my senior year. I did have teammates that were good to me and I have a really strong connection with the coaches, so they were the main reason that I stayed through the whole season.”

Despite having a rough year due to the struggles that come with a new team, Allmer still enjoyed her senior year of basketball and did not let her personal life onto the court. Determined to make her last year the best she could, Allmer continued to play and make friendships that would last a lifetime.

“It was sad realizing all of this was coming to an end,” Allmer said. “Even though I didn’t have the best senior year in basketball, it was still really sad because all of my other three years were really great and I had really good teammates and friendships that came out of it. I’m not playing basketball in college and this whole chapter of my life is coming to an end, so it was kind of like ‘Oh my gosh, I’m really growing up’ and it was just so sad to realize. It’s good to move on to the next thing, but it’s really bittersweet.”

Besides basketball, Allmer also competes in track. Allmer has run the 4×4 all four years of high school, the 4×1 freshman and sophomore year, and the 200m and 400m both her junior and senior year. Awarded with many medals, Allmer placed in various different events over the course of her four years with track. Now, though, the medals serve just as a memory of the sport she loves.

“This year was definitely different, but it was really fun,” Allmer said. “This is one of my favorite years that I’ve had with the relay because all of [our 4×4 team] are so close and three of us are seniors. We connect and we can talk about stuff, like in the hotel room, we’ll just be sitting there and I’ll just be telling them about my life and they’ll be telling me about theirs and we’re all best friends, so it’s so fun. They can come to me about anything and I can go to them and it’s a super close relationship. In practice we just have the best time and we genuinely want the best for each other and I’ve never had that with other sports. It makes me feel really grateful to have them and have such a close relationship with them because I have not experienced that in the past.”

Allmer said that sad isn’t quite the right word to describe her leaving the program. While she is upset that her track journey has now come to an end, Allmer said that she is very excited to see what this program has in store for the future and how her impact will make the team better and stronger. 

“I’ve done so much and have been a part of a lot of things in track and it’s sad knowing all of that is coming to an end,” Allmer said. “But, I feel proud. I was reflecting on it and looking back and I really have done a lot and changed a lot in the program and made the program a better place, and so that’s all I can really ask for when I’m leaving, having made it better than how I found it.”

For her entire high school career, athletics have been a large part of Allmer’s life. After many D1 offers from colleges, Allmer had to make a very difficult decision but ultimately decided that her sports journey would end in high school. Instead of continuing with sports, Allmer has decided to attend the University of Texas Austin to major in communications. 

“Being a college athlete is something that not a lot of people get to do so it was definitely hard for me to make the decision that I don’t want to run anymore, but thinking about the school that I’m going to, also not a lot of people get to go there,” Allmer said. “It kind of made my decision easier because I am super grateful to get to go to U.T. I’m giving up track, but I’m still gaining a good education, so it wasn’t like I was giving something up completely.”

On top of track and basketball, Allmer also keeps up with her grades and is in many extracurriculars such as multiple honor societies and HOSA. Finding time between two sports, demanding classes and many extracurriculars proves to be extremely difficult—but Allmer doesn’t mind.

“Junior year was rough, it was horrible,” Allmer said. “I had so many AP classes and I didn’t have an off period. It was hard because basketball and track overlapped more. I had late nights with basketball and then had to wake up at 5:45 a.m. and go to track at 6:30 a.m. and there wasn’t a lot of sleep, especially when I had homework for all the AP classes that I took. It was hard and I definitely felt like it was too much for me, but I just love doing what I do and so it makes it easier to suffer through whenever I genuinely like doing both sports and prioritizing my academics.”

While Allmer’s competitive sports journey is facing its end, she hopes to continue being active and having sports play a role in her life because she said she can’t imagine sports not being in her life. 

“I do plan on joining intramurals because I still want to stay in a sport and be active,” Allmer said. “It’s fun and you meet a lot of people through that, so I think that’s what I’m going to do. I’m still going to work out and get a gym membership and lift. Whenever I get to UT I want to try to get involved with the basketball team or the track team, maybe be a manager of some type so the sport can still have a role in my life.”

While many tend to have regrets of what they should have done in high school, Allmer does not. Instead of letting others determine what her high school experience was going to be like, Allmer set herself up for success and made her four years something that she would never forget. Allmer hopes to be an example for others to follow and help others realize that they are capable of doing whatever they’re wanting to. 

“I don’t really have any regrets, I think I’ve experienced everything and did everything that I wanted to do,” Allmer said. “If I could change anything I would probably be less afraid to do things. Especially in my early years of high school, I was always nervous about what the upperclassmen would think, but you’re only in high school once, so make the most of it. At the end of the day, nobody is going to care about what you do, so do it.”