Multi-sport athletes are widespread in higher college, exactly where players who picked up sports as a kid can continue to play them at the varsity level.

Traditionally, the trend stops at two or 3 sports, but Caledonia senior Lauren Brown has exceeded that.

Following choosing up powerlifting in the winter, Brown is now a 4-sport athlete with the Cavaliers, and she’s not just a bench player.

She’s the star of the show in all 4, a starter and major contributor who’s place with each other rather the athletic profession currently.

“Since middle college, I’ve had the possibility to study many sports, but I haven’t had the possibility to shine like I have this year,” Brown stated. “I haven’t gotten the recognition, which I do not play for recognition. I play simply because I really like the sport, but this previous year, almost everything was a bit tougher to method simply because I’m not utilized to it.”

It started expanding up as she grew to really like softball and soccer, two sports that had best timing more than the course of the calendar year.

With soccer traditionally becoming a fall/winter sport and softball becoming a spring/summer season sport, she could do each without having problems of the two crossing more than.

It was much more than manageable to start out out with and anything several youngsters do to keep active and occupied, but when seventh grade came about, volleyball entered the mix.

“All my mates had been attempting out for volleyball, so I attempted out with them, produced the group, and I just truly loved it,” Brown stated. “It’s a enjoyable sport that I grew to really like.”

In her senior year, Caledonia began a girls powerlifting group for the 1st time, and who else would be involved but Brown, finishing the athletics quartet.

“It began with Izzy Glasgow, who recommended we must start out a group,” Caledonia powerlifting coach Jason Forrester stated. “Lauren was 1 of the 1st individuals I talked to soon after that. At 1st, she didn’t know how she was going to be capable to do it with softball, but as the year got on, in about October, she stated she was going to be capable to do it. … She began acquiring stronger as she went and items began coming with each other.”

With such a busy schedule, Brown stays busy and regimented, waking up and going to the fitness center at six a.m. most days to hold herself going.

Naturally, powerlifting was the best progression of what she was undertaking in the fitness center and in her profession, achievement from 1 sport has carried more than into other folks. After she began lifting, she got stronger and began playing much better in softball.

Her function ethic, nevertheless, is what has pushed her to this point, an internal motor that brings her competitive side out in almost everything that she does.

“She’s practically like a perfectionist, which is a fantastic point in several methods,” Caledonia softball head coach Andy Finch stated. “She focuses on what she can manage, what she can do, and that is how she’s grow to be what she’s grow to be. She’s grow to be a good competitor, a good leader and a good player in all the sports she plays.”

Of the 4, softball has been her finest sport, and it is the 1 she’ll continue playing at the subsequent level, as she signed with Itawamba Neighborhood College in mid-November 2022.

Just simply because it is her finest sport does not imply that she focuses on it above the rest, anything that is contributed to her athletic balance, enabling her achievement across the board.

“Everyone has a point in their profession exactly where they’re like ‘Do I want to hold playing,’” Brown stated. “You have to keep in mind why you hold playing in the 1st location. It is simply because you really like it, not simply because of the achievement you see. … There’s unique elements of every single sport that I really like and that have helped me.”

Such a busy schedule has come with points of doubt, most notably this season with volleyball.

“She’s been resilient more than the years,” Caledonia volleyball head coach Samantha Brooks stated. “She didn’t earn a beginning spot in volleyball till this year and even in that, she was offered a new part. … She under no circumstances when showed me that she didn’t have the time or didn’t place forth the work or that she was also busy or had also a great deal going on. She just got in there and did what she necessary to do to aid our purpose, which was winning a state championship.”

She persevered and that helped the Cavaliers get to and win their 1st-ever state championship in volleyball in late October.

From all-star game selections to All-District nominations, Brown has seemingly achieved it all, and to major it off, in much less than a month’s time, she’ll be representing the Cavs at the MHSAA Class 4A powerlifting state championships in Jackson.

“I’m pretty proud of her,” Forrester stated. “I knew she would be capable to do what she place her thoughts to, but it is also set a fantastic foundation for us as we move forward.”

All that is left in her Caledonia prior to heading to Fulton is powerlifting and softball. The finish is bittersweet, but this is just 1 chapter closing in her journey as she leaves a legacy as each an athlete and a individual for future Cavalier athletes to adhere to.

“I do not want my legacy to be about what I’ve completed,” Brown stated. “I want it to be about who I am and how I’ve treated individuals. I want that to carry on and I want individuals to leave this location much better than they identified it also.”

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