Despite age, there have been many freshman athletes that have been making an impact on their teams throughout the fall sports season.

Freshman JV quarterback Packson McDaniel made an impact on the varsity team during their postseason after the team faced a lot of injuries.

“I was not playing receiver at all during the season, but the week of the Olathe North game, the coaches told me, ‘Hey, we got to be ready, we need to get you learning some routes, because we’re getting low on guys, so I stepped up. I already played QB so I knew what everybody was doing,” McDaniel said.

Because McDaniel has played football since middle school, he said that this gave him the opportunity to play with people that he has looked up to for many years.

Similar to McDaniel, freshman Eli Ward helped the varsity tennis team place second at state, winning best varsity player in the state. Ward said her team has been some of her greatest supporters.

“I’ve never really been on a real team together with people always being there to support me. During matches, I would look up from the stands and they would be cheering and clapping, which was new to me,” Ward said. “My team actually made it pretty easy because I know they’re all mostly seniors, but they didn’t really judge me for being a freshman.”

LIke Ward, Freshman Cross Country runner Taylor Hulcher finished fourth individually during regionals, the fastest out of everyone on the team. During Cross Country’s States campaign, Hulcher placed 14th individually, placing the highest on the varsity team. Hulcher said that her team pushed her to be better.

“As a team, we were proud of our results, but there’s always room for improvement. So next time, we’ll just have to push each other harder,” Hulcher said. “Placing first this year was definitely a confidence booster. It made me a better runner because I was running against very good, competitive people.”