Lady Mustangs sophomore juggled two sports at once

Rylee Hanna pretty much ran herself ragged between January and February.

It’s not unusual to have a multi-sport athlete on campus. That’s usually going to be when one sport is in season and the other is not. The crossover can be negligible.

But Hanna, a sophomore, wasn’t having any of that. She was multitasking between Grapevine girls basketball and girls soccer.

The good news is that there were no reports of soccer cleats being worn on the hardwood or basketball sneakers on the soccer field. Grapevine girls soccer coach Steve McBride and girls basketball coach Lindy Slagle found common ground to make it work.

Now that basketball season is over, Hanna has settled in nicely. She added a goal in the 3-0 Class 5A Region I bi-district victory over Fort Worth Trimble Tech last week. Grapevine (17-3) advances to the area round, where it will meet Wichita Falls at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Mineral Wells.

“It’s a mutual respect for each other’s program that this could work out like it did,” McBride said. “But it’s also a necessity with the numbers we have. Rylee is such a great competitor. You always want that on your team.”

The way it worked is that the team that was playing on Tuesday would see Hanna the day before at practice. The team which did not play would get Hanna the day after the game. Obviously, there was some give and take.

On Fridays, basketball would get Hanna first because it usually played at 6 p.m. If time allowed, she could get over for part of the soccer game. That did happen. Earlier in the district season, Hanna finished the home basketball game, made the quick change and had her parents drive over to Richland to play in the second half of the soccer game.

Now, that’s the definition of double dipping.

“People say she’s a two-sport player,” McBride said. “But she’s really a three-sport player because of basketball, our team and then her select soccer team. What makes you appreciate what she does is that she’s very organized and forthright with her communication. We had to sit down and go through a lot of things, including the pitfalls before this started. But she wanted to do them.”

One plan that didn’t come off that would have shown her dedication occurred in mid-January. Grapevine was at a soccer tournament in Austin Thursday-Saturday. The plan was for Hanna to play the Friday morning soccer game, drive back to Grapevine for the basketball game and then return to Austin to finish the tournament on Saturday.

“It really showed her commitment,” McBride said.

McCullough breaks out

Sophomore midfielder Christine McCullough enjoyed a strong performance against Trimble Tech when she scored twice. That’s saying something since she only had six goals going into the postseason. McCullough scored the first and third goals.

“Our offense is pretty balanced, but she’s been an impact off our bench,” McBride said. “Those goals came at important times of the match.”

About Old High

Grapevine’s playoff matchup against Wichita Falls (also known as Old High) is a rematch of the 2016 regional quarterfinal matchup that Grapevine won, 1-0. This are game was pushed back a day because this Mineral Wells was booked on Friday.

“They’re athletic and quick and will play directly at you,” McBride said. “They have a very dynamic scorer in [junior forward] Alyssa Hollis. But our team is poised. I’m sure they want a second opportunity against us.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Lady Mustangs sophomore juggled two sports at once."