By REID TUCKER
Freeport senior Mary Kate Myrick was in for a pleasant, if initially confusing, surprise on the morning of Friday, Jan. 9, when she entered the school’s library to a standing ovation.
Myrick’s friends, team-mates, family, teachers, and coaches kept the fact that she’d been selected as the winner of the 2015 Taylor Haugen Trophy so much a secret that she literally had no idea why she’d been summoned to the media center. In fact, she thought she had somehow gotten into trouble.
“I was shocked to see everyone here,” she said, laughing. “I thought I was in trouble at first, but then I came in and saw a few people I knew, then saw my parents and the Haugens, and I ran to them.”
Those closest to Myrick as well as representatives of the All Sports Association and the Taylor Haugen Foundation were all present to present her with the foundation’s 2015 Taylor Haugen Trophy. The award is given annually to a senior from a Walton, Okaloosa or Santa Rosa county high school who best exemplifies a commitment to academics and athletics, as well as community service and Christian faith. Foundation founder Brian Haugen, father of the award’s eponymous Taylor – a member of Niceville’s football team who died in 2008 of injuries suffered on the field – said Myrick more than lived up to the requirements of each qualification.
“It’s always a very hard process to choose one applicant from all those we receive, and this year we had some phenomenal nominees – probably the best we’ve ever had,” he said. “Mary Kate shined above all the rest like a bright star. She is truly an extraordinary young lady. Everyone knows of her success in athletics, but what most people don’t see if what happens outside of sports. Mary Kate will represent this award in the greatest of ways.”
Myrick, who is heavily involved in volunteer work and in her church, has long been a standout local sports figure, being a top performer on Freeport’s basketball, volleyball and softball teams for the duration of her scholastic career. However, her athletic endeavors came to a halt after she suffered a season-ending knee injury toward the end of the Lady Bulldogs’ volleyball run, and it also kept her out of basketball so far this season, with a comeback now appearing unlikely.
Having what it takes to win the Taylor Haugen Trophy, and the associated $1,000 college scholarship, apparently runs in the Myrick family, as Mary Kate’s brother Collin won the same award in 2012. However, Taylor Haugen Foundation board member Don Haugen said her brother’s winning the award actually made it more difficult, not easier, for Mary Kate to claim the 2015 trophy.
“Collin winning several years ago was not an asset,” he said. “She had to clear extra hurdles that the other nominees didn’t have. It’s a testament to how strong a nominee she really was that we chose her for this year’s award.”
