Abby Bauman, Bailey Gandy and Hailee Orhn were the lone freshmen on the inaugural 2017 Grand Rapids/Greenway team and are now the first group of seniors to go all four years through the program.
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – In 2017, boys and girls lacrosse became an official MSHSL varsity sport at Grand Rapids High School.
“I knew it was coming because we were one of the last club teams left so it was only a matter of time,” Lightning senior attacker Abby Bauman said.
Bauman, goaltender Bailey Gandy and attacker Hailee Orhn were the lone freshmen on the 2017 Grand Rapids/Greenway team and are now the first group of seniors to go all four years through the program.
“I had been playing softball since I was probably seven, and then my freshman year I decided this isn’t it for me anymore. And I had a lot of friends on the lacrosse team who were joining or who had been with the club team who said it was great and loved the coach so I decided to move over,” Gandy said.
For Bauman, she moved from the club level to the high school level and the transition was tough, going winless first season.
“The competition was really hard because we went from winning club state that last year to being one of the worst teams. But it was still fun to ride a school bus to games,” Bauman said.
But over the years, the wins have started to come and more players have joined the program.
“To focus on the fun of the game and to keep playing after those tough years. And now we’re like in that .500 level of playing and we continue to keep playing difficult teams and scheduling more difficult teams,” head coach Mark Surface said.
And all three have made impacts on the program, both on the field and through recruiting.
“Hailee herself is high energy, prolific scorer. She had 65 goals last year, which was like third in the state. She does a heck of a job with getting the other girls to see how to compete and how to give their best effort all the time. Bailey, we had to put her in goal in our first section game because our senior goalie wasn’t feeling well and ever since then, she’s been our starting goalie. The way there are as teammates helps bring in more kids,” Surface said.
“It’s great to have new girls who are also interested in what I do and I can pass off what I learned to them,” Gandy added.
But two weeks ago, MSHSL made the decision to cancel the spring sports season, ending these seniors lacrosse careers.
“It’s really sad. Spending all those years doing something you love and not having that last season really hurts,” Bauman said.
“Last year, I actually got injured and I dislocated my foot playing midway into our season so I didn’t get to finish my season last year and I was just really hopeful for this season being my senior season and to kind of redeem last season,” Gandy added.
While they won’t get a sendoff or one final season, these three will always be remembered for how they built the Grand Rapids/Greenway lacrosse program.
“It’s so fun to see girls try out and actually enjoy the sport and just share that love for the sport because it’s honestly one of the best sports out there,” Bauman said.
“Now looking back on it, I’m thankful that I did it now and I guess I didn’t really think of it back then but it’s cool and being the first group of seniors to graduate from that first team is pretty cool, too,” Gandy added.
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May 04, 2020 at 10:10AM
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