Page 52 May 2014 ARCADIA SPORTS By Nicholas Smith When Kylie Herd saw she had not made the cut for the 7th grade basketball team, she immediately went home after school to share the bad news with her dad, Norm. “She was crushed,” Norm said. “But I encouraged her to go back to the coach and just volunteer to help the team in any way she could. A player ended up getting injured, and Kylie got to play after all.” That kind of determination has helped Herd achieve some remarkable accomplishments during her career. She won a starting position on the Mesa Community College team as a freshman and the team just capped off its season by winning the NJCAA Division II National Championship. Kylie is a graduate of Arcadia High School. She played on the varsity team from her sophomore season on, and led her team as far as the second round of the state playoffs. But the path to MCC wasn’t always a clear cut one. In fact, Kylie thought about leaving basketball behind after high school during her junior year. “I was just tired of it,” she said. “It was year around, with school and the club team. But eventually I had a realization that I could use this to go to school for free.” Kylie opted to stay closer to home, attending Mesa Community College. Part of the draw was that she would Arcadia graduates help MCC win National Championship immediately have a friend on the team. Megan Gillespie is also a graduate of Arcadia, graduating the year before Kylie. She attended the University of Arizona as a full time student for a year, before deciding she wanted to play basketball again and transferring to MCC. “Megan and I are great friends,” Kylie said. “We played together in school and our club team, so we have a chemistry that’s really unique.” The season started with the competition for the final starter position. Four of the five starters returned, meaning there was one spot up for grabs. Kylie eventually won the job as a freshman. Her season went on without a hitch, until she sprained her ankle and went to see a doctor. “I had issues throughout high school with sprained ankles and had sprained my right one in practice before the year,” she said. “When it happened again during the year, I went to the doctor, and that was when I found out it was a chip fracture.” earn $50 drop off the bike your child has outgrown and receive $50 towards anything in the store see what’s happening at your local bike shop in may! 2902 N. 68th St. (68th st. and Thomas) 480-773-7706 giantscottsdale.com $10 our standard tune-up bring in this ad expires 5/31/14 give your bike some TLC off demo bike blow out! grab one of our used demo bikes at a great price starting May 10Th read details and fine print at giantscottsdale.com under “pay it forward” $1000 save on a defy composite 0 experience shimano’s di2 electronic shifting and Giant’s award winning defy composite frame for an unbeatable price never go back to cable shifting again! Kylie Herd plays for Mesa Community College, which just won the NJCAA Division II National Championship in March. The bad news was mitigated by a silver lining: the doctors said Kylie would not need surgery. She was out over 4 weeks but got to return in time for the team to head to the national tournament. “It was such a great season,” Kylie said. “Megan had played more of a perimeter forward in high school but the coaches asked her to move into more of a post role with me this year. She did a great job with the transition.” In the national tournament, the team upset the highly favored North Iowa Area Community College before defeating Highland College 82-72 to win the National Championship. It was especially sweet considering the team had lost the championship game the year before. “I can’t even explain the feeling when we won,” Kylie said. “I think we were just in shock. It was absolutely amazing.” Kylie may not have even been the most excited member of her family. Her dad huddled around his computer to watch the game on the live stream and said he couldn’t have been more thrilled when MCC won. “I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Norm said. “I don’t know how other people’s kids are but I have zero complaints about mine.” Both Kylie and Megan are planning on returning to MCC for next season to try and defend their title.

Page 53 May 2 0 1 4 ARCADIA SPORTS By Nicholas Smith Few citizens of Arcadia are as busy as twin sisters Tess and Sofie Dewulf. The senior students at Arcadia High School never take a season off, playing three different sports during the school year. “We run cross country in the fall,” said Tess. “During the winter we play soccer and then run track in the spring.” The girls have been playing soccer for years, and were confident that they would be playing the sport when they got to Arcadia. Tess plays defense and Sofie is a mid-fielder. “We had always played soccer so we knew we’d play that,” said Sofie. “We did track a little bit in junior high. Freshman year I decided to try cross country and I did it by myself. Then Tess decided to join me the next year.” The girls couldn’t say for sure what their favorite sport was, but admitted to liking different things about each one. “What I enjoy about soccer is that it’s a team sport,” said Sofie. “It’s fun when we get to run together in a relay in track but those are always more individual sports.” “I would agree with Sofie,” said Tess. “It’s great to push yourself as an individual but we also really love team sports.” The twins have of course been best friends all their lives and still today are each other’s biggest cheerleaders in their sports. “We both have always been very competitive,” Sofie said. “But it’s never against each other, or in a bad way. We just want the other one to do well!” The girls may be facing their biggest 2 girls + 3 sports = busy challenge yet in the fall. Tess will be entering the nursing program at the University of Michigan, the University that her older sister attended and where her brother is currently a student. Sofie, however, will probably be attending a school in a different area, although she has still not finalized her decision. “It will be really difficult,” Sofie said. “But our parents have always done a great job at raising us not only as twins, but as individuals too. We are trying not to think of it in a negative sense.” “We will definitely miss each other,” said Tess. “But we think this is a great opportunity to have a unique experience and be our own people.” Tess and Sofie are competitive, but also each other’s #1 fans.