Taylor heading to Otterbein

Despite not initially being a fan of track and field, Highland senior Anya Taylor found a home in the throwing events and enjoyed competing in them enough to want to continue doing so into college.

Taylor signed to compete in track and field for Otterbein University, where she will major in early childhood education and minor in photography.

“I didn’t think I was going to be good at it,” said Taylor of the sport. “I didn’t know if I was going to throw, if I was going to run, if I was going to jump. But when I started throwing, I ended up loving it and I was throwing pretty good — PRs and stuff.”

Taylor added that she felt her volleyball background helped her in learning to throw well.

“Since I’m a volleyball player, I feel like it just came to me,” she said. “Like, I can throw a football pretty far, so I can probably throw a discus or a shot put far, as well.”

Still, she didn’t originally look at college throwing as something she would be doing after high school.

“I didn’t even know I was going to do track in college,” she said. “My mom just offered and said, ‘Let’s go on a visit,’ and when I was there, I liked it a lot. Two months later, I got to go to their Otterbein Commitment Day and the next day, I made my decision.”

Taylor said that she liked a lot about her visit to Otterbein.

“When I went on a visit there, it just felt like home,” she said. “It was really close to my family and I know a few people who are going there. The whole team was very supportive of me going and all the coaches were super-nice.”

She added that the team environment seemed to be one that she wanted to join.

“I just got a good impression,” she said. “Like, they are very strict about things. They have a fun environment, but they do have a ‘keep working, keep working until you get to your best’ mentality.”

Taylor added that she’ll have to get busy in the weight room in order to make an impact on the Cardinal team.

“I’m definitely going to have to lift more with them,” she said. “I know they definitely lift differently than we do here. I’m definitely excited to adapt to what they do.”

Taylor also is looking forward to the college experience in general.

“I’m excited to get away from ohm and see how I’ll act differently and how I’ll get different friends,” she said. “This year, when I made my New Year’s affirmations, I was like I’m going to make more friends and get more opportunities to get more involved.”

However, she’ll miss a lot about her time at Highland.

“I’m going to miss the friendships that I have,” she said. “I know I’m probably going to have to leave them, but I’m definitely going to stay in touch and I’m going to get to some of the track meets with them.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS