PROSPERITY — Mid-Carolina High School 2019 graduate Sydney Owens was recently selected to the United Soccer Coaches High School Scholar All-America Team.
Owens said if you were selected for All-State then you could be qualified for the award — she also had to have a certain grade point average to qualify.
The process of being selected, according to Owens, is a somewhat difficult process to go through — since only a certain number of boys and girls are selected in the state.
“It means a lot, I don’t think anyone else has been selected (from Mid-Carolina), I don’t know if that’s because they haven’t applied for it, but it definitely helps my coach Mike Mauldin, because he is the one who pushed me to even apply and go to college to play soccer, so it means a lot to represent Mid-Carolina High School,” she said.
Owens added that Mauldin is the one who initiated applying in the first place.
“He pushed me to go to the next level, I wasn’t even thinking about playing college soccer, so he helped me with that. After we did that and decided that I was going to play in college, he wanted to take it even further and helped me apply for this which I really appreciate,” she said.
The support from her parents Jack and Teresa Owens and Coach Mauldin also played a role in where she is in her career.
“They’ve definitely pushed me, my dad especially with soccer and making sure I did well in school so I could be successful in both,” she said. “Just really thankful for my coach because I wouldn’t have been able to do it without any of his help, and my dad for always pushing me to be better.”
In addition to receiving this selection, Owens will be continuing her soccer career in college as she has signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Southern Wesleyan University.
“It gives me a boost of confidence in academics as well, not just for soccer, but I’m excited to study at Southern Wesleyan University and play soccer,” she said.
Looking to the future, Owens said she would like to receive different awards while in college, but admitted it will be a lot harder. She added that she would be up for the challenge.
“I’ll have to practice every day and make sure that I am excelling in school as well as soccer. It’s a lot of fitness and hard work all the time,” she said.
She is also hopeful that while at Southern Wesleyan University she will be able to figure out what she would like to do after she graduates.
“Definitely want to find what I’m gonna choose as my career because I’m not sure yet, but I know that once I start taking classes my first year it will give me an idea of what I want to do. Hopefully I can find something I’m passionate about that I can do after college,” Owens said.