Sophomore Camille Love has made a huge impact on every team she has stepped foot on, not even halfway through her career as a tri-sport athlete. Love was a varsity field hockey, track and field, and lacrosse athlete her freshman year and has carried that into her sophomore year. As a freshman, Love started her high school career by being part of the varsity 2023 state semi-finalist field hockey team that went 18-3 through the state tournament. Continuing that winter, Love was part of the 2024 Indoor track state championship team and competed in the 500-meter dash, and 4×400-meter relay. She simultaneously qualified for New Balance Indoor Track Nationals in the Freshman 400-meter, 200-meter, and 4×400-meter relay as she ultimately placed 8th overall in the 400. Going into the spring season, Love was also a part of the varsity girls lacrosse team who won the 2024 state championship in back-to-back sweep seasons. To an outsider, Camille made playing three varsity sports look easy, but in reality, there were a lot of physical struggles that came with it.
In the first official game of the varsity field hockey season against E.C Glass, Love was hit in the face with a field hockey ball that shattered her left cheekbone and gave her a concussion. This caused Love to be out for six weeks as a freshman. Love was able to come back and play in the postseason, but missed all of district play.
While Love was still rallying with the field hockey team throughout their successful postseason, she missed the first part of the Indoor Track season. Even after coming into the track scene late, Love’s impact on the team was nothing short of incredible. Love was surprisingly able to go the whole season injury-free. This was very special because it is a known fact that the track team is prone to injuries like shin splints because of the state of the WAHS track. Camille also had to miss the first few games of the lacrosse season because she was training for nationals. Soon after she returned to lacrosse, she too fell to the course of stress fracture and was put in a boot for 5 weeks. “I think [injuries] just made me really, really upset to miss out on so much of my lacrosse and field hockey seasons. But it’s so worth it, because it just makes sure that I have enough time to heal and come back from that so that hopefully that will never happen again,” Love recalled.
Post booting, Love was able to play on the lacrosse team. She was a starter and key player for the team so Love had to sit out yet another Varsity season. Senior Teammate Gigi Hathaway on both Lacrosse and Field Hockey when asked about Love’s injury said that “I think [the stress fracture] just made her realize that she loves the sport even more. She took her time, she was there at every practice, getting the team dynamic and trying to understand what Western Lacrosse is, but I think it overall made her a better player in the long run”.
Love is recalled by head Varsity Field Hockey coach Krissi Dawson as a very hard working person, “She’s driven and hard working, and she’s gonna excel at anything she tries.” when asked about Love as an athlete. “She’s a coach’s dream. In terms of, I could ask her to go do anything, and she would give it her everything. I’m pretty sure her track coach, and Peggy Williams would also agree with that.” Love believes that her athletic life helps her grow not only as an athlete but as a person. She said, “Playing sports has made me learn how to be a part of a team in a community and work well with others, as well as kind of juggling a lot of different things at once, and learning to multitask and manage my time.” Love enjoys being busy. She said, “I think I just don’t really want to have an off season. I think there’s ways I can keep improving, even if I’m not in my main sport, which is why I picked up track and field hockey as well.” Love’s goal for the future, and what all of this is helping her world towards, is to play collegiate lacrosse at a high level where she can be challenged and make a name for herself. From Love’s freshman year injuries, she said, “I think it just makes me a smarter player. I know where I want to be with my sports and everything, and I know what can get in the way with that, such as doing too much. Like having double practices every day of the week, like that type of stuff is just not actually going to be beneficial for me. So I can really focus on what’s actually going to make me a better player this year”.
Luckily for Love, her sophomore year has been a complete different story. Love went injury free in the field hockey season earning first team all district, all region, and all state. The team itself went 19-1, just falling short in the state semifinals yet again. She was a great asset to the team starting all season, as well as making the all state team. Although she has had to come to track late again, she has quickly picked back up where she left things in march, already qualifying for states in the 500 and 300, and 4x400m relay. With another state championship on the line, Love’s attributes, again, will not go unnoticed. While lacrosse season has not come up yet, Love hopes to bring her A game and lead the team to a three-peat state championship run!
