By Mark Carpenter-
After etching her name almost exclusively in the record book for West Union Lady Dragons soccer, senior Heidi Hunter has decided to continue her career, and her education, at Glenville State College which is located in the state of West Virginia, a four-hour drive from Adams County. Hunter made it official last Friday afternoon in a signing ceremony in the WUHS Round Room, surrounded by friends and family who were actually not told beforehand, therefore making it somewhat of a surprise party.
Hunter is the all-time leading goal scorer in Lady Dragons soccer history, and holds basically every offensive record at the school. playing under coached Joe Kramer and her father, Kevin Hunter. With two years of post-secondary education under her belt, the decision to continue her education four hours from home wasn’t that difficult.
” I set up an account online and I don’t really know what made us look at a Division II school,” said the Glenville signee. “We decided to make a trip there and on the way there I was scared, it just seemed forever away and the road was just horrible. Then we got there and it was just beautiful. I loved it and everything about it was great.”
Hunter also reflected on her career as a Lady Dragon, one that certainly didn’t result in as many victories as hoped, but still will always be memorable.
“I will always remember some of the difficulties we had, trying to find enough players sometimes and such,” said Hunter. “We weren’t the best team in the league, but my career was still a great adventure. Playing for my Dad was also special, even though he was tough on me sometimes.”
For Kevin Hunter, he pulled the double duty of being “Coach” and “Dad”, not always an easy juggling act.
“Obviously, Heidi has been an integral part of our program from top to bottom,” says Coach Hunter. “She took everything about the game very serious, tons of passion, tons of drive, which developed into amazing leadership skills. She took the role of team captain as a freshman with Coach Kramer and the rest is kind of history. For three years, she liked to feed the other kids but in here senior season, she just decided to run away with it and become a big-time scorer and record-breaker.”
“Going to the next level, she will be doing something she loves and it’s helping drive her to be the person she will ultimately be in the work place and it makes me proud to know she will be a good leader and a good citizen. She definitely was the heart and soul of our team, from singing on the bus to get everyone pumped up or helping run drills in practice, to being leaned on heavily to score goals. She will definitely be missed and I’ll be looking for the next Heidi to step up.”
“I think the proudest thing for me as a Dad is knowing that she knew she wanted to go to college and how she really drove herself to this point,” continued Kevin. “I don’t know how many schools we’ve been to and she has just taken the role of young adult and I know she will be successful. Part of me is a little scared for her to go that far away but on the other hand, that will help her define herself as a person.Glenville just seemed to be a perfect fit and it makes me happy to see her so driven to do something.”
“We battled a lot and at one point in time, I just backed off. I didn’t give her any special treatment, but she is really just a blue-collar athlete and kid.”
With two years of college almost in the books through the post-secondary program, Heidi plans to study Psychology and Business at Glenville with the hopes of moving on to work on her doctorate.
Glenville State is an NCAA Division II school, located in Glenville, West Va., and a member of the Mountain East Conference.