EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in an occasional series from now until Graduation Day, of outstanding Cache Valley high school seniors. The graduates were selected by high school administrators.
With Preston High School seniors finishing up earlier this week, soon-to-be-graduated Ellie Nelson has her sights set on obtaining a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Brigham Young University.
While Nelson said she enjoyed her high school career, one in which she maintained a 4.0 GPA and had many accomplishments in basketball, volleyball and track and field, she’s also looking forward to the next stage of her life.
The school record-holder in both the discus and the shot put, Nelson’s resume in athletics is among Preston High’s best, but it didn’t come easy.
After months of working through what was seemingly a tweaked back, the pain finally became too much for Nelson. Upon further inspection, it was found she had a stress fracture and three bulging discs.
“It was hard not to play, but it was more like — watching games and being like, ‘Oh, I wish I could be in there to help my team,’ and just trying to find out what you do besides sports,” Nelson said. “When you’re playing three sports, you’re year-round.
“It’s almost your identity, right? You kind of lose it. You kind of have to find yourself somewhere else.”
Despite the initial dismay associated with missing half of a volleyball and basketball season, Nelson is grateful for what it taught her and feels it made her a better leader.
The injury was also one reason Nelson said her love for basketball came into question. Luckily for her, current-head coach of PHS’s girls basketball team helped her rekindle what had become lost.
“At the end of my junior year, I was struggling to still enjoy basketball — basketball is my favorite sport — and I was kind of struggling to enjoy it,” Nelson said. “He kind of just brought that back. We went to a ton of the camps over the summer.”
Nelson also cited Heusser’s impact on the program as a whole, saying the team’s conditioning was “incredible” and Heusser cultivated a positive attitude for the team.
For Heusser, Nelson was just as valuable, both as a player and a leader.
“Coaching her from the start of her high school career to helping her finish her high school career was just a special experience for me because of the type of person that Ellie is,” Heusser said. “She is a very caring, kind, works-her-tail-off type of player and wants everybody around her to be better.”
As the recipient of the team’s Ultimate Team Player Award, Nelson’s leadership and perseverance were invaluable to Heusser’s team.
“If I went and polled every young lady on this team, they would all say (Nelson),” Heusser said. “It’s really refreshing to have a kid, especially, be so humble, instead of kind of brash and arrogant and cocky and things. She’s just not any of those, which is really refreshing.”
With the little spare time Nelson had in high school, she liked to spend it camping, mountain biking, swimming in Redfish Lake and, when possible, reading. Dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games are among her favorites.
“I’m a sucker for The Hunger games and Harry Potter — all the middle school books,” Nelson said with a grin.
As for why Heusser thinks PHS’s administration chose to highlight Nelson, consistently giving 100% in everything she does makes her rise to the top.
“They see her everyday in the halls and I see her for a small window after school and I think, between the two of us, we all see the same Ellie,” Heusser said, later adding, “...that person is just high character, high values, high standards for herself, gives it everything she’s got, no matter what she’s doing.
“She’s 100% involved in stuff that’s going on at school and she’s 100% involved in what’s going on with our team.”