Rotherts send another athlete to compete in college

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

Woodmore graduate Claire Rothert comes from a strong family line of college athletes.
Her sister Carly graduated from Woodmore in 2018 and is now a high jumper and hurdler at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Their cousin Lily, a Woodmore grad, plays soccer at Indiana Tech University.
Claire will follow their lead as she heads to Mount Vernon Nazarene University to play soccer. She says her sister and cousin were major influences on her athletic career.
“It was just amazing. I got to play a year with Lily and then two years with Carly, and it was just fun to have family on your team and have them pushing you in your sport,” Claire said.
At Woodmore, Claire owns school records for career goals (79) and goals in a game (5). She has the second and third-best seasons for goals in a season with 25 in 2018 and 21 in 2019.
Claire was honorable mention All-Northern Buckeye Conference as a freshman, second team All-NBC as a sophomore, first team as a junior and senior and the league’s Player of the Year as a senior. 
She was also HM Division III all-district as a freshman, 2nd team all-district as a sophomore and junior, and as a senior she was second team All-Ohio, first team all-district and Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Co-Player of the Year. Her senior year she played for first-year head coach Lauren Colangelo.
When she broke the school record for career goals, previously set by Taylor Avers (76), it came as a complete surprise to Rothert.
“I had no idea I was even close to the record,” Rothert said.
Her success on the soccer field is owed in part to her dedication to the team.
“I am motivated to do well in soccer because I know my team needs me, so I always have to give it my all every second I am on the field,” she said.
She contributed to many of the girls’ team wins: scoring four goals against Riverdale and Otsego and three against Port Clinton.
At Woodmore, she was more than a soccer athlete, says her track coach Jim McMahon. McMahon believes Mount Vernon will be a good fit for Rothert.
“I think it’s a great opportunity. Soccer is her primary sport. She set a couple school records for soccer. I have seen her play. Every sport she plays and competes in, she is a competitor. She’s playing really hard, giving great effort. She’s a scorer, striker and she never comes out of the game. She is one of those players who are trying to get a goal, or they are trying to set Claire up in every situation possible,” McMahon said.
She also contributed to the track team, even though that chance did not happen her senior year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“She’s a sprinter, specifically hurdles, but also a high jumper if in a meet we want to score points,” McMahon said. “She’s just an explosive athlete who can be in a relay, sprints, and be successful in hurdles and also has the explosiveness and the bounce to be a decent high jumper. Her dad Todd owns the school record for high jump, and he’s obviously coached the girls.”
In track, Claire was three-time state qualifier in the 300 meter hurdles and also ran at state as part of Woodmore’s 4x200 relay team in 2017. She is a three-time regional qualifier in the 300 hurdles, two-time in the 4x200 relay, and also qualified in the 4x400 relay and 100 hurdles. In 2017, she was district runner-up in the 300 hurdles.
As a junior, she was NBC runner-up in the 100 and 300 hurdles, she finished third in the 4x200 relay, 300 hurdles and 4x400 relay as a sophomore and freshman.
As for her sister Claire, in her first Peach Belt Championships on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus in April of 2019, she logged four scoring performances and two medals in her first PBC Championships, the freshman’s day was highlighted by a silver-medal outing in the 100 meter hurdles, finishing with 14.96 with the tailwind just .03 away from the title. She also reached 10.91 meters to collect bronze in the triple jump. She was fifth in the high jump at 1.5 meters (just over four feet) and helped the Sharks 4x100 relay to sixth place as the squad's third leg. 
This past April, the Nova Southeastern University athletic department held its Second Annual Sharky's Awards Show celebrating the 2019-20 season and commending student-athletes for their academic and athletic prowess in an entirely virtual awards show, and Carly was named the track team’s Unsung Hero.
At Indiana Tech, cousin Lily appeared in 18 games as a junior, starting all of them. She scored twice and tallied two assists, logging 1,236 minutes of action.
    Lily Appeared in 20 games as a sophomore, starting all of them. She led the team in goals (7), assists (6) and points (20) and had one game-winning goal. She logged 1,764 minutes of action, the second-most on the team and was the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference's Offensive Player of the Week on October 24.
    She started all 18 matches during her freshman campaign, recording 1,480 minutes of playing time with one goal, six assists, and 24 shot attempts.
    (— includes file quotes from feature by Window To Woodmore staff writer Andrew Barringer plus press release material from Nova Southeastern universities).
 

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