Taylor Stilli '22 Recruiting Profile

I love track, but my first sport choice was actually volleyball which got off to a rough start.   I tried out for my junior high volleyball team as a 7th grader and did not make the cut.  I had no previous volleyball experience and it showed!  I made a vow to improve and make the team the following year.  So after a year of club ball (regional team) and hard work I made the junior high team.   In high school I made  the varsity team by my sophomore year and we went to the state playoffs finishing 6th.   I wanted to be a multi-sport athlete so I tried out for track as a freshman and made varsity placing first in the 200 and open 400 at a few dual meets.  The coach put me on the 4X400 relay and we had continual improvement throughout the year, placing 12th at  state.  I also ran club track the summer of 2019 and posted my best open 400 time of 61.2 seconds which earned me a spot in the regional USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field meet. The reason I mention the past few years in detail is because it shows my true grit and hard work to achieve a goal. After losing our entire sophomore track season to COVID, I hit the weights and continued to train with my club track team.  It has been very challenging as it has been 18 months since my last competitive track event, but our very condensed high school season starts at the end of March.  I am still a multi-sport athlete and am currently a co-captain on my high school varsity volleyball team.  I also play on the 17s National Puyallup Juniors Volleyball Club.  Additionally, I am equally focused on my academic success as I intend to pursue a career in the medical field. Furthermore, I am the junior class president, and am involved in  HOSA (future health professional), and ASL (American Sign Language) clubs.  I also enjoy being on the National Honors Society board encouraging others to achieve academic success.  I feel that my passion for academics and athletics success makes me a highly desirable recruit.  More importantly, my parents have instilled in me three core values, integrity first, others before self, and excellence in all we do.