CASTLEWOOD – It’s a triple accomplishment seldom seen in high school athletics.

Castlewood’s Mackenzie Everson will be competing in three different state tournaments within the span of 10 days.

The recent graduate ran in the state track and field meet last weekend, is playing in the state softball tournament this weekend, and will be participating in the state golf tournament on Monday and Tuesday.

“I’ll be honest with you; May was a challenging month,” Everson said. “In addition to the three sports, I was graduating. (I was) valedictorian, so I had to be writing that speech too, and it was a stressful month.”

She said the busyness did not allow her to focus on one sport as much as she would have liked.

“Unfortunately, it maybe doesn’t allow you to excel as much in a singular sport when you’re doing three at a time, so that was hard,” Everson said. “Thankfully my coaches and teammates have been super understanding.”

Being involved in three sports at the same time forces an individual to be organized to make sure there are no scheduling conflicts.

“I get it all wrote down in a planner, know what I have for the week, and then during school hours, the couple of days a week that I was there, I tried to get all my homework done and my teachers, I was really able to communicate with them,” Everson said. “Then I just had to designate time after school. I’d go to track, get that done, see if I could get in golf practice for an hour or so, and then go to softball.”

Everson says she would also utilize the weekends to practice golf as well.

While Everson has enjoyed all three sports, she says her favorite is track and field. Everson placed sixth in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes and anchored the Warriors’ 800-meter relay team to a fifth-place finish at the state track and field meet last weekend.

“I just love working hard at it, seeing the times go down, and cheering on my teammates,” Everson said. “The atmosphere of track and the bonds that come from track is different from any other sport I’ve ever participated in.”

In addition to the spring sports, Everson has participated in volleyball and basketball, including helping the Warriors reach state tournaments in each of those sports during her career. One of her favorite memories included a trip to the state volleyball tournament this past fall.

“When we won the last point in the SoDak (16) game and we all just embraced,” Everson said. “It was the first time in 25 years for our school, so it was just really cool and super fun to look back on.”

Another exciting memory for Everson will be participating with her teammates in the first-ever sanctioned high school softball tournament, which is taking place in Aberdeen this weekend.

Everson is thankful that she can continue to play a sport that she played as a child.

“It’s super cool. I played softball when I was younger and I honestly never thought I’d get a chance to play it again,” Everson said. “I’m really glad the state decided to bring it back.”

Everson says it has been a memorable first season for the Warriors’ softball team.

“It’s been interesting with some challenges and some firsts, but we have good coaches and a couple of girls who have good softball experience and that’s been able to kind of pull us through,” Everson said.

Participating in multiple sports in the same season does not come without its share of challenges for Everson.

Although it has been demanding, Everson says the cons do not outweigh the pros when it comes to the high school athletic experience.

“I’ve just been able to make so many amazing memories. Winning the region golf championship, making it to state softball and state track and all the stuff that comes with it, I just can’t imagine giving any of those up and missing out on the experiences,” Everson said.

After her busy spring is complete, Everson will be attending the University of Sioux Falls, where she will study elementary education, while also participating in track and field. Everson says she wants to continue to be involved in high school athletics long after her playing days are over.

“Hopefully become a classroom teacher at probably a K-12 school, small town hopefully, and get into coaching, coaching whatever sport because I have some experience in a couple of them,” Everson said. “Then I have a long-term goal of going back to school and getting my master’s and becoming a principal.”