By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kansas State High School Activities Association is currently in the midst of its 50 for 50 project, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which opened the door for female athletes across the United States. As part of that project TopSports.news contributor Rick Peterson wrote the following story on former Hayden multi-sport star Brooklyn Hunter.
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Former Hayden Catholic High School three-sport star and seven-time state champion Brooklyn Hunter knew there would probably be times she would miss sports after making the decision to call an early end to her college tennis career at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
But the 21-year-old Hunter also knew it was time.
"Honestly, I thought that I would miss it a lot more,'' Hunter said. "I think that I just got so many years out of tennis and sports in general that I was just ready for the next stage of my life.''
That next stage for Hunter is attending nursing school at Washburn University after injuries played a major part in her decision to give up tennis after two seasons with the Lopers and get an early start on her nursing degree.
Former Hayden superstar Brooklyn Hunter has stepped away from competitive athletics and and turned her attention to getting her nursing degree at Washburn University. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Hunter did recently pick up a racket to play with friends in a holiday get together in Topeka, but that only re-inforced the feeling she had that she made the right decision.
"I played in a group on Thanksgiving at Genesis and that was fun, but after an hour I was like, 'OK, I scratched my itch now,' '' Hunter said.
While Hunter is comfortable with life after sports, she'll always cherish the experiences she had, particularly at Hayden.
Hunter became the first girls tennis player in Class 4A, and only the third all-time, to win four state singles championships while also helping the Wildcats win three Class 4A-Division II state volleyball titles and playing for a Hayden team that advanced to the state championship game in basketball.
Although Hunter gave brief consideration to specializing in one sport, probably tennis or volleyball, she's happy that she took advantage of every opportunity she had.
"I'm actually really glad that I played all three,'' Hunter said. "I feel like looking back I have a lot of good memories from all three of the sports. I think it was maybe my sophomore year where I got asked to be on a competitive team for volleyball, and that's when I thought that I was going to play volleyball in college, and I remember turning that down because I didn't want to quit basketball and I knew I would have to to be able to have time for everything.
"I think high school's more about playing everything instead of specializing in one. My goal was never to play Division I or go to the biggest school. It was more to get my college paid for and have some memories to look back on.''
Although she was a multiple-time all-state selection in volleyball and also earned numerous honors in basketball, Hunter is best known for her long, dominant career in tennis after first picking up a racket when she was 3 or 4 years old.
Hunter posted a 20-1 record as a senior in 2018 and finished off her high school career with a 78-2 record.
Hunter beat Wichita Collegiate’s Lauren Conrad 6-3, 6-1 in the '18 final to join Kapaun’s Megan Russell (1993-96) and Osborne’s Brittany Dietz (’97-’00) as the state’s only four-time girls singles winners.
"I think more than even just the state championships it was just all the great experiences I had, especially state tennis,'' Hunter said.
Adding icing on the cake was the fact that Hunter got the opportunity to win her historical fourth state title on her home courts at Topeka's Kossover Tennis Center with a large throng of her fellow Hayden students on hand to root her on.
"That was so much fun,'' Hunter said. "That was definitely my favorite memory.''
Of course, with success came pressure.
Hunter grew up in one of the state's most successful tennis families, with older sister Paige a 4A state medalist, brother Blake a four-time state medalist and state runner-up before earning All-America honors at Washburn and brother Tommy a four-time 4A state champion from 2013-2016.
Because of that family lineage, it was almost assumed that Hunter would be a champion before she ever got to Hayden.
"I'm sure that the pressure was higher my senior year, but I really felt the pressure since I was in like eighth grade when Tommy was doing well and then people were expecting me to do as well as him,'' Hunter said. "I was the most nervous at state for tennis but overall I felt like I felt pressure all four years and even if it wasn't at state I felt pressure at just little tournaments because I knew I was always expected to win.
"Really I don't think my family put more pressure on me. I think it was more others that put more pressure on me. When you're not playing the sport you probably don't understand as much, but it is possible to lose.''
Hunter only lost twice in her high school career, with one of those losses coming early in her senior season while she was juggling tennis and volleyball.
"It was not a good day the next day at school,'' Hunter said. "Everybody knew when I lost.''
Brooklyn credits Tommy Hunter for helping her deal with the mounting pressure as she took aim on her fourth state title.
"I think that really Tommy was the one who helped me the most to not have the pressure,'' she said. "For example when I was preparing for state he would take me outside and he would act like there was a (service) break just in case it happened at state and he would just put me in all the situations that I was going to face.
While Hunter has always had a great love for sports, she is equally passionate about nursing, following Paige into that field.
"Really I've wanted to do nursing as long as I can remember,'' Hunter said. "Also seeing Paige become a nurse and seeing all the different avenues that nursing has I stuck to nursing most of my life. Obviously nursing school is really hard for everyone and was for (Paige), but I just knew that the benefits would be worth it.''
And Hunter feels that her athletic backgound continues to be an asset in her new pursuit.
"I would say the biggest thing that sports has helped me with in nursing is time management,'' Hunter said. "I've kind of realized that that's what really has set me apart from some other people in nursing because I've always had to study and I feel like with sports I've always had to manage my time really well because I would have to figure out when practice was and when tournaments were and everything like that.
"So especially with not playing any sports right now I feel like I have so much more time, but I feel like I still manage my time correctly and I think that that's something that's really helped me to succeed so far.''
