Falcon Four

Photo by Josh Hibbard
Photo by Josh Hibbard

By Josh Hibbard – Horizon Staff Reporter

For Falcon High School graduates Morgan Cockrum, Nikki Lowry, Nikkita Lester, and Bry Young, playing college ball was a goal. But playing for the same team? Well, that’s more like destiny.

“I felt like it was fate,” Cockrum said. “I had never heard of four close friends being recruited from the same school.” 

Coming from the same high school helped the four Hesston sophomores transition from high school to college easier.

“We have a ton of chemistry together when we play on and off the court,” Lowry said. “It has created a bond as almost sisters since we’ve experienced the new college chapter in our life together.”

Lester says their bond makes it possible to call each other out when mistakes are made, with no hard feelings.

“If someone is messing up, you can yell at them without it being a problem, so it’s easy to fix things faster in order to move on,” Lester said.

Lowry and Young were the first out of the four to get offered from Hesston.

“At first I was a little uncertain,” Young said.“I think when Nikki and I came on our visit we already felt like we were a part of the school.”

Lowry, on the other hand, wasn’t really worried about going to the same school.

“I never really worried about going to the same school or not since we were all getting other looks, but when it was official that one of us were going, I think we all kind of hopped on the Hesston train.”

 Cockrum was the last to get the call from Coach Dan.

“I thought my chances of playing college basketball were over and I was so excited that three of my best friends had the opportunity to play together.”

So Cockrum played to the best of her ability the every game hoping for an opportunity to play somewhere.

“I remember Coach Dan coming to one of our games to recruit Lowry, Lester, and Young,” Cockrum said. “I was just thinking to myself how cool would it be if I got recruited there too!”

If you don’t believe in fate then I hope this changes that, Coach Dan called Cockrum in early April giving her a scholarship to come play with her three best friends at Hesston College.

“I thought it was fate,” Cockrum said.

 “They play with great intensity and loved to compete,” Coach Dan said. “Each had different skills and roles on the team and I could see they could have a positive impact on our program here at Hesston.

Coach Dan the realized something.

“I didn’t know if I had a good chance to get one or two, so I recruited all four,” Coach Dan said. “I was very pleased when all of them made the decision to come. I had never had 4 teammates from the same high school before.”  

The Falcon Four have a bond that will never be broken up or forgotten by the women. All I know is this will make for a great reunion and also a great story to tell their kids and grand-kids in the future.

 

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