MISSOULA — Next up for the 2022 KPAX Sports Awards, we'll highlight the two candidates from Loyola Sacred Heart High School in Natalie Clevenger and Connor Hansen.
Clevenger was a captain on Loyola's volleyball and basketball teams the past two years, and in 2020 was a big part of the Breakers' run to an undefeated season and Class B state co-championship.
Clevenger was all-state in both sports for two years as well, and this year is competing on Loyola's track and field team.
After high school, she'll stay right here in Missoula where she'll begin her path to UM's pharmacy school after wrapping up her high school athletic career at Loyola.
"I was fortunate that I was able to play with my sister on that (2020) team so family has always been a big thing and just the community that Loyola has and all of the team and teammates that I've had have really felt like family so it's been great," Clevenger said. "Being able to compete with them, training in the summer, going through games, offseason too, it's great."
Connor Hansen also did a variety of sports at Loyola including golf, football, basketball and even speech and debate along with other extracurriculars.
Like Clevenger, Hansen will move on from sports after high school, and he'll begin pre-med coursework at Denver College this upcoming fall, but sports will always a big place in his life once he begins this next chapter.
"What I learned the most from overall was just whether good or bad, you get out of it what you put into it and that's just kind of your work ethic I think," Hansen said. "It was always something I was doing, training in the summer, practicing, and always something I was looking forward to so definitely something that was always part of my life throughout high school for sure."
That's all from our Loyola candidates, and on Thursday we'll shift to the first of Missoula's three Class AA schools in Hellgate High School.
