2020 Senior Spotlight: Shayla Aye

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 14, 2020

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Louisburg Sports Zone will be running senior spotlights through April and May everyday (Monday through Friday) in an effort to honor seniors who had their seasons taken away due to the spread of COVID-19.

Shayla Aye was all set to make history for Louisburg High School this spring.

Louisburg began its first-ever swim season for the girls program after the Wildcats entered into a co-op with Paola and Osawatomie. In all, the team had three seniors, but Aye was the lone senior from Louisburg.

After a successful boys season in the winter, the girls were already a couple weeks of practice in before Spring Break and Aye was looking forward to what was in store.

“I was getting excited that swim team was available for the school, especially since I swim for the Louisburg Barracudas in the summer time,” Aye said. “It is something I really enjoy.”

Obviously, Aye’s chance at history went away as the spread of COVID-19 cancelled the rest of her senior year, along with spring sports across the state. That meant no first meet and no more practices with a team she was beginning to enjoy.

“It has been really hard since I was looking forward to swimming in the meets and now I can’t do that anymore for the school,” Aye said.

Even her head coach was disappointed that she won’t get a chance to see what Aye could do in the pool.

“Even though we were only two weeks into the season, I could already tell that Shayla was an awesome athlete and person,” Louisburg coach Maddie Carrigan said. “She was such a fun athlete to coach and had already made so much improvement. She was so coachable, always smiling and listening. I am so sad that Shayla’s one and only season of swimming was cut short. I can’t imagine how much her times would have dropped.”

Swim has been a nice getaway for Aye throughout her life and she didn’t have to travel very far to do it. She has spent the last several years as a member of the Louisburg Barracuda swim program over the summer and built up a lot of experience.

“I have been swimming for 10 years,” Aye said. “I got into the sport by my mom signing me up and since then, swimming has been a big part of my life. I just really enjoy swimming.”

Other than swimming, Louisburg Sports Zone also had a chance to catch up with Shayla on how she has been coping with an early end to her senior year and some of her other interests. Here are her responses from the rest of our Q&A.

LSZ: What have you been missing the most during this time away from everyone?

SA: My friends and having fun together as a team.

LSZ: What is your most memorable moment as an athlete or in school, and why?

SA: My favorite memory is getting to play basketball on Senior Night and just spending time with the team.

LSZ: What is your favorite activity/hobby outside of sports and why?

SA: My favorite activity is coloring because I really enjoy it and also it helps calms me down when I’m upset. I also enjoy hanging out with my boyfriend since he is my joy.

LSZ: What are your plans after graduation?

SA: Work in a day care.