Mill Valley’s Quincy Hubert shines in 2 sports in 1 weekend
SHAWNEE, Kan. (BVM) — Achieving success in one sport is difficult enough. But in two spring sports? Quincy Hubert has realized success as a same-season dual-sport athlete.
The 2022 Mill Valley High School grad recently had a weekend of competition that most high school athletes will never experience.
Hubert ran in the Kansas 5A state track and field championship preliminaries on a Friday morning and played in the state 5A soccer semifinal Friday night.
“She had expectations for herself and worked really hard to be able to meet those,” Mill Valley coach Chris McAfee said. “Friday, I think, was a grind. It was a hard day for her. Not only was she doing the hurdles, but she also was on our 4×4 team…and then she went back and relaxed for a little bit of time, and then headed to the soccer game.”
Hubert competed in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles Friday morning at Wichita State University’s Cessna Stadium. She then ran a leg on the 4×400-meter relay in the afternoon and played across town that evening in the 5A girls soccer semifinal at the Wichita-Stryker Complex.
It was a high volume of physical and emotional exertion for the talented athlete.
“It was a lot coming into the weekend, and just thinking about, ‘Oh, my gosh, I have the possibility to run two full track meets, and I’m gonna try to play a soccer game,” Hubert said. “I don’t know where I’m going to be at the end of all of this.
McAfee echoed a similar sentiment.
“I had confidence in her but also a little bit worried about Saturday because Friday had been such a long day, and they played kinda late on Friday night, and just the emotions of it, you know,” he said. “It’s not even just the physical part of it, but the emotions of it as well.”
But her state-title performances in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles on Saturday demonstrated that she was up to the task. She set school records in the 300 (45.06) and as a member of the 4×400-meter relay team.
In Friday’s soccer semifinal against Eisenhower High School, Hubert executed a game-winning assist and scored a goal in Mill Valley’s 4-0 victory. Her adrenaline appeared to be on full go.
“In fact, when she went back into the state semifinals, she came out we were leading, I think 2-0, or maybe even 3-0,” Mill Valley head soccer coach Jason Pendleton said. “I said, ‘You’re done for the day,’ she goes, ‘Can I go back in just one more time?’”
Pendleton said Hubert compartmentalizes and focuses on what is happening at the moment.
“So when we got to this point of the season, it seemed very normal… she was all in when she was in that environment with us just like I know she was all in when she was with track,” Pendleton said.
Hubert’s teammate Kate Roth experienced a similar weekend. Roth, a soccer-track standout too, was at the end of Hubert’s assist. She won the state 5A girls long jump title and played in the championship game Saturday, which Mill Valley lost to Overland Park’s St. Thomas Aquinas, 2-1.
Hubert will be heading to Lincoln, Nebraska this fall, where she’ll be hurdling for the Cornhuskers.
“We’re excited for her to go to Lincoln and have the opportunity to compete up there,” McAfee said. “And I think the things that she’s done in high school really set her up to be successful at the next level…She’s got a tremendous drive, and she wants to do so well, and she’s somebody who figures out a way to be successful no matter what.”
Pendleton feels the same, underscoring the character of his former player.
“So super excited for her to have that opportunity and just a great kid,” Pendleton said. “She’s super humble…just a wonderful young lady.”
The aspiring public relations-advertising professional considered soccer first but felt that track was a more realistic option and a better long-term fit.
“It took a very long time to kind of figure out what I wanted for school and what I kind of wanted for a track program,” Hubert said. “I kind of ended up on Nebraska because I really liked the journalism school.”
Hubert gave it her all last month, creating proud lifelong memories that will outlast an athletic career.
“I think adrenaline carried me through,” Hubert said. “By the end, we walked out of there, we got on the bus, and I was like, ‘I’m absolutely exhausted. But very happy that I did it all.’”
