Two of the more successful athletic teams at Sedona Red Rock High School during the 2019-20 school year were the girls volleyball and basketball teams. The volleyball team reached the state quarterfinals while the basketball team reached the Round of 16. A key cog on both teams was senior Mary Westervelt.

At the end of volleyball season, Westervelt was named the 2A Central Region Player of the Year and received honorable mention honors for Arizona’s entire 2A region. When basketball season concluded, Westervelt — the lone senior on a team otherwise made up entirely of freshmen and sophomores — was named All-Region second team. Due to her accomplishments, both on and off of the floor, the Sedona Red Rock News is naming Westervelt the Female Athlete of the Year for Sedona Red Rock High School.

“Despite the obstacles I have faced I believe I have pushed through adversities and worked hard my entire life in sports to achieve the level I was at,” Westervelt said. “When people were vacationing and having fun, I was in the gym putting in extra time during the off season to reach my sports goals.”

“I also think that my leadership and commitment to my teams has helped me become a better athlete and person,” she added. “And that those qualities helped our Sedona teams get far into their seasons.”

Westervelt’s athletic achievements come despite a number of physical obstacles that she’s had to overcome. This includes a constant headache, something she’s dealt with for nearly four years. Westervelt has also been diagnosed with subluxation of her cervical spine, cervical osteoarthritis and hypermobility.

Additionally, Westervelt has had to deal with three knee surgeries and a fourth will come soon. She unknowingly played with a partially torn ACL for three years before it was finally diagnosed.

“These health challenges made it difficult to maintain playing sports, and my neurologist didn’t clear me to play volleyball my sophomore year because of it,” Westervelt said. “Because of all of these health issues I had to do constant physical therapy to safely maintain playing sports through my high school career.”

Despite the obstacles, Westervelt has a number of great memories in her time playing at SRRHS. In Westervelt’s sophomore season, the Scorpions basketball team reached the state finals. During that season’s senior night, Sedona defeated Page, moving to No. 1 in the state. In a state quarterfinal win over Alchesay, Westervelt scored 21 points and hauled in 18 rebounds.

In volleyball, Westervelt recalled a trip to the Estrella Tournament when she, her older sister, Liza, and another teammate found a kitten. They snuck the kitten back into their hotel room and kept it, naming it — fittingly enough — Estrella.

Another positive for Westervelt was that her time on the floors was a family affair. In her first two years at Sedona, Westervelt got to play with Liza, who graduated in 2018. As a senior in both volleyball and basketball, Mary was teammates with her younger sister, freshman Helen Westervelt. For her senior season in basketball, the Scorpions were coached by her father, Kirk Westervelt.

“It was extremely special playing with both of my sisters and being coached by my dad,” Mary said. “What’s cool is that my older and younger sister have different styles of play and it’s always fun trying to beat up on your siblings when you scrimmage in practice.

“With my dad coaching it really brought this year’s season to a different level because you were constantly in the basketball mood all of the time because at home we would still [practice]. My dad also trained me my whole life and it was crazy to see how all of our hard work was paying off.”

Westervelt’s legacy at Sedona Red Rock High School will not just be in what she and her teams accomplished in sports. She was also the Student Body President in her senior year.

Outside of sports, Westervelt identified homecoming week and everything it entails as her best memories in high school.

“You really bond with your classmates and enhance the class rivalries in chants and homecoming events, and the whole week just brings out all of the school spirit,” she said. “When the week hits, it’s the perfect storm; there are multiple sports games, major tests, lip sync practices, barely any sleep, dress-up days, and it all breeds the craziness and what brings the school together.”

In the fall, Westervelt plans on attending Arizona State University, majoring in psychology and minoring in either genetics or biology.

Westervelt hopes that the legacy left by the Class of 2020 is one that inspired school spirit, attending games and other activities away from campus. As far as her personal legacy at SRRHS, Westervelt wants to be remembered as someone who worked hard and led others, both in and outside of sports.

“I hope to be remembered as the person who gave it her all in anything that she did, and that motivated others to get out and make a change in the school,” Westervelt said. “I hope that I left a positive impact on everyone that I encountered and that they will remember me for the deeds that I did to help better the world.”