When the season ended for Sedona Red Rock High School’s girls soccer team in the winter, it marked the end of an era. The Scorpions were anchored by a quartet of senior defenders. One of them was Ariana Parra-Landaverde.
Being a part of that defensive core was one of Parra-Landaverde’s top memories from her time playing high school sports, she said.
“Before I did the four years of high school soccer, I knew a couple of the players from when I played club,” Parra-Landaverde said. “I loved being able to play with them again and having a strong defensive line. In our sophomore year, we made state. That was pretty exciting as a lowerclassman.”
The Scorpions fell just short of their preseason goal of returning to state during the 2019-20 season. Still, Parra-Landaverde’s senior year on the pitch gave her some great memories, as she got to play with her sister, Mayra Parra-Landaverde as well as her younger aunt, Alma Landaverde. And while Ariana’s time on the team ended in the winter, the family legacy on the SRRHS soccer team will go on for a while, as both Mayra and Alma are freshmen.
While Parra-Landaverde didn’t get to state during her senior year for soccer, she did in another sport. After participating in volleyball and tennis in her junior year, Parra-Landaverde decided to try her luck in cross country this year. Despite the fact that most of the Scorpion runners were brand new to the sport, the SRRHS girls ended up qualifying for state.
“I’ve always thought about good ways to stay in shape,” Parra-Landaverde said. “I’m athletic so I wanted to do a sport in the fall. My only choices were cheer and cross country. I tried cheer and it wasn’t for me. Coach [Ben] Scamihorn was looking for runners and a couple friends of mine told me to try out for the team. After that I really liked it.
“I loved being on the cross country team and getting to know the coach. He’s a really amazing coach. I went from never really running for that long to making it to state.”
Parra-Landaverde’s newfound love of running inspired her to join Sedona’s track and field team in the spring. The season had barely started before the COVID-19 pandemic shut schools and all sports down. Still, Parra-Landaverde had managed a 02:59.19 in the 800 meter, good enough for sixth place in the event in the team’s lone meet.
This fall, Parra-Landaverde is planning on attending the University of Arizona where she’ll study linguistics.
That comes from her long-held interest in learning different languages and the particular elements of them.
Following that, Parra-Landaverde plans on going to dental school and becoming a dentist — an interest that originated from a prior fear of dentists.
“I was always scared of the dentists when I was little,” she said. “When I got older, I got less scared and became interested in why I was so scared of going to the dentist when all they are trying to do is help you out.”
Like all students, Parra-Landaverde has now shifted her focus to online school, where her time at SRRHS will be completed.
Looking back at her time in high school, Parra-Landaverde expressed some sadness about losing out on some of the experiences that are normally common to seniors. But she also leaves high school with positive memories about the experiences she did have.
“I’m going to really miss going to school with all of the Scorpions and all the faculty,” Parra-Landaverde said. “It’s pretty hard knowing as a senior that I won’t be able to have my last prom, senior ditch day or any senior activities. It’s pretty hard to think about, especially since all of the seniors have been going to school for so long waiting for experiences that unfortunately we’re not going to be able to have.”
Parra-Landaverde added that she enjoyed her classmates’ strong sense of school spirit.
“Most of us knew each other no matter the grade,” she said. “Competitiveness with homecoming week, especially lip synch, was one of my favorite memories of high school in general.”
