There are few times a high school sports writer can use the phrase, “She’s won too many awards, I can’t fit them all in the article.”

Ally Mclaughlin has invoked its use. She has won more awards during her high school sports career than can fit comfortably within the confines of the entire sports section, so an abridged version was created for the purposes of this spotlight piece.

Ally was named an ESPNHS Top 10 Defender in the country for Lacrosse this year, Academic All-American in Lacrosse last year, First Team All Central League Lacrosse, Honorable Mention All Philly Lacrosse, Defensive MVP All-Star Game at the Philly Lacrosse Showcase, 2nd Team All Central League Lacrosse in tenth grade, Phillylacrosse.com Academic Honor Roll, Pennsylvania Area Girls Lacrosse Association Team Academic Award, 2nd team All Main Line Times Lacrosse for the last three years, Honorable Mention All Main Line Times Soccer, 2nd Team All Central League Cross Country, and 1st Team All Main Line Times Cross Country.
That is the much-abridged version of the list of awards and honors Ally has collected throughout her time at Harriton. Ally has received awards within the school and outside of the school for all of the sports she has participated in while at Harriton, and that in itself is a long list.

In her sophomore year, Ally participated in five Harriton sports during the three sports seasons at Harriton. She currently participates in only four: soccer, cross country, lacrosse, and indoor track, having decided to no longer run outdoor track in the spring.
As one can imagine, four sports during three sports seasons is a lot to handle, but Ally pulls it off with grace, balancing a busy practice schedule and challenging academics.
When asked about this superhuman ability to manage all of her commitments, Ally says, to put it simply, “I’m used to it.”

When asked for words of wisdom to impart on other multisport athletes, Ally suggests not overscheduling yourself;

“You can’t make it to everything no matter how hard you try.” Even Ally has to make sacrifices sometimes, when Ally’s sports conflict (say, a cross country meet at the same time as a soccer game), Ally puts soccer first because it is her main sport for the fall season.
Ally says that she avoids setting too many goals, as they can lead to disappointment. Her greatest inspiration is making it to the end.

A recent change in Ally’s sports schedule has been the addition of a new competition, Ally is the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Ally handpicked her team from scores of talented players during grueling tryouts in order to piece together one of the four best teams in the entire school.

Ally got her start in soccer and lacrosse at an early age, but began running track and cross country during high school.

“I started with indoor track to get in shape for lacrosse and then I really liked it so I just kept running.” And running, and running, and running!

Ally thinks that she’ll probably run for the rest of her life, but not competitively. She wants to pursue lacrosse and cross country in college, and has been approaching division III schools.

She is looking at small liberal arts colleges, which usually do not approach athletes themselves. She says that the schools she is looking at just happen to be Division 3, it was not the primary factor in her college search.