Sophie Galloway (32) wanted to play basketball with her friends again this year and gladly accepted her role to help Marshall County reach the state title game. (KHSAA Photo)
After opting not to play basketball as a junior to concentrate on her track and field future, Sophie Galloway had a change of heart for the 2020-21 season after moving back to Marshall County.
“Those were the girls I grew up with. I lived in Marshall County until seventh grade. I played softball, soccer, basketball. I loved all those girls so much,” said Galloway.
It was a good move for her and Marshall as she helped the Marshals reach the state title game before losing to Sacred Heart.
“It was a great season. It was a rough ending but at least we made it that far,” Galloway said.
She had played for coach Aaron Beth two seasons at Graves County and knew she would enjoy playing for him again at Marshall even in a different role.
“At Graves, I was a dominating post. My game was scoring and rebounding,” she said. “This year we had shooters and another 6-3 post. My role was to play defense, rebound, and run the floor. I wasn’t going to make shots every time. That’s not what I was good at but I did my best.”
Guard Cayson Conner, who signed with Murray after her state tourney performance, knew Galloway would bring energy to the team.
“Her athleticism is incredible. She was a joy to have on the team. She didn’t care how many points she scored. She knew her role,” Conner said. “It’s crazy to think about the role she took because she is just an amazing athlete. She really could make it to the Olympics.”
Galloway believes that and so do many in the track world. Galloway had a lot of track scholarship offers before picking Tennessee over Kentucky. She’s already won five Kentucky state high school championships (two each in the long and triple jumps and one in the 100-meter hurdles) even though there was not a 2020 state meet due to COVID and is a three-time Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year recipient in track.
Her college and Olympic dreams will have her competing in the heptathlon that consists of seven events — 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run) in a two-day span. The 800, shot put and javelin were all new events for her when she decided to become a heptathlete that she’s had to learn in the last year.
“It’s more of a mental thing but it does put a lot of stress on your body. But each event kind of helps set up another event. It’s difficult but I am learning all I can about each event,” Galloway, who took a quick four-day trip to Florida after the state tourney before resuming her track training, said.
She became infatuated with the heptathlon after competing in Miami last summer against girls who were doing the heptathlon. Her coach in Nashville, Gary Kinder, competed in the decathlon in the 1988 Olympics. He had talked to her about the heptathlon and was all in for her training for that rigorous competition.
Galloway is such a terrific athlete she can perfect all seven events. She already has the state high school triple jump record (40 feet, 7 inches) and hopes to extend that at the state meet this year.
She knows hurdles and jumping got her the college offers and Tennessee had been in her top five since her sophomore year. The Vols gave her the option of being able to compete in the heptathlon or jumps. However, turning down Kentucky was not easy.
“I am a southern girl and UK is close to home but I wanted new competition,” she said. “UK is only four hours away and it seems like everyone I know goes there. But I just thought Tennessee was best for me. My coach (Kinder) in Nashville will only be two hours away and I liked that not as many people would know me as would have if I went to UK.”
Galloway knows competing in the Olympics will be a “difficult process” that will take time but she’s not shying away from the challenge.
“The first step will be making it to (the Olympic) Trials,” Galloway said. “It’s not something I just dream of. It’s something I think can really happen.”
It’s also something she never imagined might happen at a fourth-grade field day fundraiser being put on by the high school track team. She was running sprints when the high school track coach noticed how fast she was and encouraged her to try track.
“I thought it might be fun,” Galloway said. “Little did I know that 10 years later I would be going to college for track. It’s really still kind of hard to believe.”
