The Greatest Greyhound Female Athlete Lauren Frye

By Patricia Duran

Lauren Frye (BS 17), who graduated in December with a biology degree, is the recipient of not just one, but two, Greatest Greyhound Female Athlete awards for 2015 and 2016. Thinking of all the female athletes who represent ENMU, she thought, “Wow, this is pretty cool. Out of all them, why would they choose me?”

Towering at 6 feet tall, Lauren didn’t grow to her full height until she was a junior in high school. “I was really bad [at volleyball] when I was young.”

Lauren’s love for sports began in fifth grade. She is from a little town in Virginia where eighth-graders were given the opportunity to play junior varsity or varsity for the public high school.

“It was really funny because we didn’t know what we were doing. I remember this game where another team was crushing us, and coach put me in position to serve.”

Lauren told herself, “I guess I’m going to put it over the net.” She served the ball hard and gave a player on the other side a bloody nose causing the game to stop. “What did I just do?” she thought.

“Coach was like, ‘It’s okay, you did a great job.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this supposed to be great?’ After that, I thought, well maybe, I’m going to be really great.”

Her senior year of high school, ENMU Coach Sia Poyer came to a tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada and saw her play. “He wanted me to be on his team. I had offers from Division I schools, so he was like ‘there’s no way she’s going to come here because we are a small D2,’” she remembered. “I don’t know what it is about this school, but everyone was so nice and welcoming that Ifelt comfortable here. This is where I wanted to go.”

After earning her degree, Lauren plans to become an EMT and paramedic. She is in the process of lining up a job with the fire department back home in Virginia.