Rachel Houston, who graduated this spring from Stone Memorial High School, looks back on her senior year with excitement. Besides academic success, the two-sport star was also able to close out her athletic career in the black and gold by excelling in basketball and tennis.
She helped the Lady Panthers have probably one of the best seasons in program history, reaching the regional basketball tournament with victories over top-10 ranked teams Cumberland County, White County and Upperman.
She then followed basketball season with a stellar tennis campaign that saw her lead the Lady Panthers from her No. 1 seeded position, and earn another berth in the state championship.
Her big performances on the basketball and tennis courts earned Houston the 2024 Crossville Chronicle Award for Female Athlete of the Year for Stone Memorial High School.
“I think there are a lot of great female athletes at our school, so I am very humbled by being selected athlete of the year,” Houston said. “It is an honor for me.
“I have grown up playing sports all my life. I think I played T-ball and soccer first. I did gymnastics for a few years, but, I wasn’t very good at that. I even tried dance for a while. I wasn’t much good at that, either.”
“I think our parents wanted us kids to be active. I think the main thing was to find our place and make friends. However, I come from a teacher’s family, so they always pushed me to understand school came before sports.”
Houston said sports play a huge role in her life and always will. Besides the excitement of competing, she believes sports gives her balance. Not only was Houston a rock star on the basketball and tennis courts, she was also a rock star in the classroom. She was named the 2023 SMHS valedictorian.
“I have always known I wouldn’t be going to college and that I wouldn’t be pursuing either sport professionally, or taking it too seriously,” Houston said. “But I do love to compete.”
Houston and the Lady Panthers seemed to get better each game during the basketball season.
“The last few games of the season, the postseason, were special,” Houston said. “I have played with most of these girls since elementary school, so I think this past season was like, especially for the seniors, our final push.
“I think we had a lot of good pieces. I think our depth was good and I also think it was important that we all knew our roles and we stuck to those.”
Houston said she thought she had a really good tennis season. Houston played at the No. 1 position and, arguably, was one of the premiere players in the state.
“I felt like I had a good year,” said Houston, daughter of Brad and Amanda Houston. “I think it was one of the most fun years in tennis because I got to play doubles with my sister, Carrie.
“As a team, I think we did very well. We had some younger players playing at the bottom of our lineup. They did a good job this season and that was important for us. I think we set the bar so high last year [2023], but we did the best we could to match that this past season.”
Houston does have college plans, but they don’t include tennis. She will be going to Tennessee Tech to major in biology, and eventually go to optometry school.
“I have a lot of good memories from my time at Stone,” Houston said. “The little moments mean the most. Those moments molded me and shaped me more than anything else.”