Active And Amazing: Moniteau's Campbell polishes off productive, versatile prep career
CHERRY TWP — Sun-up to sundown — and beyond.
Moniteau senior Hailey Campbell is on the go.
Track and field, golf, competitive cheering, dance team, prom court, church and youth group activities, Pennsylvania stock market games ... you name it, she's into it.She holds a part-time job as well.“I don't like to sit around and wait for things to come to me before they happen,” Campbell said. “I like to go make them happen.“I never picked up a golf club my entire life. I heard our (high school) team needed people to do it, so I went home and told my dad, 'I'm playing golf.' He was pretty surprised.”Campbell wound up playing on the Moniteau golf team for three years, advancing to the District 9 tournament her sophomore year.She was drill captain of the varsity dance team for two years.She was a member of three KSAC and District 9 championship competitive cheering teams.She was first team All-KSAC in the high jump this spring and placed second in that event at the District 9 Championships.She joined Amber Campbell (no relation) and Logan Barnhart in placing second out of 143 teams statewide in the Pennsylvia stock market game.“It's an activity where you are handed play money and you play the actual stock market to see how you would have done,” Campbell explained. “That was fun and educational. I think we would have won something like $30,000.”Campbell was unable to play golf for the Warriors last fall as she had to commit her time to the competitive cheer team.She's gone on mission troops through her church youth group, doing charitable work in Tennessee, West Virginia and Oklahoma.“Whatever's needed on those trips, I do,” Campbell said. “I've helped build houses, done a lot of painting, torn things down, did weed-whacking, whatever.”Moniteau girls track coach Sue Scialabba said Campbell rarely missed any meets or practices despite her overloaded schedule.“The competitive cheer season ran late this year because of the delayed schedule (due to COVID) and she missed a couple of things,” Scialabba said. “But overall, over four years, there hasn't been a problem.“Hailey knows how to juggle her time. She really is proof that a kid can do it all.”Scialabba described Campbell as one of the biggest leaders on the track team.“We count on all of our seniors for leadership,” the coach said. “But Hailey is a great example of what a student-athlete can do when she wants to.“She finds a way. That girl is the real deal.”Campbell said track and field is her favorite activity. Her personal-best in the high jump is 5 feet. She cleared her previous personal-best by six inches this season.She attributes that to cheerleading practice.
“My legs got stronger through those (cheering) practices,” Campbell said. “They're pretty intense.”Cheerleading coach Melissa DeMatteis has been working with Campbell since the latter's junior high years.“An amazing girl,” DeMatteis said. “While all of us have been fighting to survive the frustrating COVID times, Hailey has kept a positive attitude. She picks everybody up.“She manages her time. And cheerleading definitely helped her high jump. We do a lot of leg exercises because leg work is so critical to competitive cheer. I know she's benefitted from that.”Campbell has been involved in cheerleading since second grade. Her mother, Michele Leech Campbell, was a cheerleader at Butler High School and Grove City College, and has coached the sport for 20 years. Hailey's older sister, Kendal, cheered at Moniteau and Slippery Rock University.Campbell said there's been days when she wakes up at 6 a.m., goes to school, goes to an athletic or dance practice afterward, goes to work, gets home at midnight.“I'm not at home the entire day or night, at times,” she said. “But I get things done.”When she does miss a practice, “nobody has to worry about Hailey,” Scialabba said. “She'll get her work in on her own.”Campbell will attend Butler County Community College next year and will begin prepping for a career in cosmetic dermatology. She will eventually move on to Slippery Rock University or Pitt. She carried a 3.5 high school grade point average.“When I do (move on), I plan on trying to compete in track and field at either school,” Campbell said. “I don't feel like I'm finished yet.”
