Kent Island High three-sport senior athlete McKenzie Mogel wants to go to a service academy. She’s most focused on the Naval Academy and the Coast Guard Academy.
“I’d like to go to the Naval Academy more so than the Coast Guard Academy, but I am perfectly fine with either one,” Mogel says. “It’s more likely I will get accepted into the Coast Guard.”
Mogel attended the Academy Introduction Mission (AIM) program at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in July. She’s been recruited by the school for soccer, a sport she has dominated while at Kent Island.
“You stay there [at the AIM program] for a week and they run it like plebe summer,” she says. “I got to meet the admissions officers and the coaches. They are interested in having me on their team.”
Mogel feels that attending the Coast Guard Academy could be a stepping stone toward her long-term career ambition: doing mission work. It’s a passion of hers. She’s already taken part in three mission trips to Haiti, which she helped organize at her school.
“It will lead me into the medical field,” Mogel says of attending the Coast Guard Academy. “I want to be a medical missionary. You are rebuilding homes and providing medical aid. I want to do that on a daily basis.”
It appears the 17-year-old has the credentials to get into the Coast Guard Academy.
She carries a 3.97 GPA, takes several advanced placement courses, is a member of the National Honor Society and the National English Honor Society, and teaches Sunday school at Chesapeake Christian Fellowship.
On top of that, she plays club soccer for most of the year and coaches for the Kent Island Youth Soccer League.
“I don’t see how she has time for anything else with her course load and everything else she does,” Kent Island Soccer Coach Mike Leach says. “She is studying all the time when she is not on the practice field. She plays travel soccer for me. And she works at Subway.”
The 5-foot-6 Mogel has had quite a soccer career at Kent Island. The forward is a four-year starter and led the Buccaneers in scoring in her first three seasons on the varsity team. Her biggest accomplishment? She earned Bayside Conference Player of the Year honors as a sophomore after totaling 22 goals and 11 assists.
Mogel, who also plays for the Shore Football Club (Shore FC) for most of the year, came into this fall with 56 career goals and has also been recruited by York College, McDaniel, Salisbury, and Southern Wesleyan.
“She is a very fast and physical player,” Leach says. “She has an excellent shot with both feet. If the ball is in front of her, she is going to score or she is going to pass it off to someone who will score. That is her mindset. And I like the fact that she will run through a brick wall for you.”
Mogel has also been a standout performer while competing in indoor and outdoor track and field for three years on the varsity squad. She has been versatile, particpating in relays, the 100-meter dash, the long jump, high jump, discus throw, and shot put. Most of her success has come in the throwing events during her junior year, in which she co-captained both squads.
She placed sixth in the shot put during the state indoor championships and took third in discus during the outdoor regionals.
“She is a pure athlete,” Kent Island Track Coach Justin Holland says. “She can pretty much do anything.”
