Photography by Steve Buchanan
Growing up, it seemed like Julia McClary wanted to play every sport that exists. McClary, now a senior at Gunston School, ultimately limited herself to four. She played basketball, field hockey, and lacrosse, and competed in club gymnastics. When she started attending high school, she didn’t slow down and continued with the same four sports.
On top of her athletic endeavors, McClary was a member of her school’s Diversity Leaders, Mental Health, GIVE, and Environmental clubs. She also took five honors and three advanced placement classes while maintaining a 3.85 grade-point average.
She may be the busiest student at Gunston, and her time management skills are top-notch. “It does get a little difficult balancing everything,” McClary says. “But the leading thing is being organized. The key thing is that I keep a planner and calendar, so I am never behind on my schoolwork. And I always leave time after practice to get my homework done.”
The 5-foot-4 McClary is not just a sports participant: she’s a standout with plenty of accomplishments over four years. The Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) named her a First-Team selection in both basketball and field hockey.
Her achievements in gymnastics are even more impressive. She won a Maryland state individual championship in the all-around competition and was part of a Delaware state team championship.
But the 17-year-old decided to give up gymnastics last year to concentrate on the three Gunston sports and her academics, which she says are more demanding this school year. “It was a little overwhelming playing four sports,” McClary says. “I came to terms that I was spreading myself too thin. The Mental Health Club made me realize I needed to drop something. Giving up gymnastics wasn’t a bad thing—even though I loved it so much. It helped my mental and physical health.”
Basketball is McClary’s favorite sport, and she’s been playing it for eight years. As a junior, she led the team in scoring (15 points per game), steals (4.3), and three-point percentage (42 percent) to earn the team’s most valuable player award. McClary scored a season-high 31 points in a win over Salisbury Christian on the road that season.
This winter, she’s a team co-captain in her third year as a starter. She has been a consistent player for the Herons since her freshman year when she was named an ESIAC Honorable Mention selection.
McClary decided not to pursue college basketball and is interested in pursuing the sport at the club level instead. “Basketball comes easy for her,” Gunston Girls Basketball Brian Aiken says. “She communicates very well. She’s a coach on the court and tells everybody where they need to be. She can finish around the basket despite her size. She could play at the Division II or III level.”
In field hockey, the ESIAC picked McClary for its All-Conference team as both a sophomore and senior. She started at midfield for three years.
“She’s an amazing athlete,” Gunston Field Hockey Coach Yvonne Gazelle says. “She probably reads the field well in every sport she plays. She is a natural. She is humble. She just does her job and doesn’t care if she gets the accolades or not.”
When McClary wasn’t playing sports, she focused sharply on finding the right colleges. She applied to Bucknell, Elon, Lehigh, Lafayette, and UNC Wilmington. “Her dream is to go to a big school,” Aiken says. “Academics is where her mind is.”
Do you have a local athlete to nominate? Send What's Up? an email to editor@whatsupmag.com.
