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In her first three years at Sonora High, Gracie Bearden began to build a legacy for herself as one of the school’s best multi-sport athletes — a nearly unstoppable force in whatever athletic endeavor she attempted.
As a senior, Bearden cemented herself as one of the very best female athletes in Tuolumne County. That’s why The Union Democrat staff have selected Bearden as the inaugural Union Democrat Female Athlete of the Year.
Bearden, who is bound for George Fox University in Oregon next fall, was a three-sport athlete who helped lead the Sonora volleyball, basketball and tennis teams into the postseason.
“There are so many girls that could have been chosen for this, but I am thankful that I was chosen,” Bearden said. “There are a lot of girls that I compete with in every sport, and a lot of them are going on to compete in sports in college.”
Bearden said she was particularly grateful to her parents, siblings and coaches for helping to nurture her competitive spirit from a young age in Sierra United Soccer, Sonora Lightning Basketball, Pulse Volleyball and throughout high school.
“I know that God has blessed me with natural athletic gifts and talents, which, then my parents nurtured, and created (an) opportunity for me to get more specialized training and exposure to higher levels of competition and athletic mindsets,” Bearden said. “I have had many incredible coaches throughout club and high school who have poured into me along with remarkable teammates who pushed me to be my best version.”
Two of Bearden’s teams made it as far as the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship, with the Sonora volleyball team falling to Ripon High in the final match last fall and the Sonora tennis team repeating as section champions this spring.
Bearden played a pivotal role in the success of each team she competed on. For Sonora head volleyball coach Amy Wahlbrink, Bearden was the clear favorite for the award.
“For her to play travel volleyball and play three sports at Sonora High, she was a leader on the girls basketball team … then won a section championship for tennis — that’s unheard of,” Wahlbrink said. “There are a lot of great athletes at Sonora High that play one or two sports. She is the only one that plays three.”
In addition to her phenomenal athletic achievements, Bearden was a stellar student. She finished her high school career fifth in her class with a 4.17 GPA.
“Her grades didn’t slip, her goals never wavered,” Wahlbrink said. “The fact that she could do all of that while playing three sports is pretty amazing.”
Bearden kicked off her senior year with a stellar season on the volleyball court as an outside hitter. She led the Wildcats to a 27-7 overall record, with a 14-1 league record as the team cruised through the postseason on their way to the section championship final against Ripon.
While the Sonora coaching staff didn’t initially foresee Bearden becoming a hitter, it became clear over the course of her career that they would not be able to keep her out of the front row.
“When Gracie came in, we were determined to make her a setter,” Wahlbrink said. “She just is too big of a powerhouse — we couldn’t give her up as a hitter.”
That was evidenced by Bearden’s senior season stats, which included 408 kills and 50 aces, with a hitting percentage of .228. She also was second on the team in digs, with 292.
Wahlbrink said that in a college environment, she predicts Bearden will continue to thrive.
“The growth that she had was just in her game of being a front-row attacker. That is where she dominated the league and that is where she is going to continue to dominate in college,” Wahlbrink said.
Bearden was named the 2022-23 Mother Lode League volleyball MVP for the second year in a row — a feat which has only been accomplished by one other Sonora High player in Riley Patterson during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
“Volleyball has a lot of good athletes across our whole league, so that was pretty awesome to get that award,” Bearden said.
Bearden’s least successful season of her three-sport year, on the basketball court, saw her dominate league opponents in the frontcourt as one of the leaders of a Wildcats’ team which finished fourth in the MLL, falling in the first round of the section playoff tournament.
Though volleyball was Bearden’s main sport, which she will continue to focus on at the college level, her ability to impact winning across a multitude of sports was evident this season. Bearden attributed that to her competitive fire, which exists no matter the context.
“I am a very competitive person. I have always been competitive throughout elementary school, in all the sports I played,” Bearden said. “That competitive drive has helped me and it fuels my teammates around me, because they also want to win.
“Basketball is a really different sport, because you need a lot of people to work together each game, each practice. I think my competitive spirit helped push my teammates.”
Bearden led the Wildcats in a number of statistical categories this season, including points (14.0), rebounds (10.3), blocks (1.3) and three-point percentage (43.8).
Finally, Bearden played a key role in the Sonora tennis team managing to repeat as section champions this season. On a very talented team, she was the only player on the roster to go undefeated during the 2023 tennis season with a 13-0 record.
“Gracie is a raw talent,” Sonora head volleyball coach Sam Segerstrom said. “She would miss practices to travel for volleyball, and she would show up and would not miss a beat. She showed up to the first day of practice a few weeks later than the other athletes, and you wouldn’t be able to tell by watching her play. Tennis is not her first sport but watching her play, you would never guess it.”
Her powerful serves and overhead slams — no doubt strengthened by years of volleyball — made her a perfect doubles partner for her teammates as they scored easy points for the Wildcats throughout their season.
But more so than her physical prowess, it was Bearden’s approach to competition which most impressed Segerstrom.
“She has one of the best attitudes I have seen, a quiet confidence,” he said. “You never see her frustrated — she is always looking to the next point, the next play.”
The talented senior will focus primarily on volleyball in college, narrowing in on her best sport. With new challenges on the horizon, Bearden said she is looking forward to watching her childhood wishes become her reality.
“I am most excited to be living in a new area and also playing at the higher level because that has always been my dream,” Bearden said. “Now, it’s coming true.”
