Terrific Trio From Granby Memorial Signs on the Dotted Line

"Tempus fugit," a Latin phrase which means "time flies."

Such is the case for three senior girls from who gathered in the school’s central office meeting room Wednesday and signed their names on the proverbial dotted lines during National Signing Day.

With the room packed with family members, friends, coaches and administrators, Gabby Dixon (Drexel University), Ellie McDougall (Mercyhurst College) and Haley Makuch (College of the Holy Cross) all signed; Dixon and McDougall will play soccer at their respective schools, while Makuch will play field hockey.

None of them could believe that nearly four years had passed by so fast.

“We all play sports at the school and we’re all going to miss that,” Dixon said. “We’ve been talking about this lately. When we were freshmen, everyone told us that it’s going to fly by. We thought it was going to take forever, but it did just fly by.”

The three, all best friends who have grown up in town playing sports together, said that they had mixed emotions about their commitments: happy and excited about the prospect of starting something new, sad to begin the process of saying goodbye to what they have known for the last four years.

“It’s bittersweet because we’re happy we’re moving on, but we’re also closing a chapter,” Makuch said.

“It’s time for a fresh start,” Makuch said. “I played soccer with these two for 10 years, so it’s weird signing for field hockey.”

And while time may have flown by, the three certainly left their marks on the playing fields and courts of Granby.

Dixon and McDougall were huge contributors to the Bears girls soccer team that went 17-1-1, won its first NCCC title since 1988 and advanced to the state Class M title game. Dixon, a wildly gifted forward, scored 27 goals this season and was named All-NCCC and All-State, while McDougall played all but a few minutes as the Bears’ goalie, allowing just 10 goals in 19 matches.

Makuch received just about every accolade possible - All-NCCC, All-State and Regional All-American - as a midfielder for the Granby Memorial field hockey team that went 17-1 and won its third consecutive state Class S title.

Before the terrific trio move on to college, they still have to close out their athletic careers at Granby Memorial. All three play on the girls basketball team, which is currently 13-3 and in fourth place in the NCCC.

McDougall came to that realization Wednesday.

“I only have a month left of playing sports in Granby,” said McDougall before reporting the theme of the day. “It’s a new beginning is how I look at it.”