Season Interrupted, Prom Edition: Carter Graham and Sammy Nuchow
Throughout the spring, The Times will interview high school seniors whose athletic careers were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak. Today we play two.
Names: Carter Graham and Sammy Nuchow
School: West Hills Chaminade
Sport: Baseball/lacrosse
Why we are pairing them: They are boyfriend and girlfriend
Key stats: Graham batted .391 in eight games this season; Nuchow, a junior, is a lacrosse standout
Fall plans: Graham will attend Stanford; Nuchow has committed to Vanderbilt, where she will begin in 2021
A look at the high school sport standouts whose seasons were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.
How they supported each other when their seasons were canceled:
CG: “Just being around each other, playing games outside, getting sun helped ease the pain of not being able to play the sport we love so much.”
SN: “Most of the time, we’re holding each other accountable. We’re in the same situation. We were training so much with our team. It came to an end. It’s up to us to continue on our own. It’s super sad to see Carter and his friends work so hard for their senior year. They all know they have another chapter ahead of them going to play in college. There are a lot of problems and this, in the grand scheme of things, is a small portion.”
On life without sports:
CG: “My family is all sports. The TV in my house 24/7 is playing sports, whether it’s college softball or a high school football game in Texas. Our house is always talking, listening and playing sports. My family is going stir crazy.”
SN: “My family is very sports-oriented. We’ve done family Olympics in the backyard.”
On the prom:
CG: “I asked Sammy to prom after it was canceled. We had a prom with Sammy, my friend and his girlfriend. We went into his backyard and had a social distancing prom, dressed up in our suits and their dresses, took pictures, ate some snacks.”
SN: “It was special.”
The coronavirus ended Mekhi Evans-Bey’s track season, then it came for his mother, who credits the Culver City standout for taking care of her.
On lessons learned for the Class of 2020:
CG: “Stay in every moment. You can’t be worried about the past or future.”
SN: “They’re going to never take anything for granted again. This was a big eye-opener. Even being in the car with friends or texting somebody to come over, that was taken for granted. Even going to school every day.”
Video interviews of each athlete can be found at latimes.com/sports/highschool.
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