It’s not shocking that Claire Masters has a planner to keep track of her schedule.
The recent Tigard grad is about to start her freshman year at Portland State University, and she is going to be quite busy. It’s nothing new for Masters, though.
At Tigard, Masters played soccer in the fall and softball in the spring all four years of high school. She also played on club teams for both of those sports. And if that wasn’t enough, she spent the spring season of her senior year at Tigard not only playing softball, but also running for the school’s track team for the first time ever.
“It was really difficult,” Masters said. “It was tricky. I was very busy, and it can be very easy to get burnt out, but I think having good friends really helped.”
No matter the sport, Masters saw success. In her junior year, she started to get interest from colleges for both soccer and softball, and in January, something unexpected happened. The soccer coach at Portland State knew Masters played softball and passed her name and tape along to the school’s softball coach.
Masters went on an official visit to the school for softball and received an offer to play.
So when school starts in the fall, Masters will play for Portland State’s women’s soccer team, and in the spring, she’ll play for the school’s softball team, as well.
Scott Eggelston, the girls soccer coach at Tigard, is confident that Masters can handle both sports in college.
“There are very few people who can do D-1 sports at a dual level,” Eggleston said. “Even if they can, they might not do it because of what it requires. It’s tough. For Claire, her commitment to being organized is super important and why she will succeed.”
Pete Kostel, Tigard’s softball coach, agreed. He saw how Masters was able to show up during softball season while training for soccer and keeping up with her school work, which is why he thought she could run track this past spring as well.
“The biggest thing in the beginning was if she was going to be able to be honest to herself,” he said. “She had to be honest with herself on if she could handle everything. She had to be honest about if she was feeling good enough to do a track workout after our practice or if she wasn’t. She had to do all that while not letting her grades slip. Claire was able to do all that. She didn’t miss a beat.”
Masters didn’t make varsity in either sport her freshman year, but she was around the varsity teams a bit. She saw how hard those girls worked, and she saw them get offers from college. It led Masters to start taking the sports and her training more seriously. She started playing club again outside of school, and she saw herself getting better.
The coaches also noticed. As a sophomore, she was starting in soccer and batting second in softball.
“It was very nerve-racking at first, but once I played a few games, I was like, I’ve got this,” Masters said. “My confidence just grew from there.”
Kostel said he saw Masters grow not just in her on-field ability.
“I saw a lot of mental growth and the mindset that grows from her putting her time in the weight room and doing those things to get better physically,” he said.
Both coaches said Masters was quiet as a younger athlete, someone who showed up, worked hard and led by example. But as she became one of the veterans on each team, she started to speak up more, especially with the younger players.
Masters agreed.
“You want to be like a role model for the younger girls,” she said. “When I was a freshman, I was so scared. I wanted to make them feel comfortable.”
One thing that helps is a few familiar faces. Already at Portland State are former Tigard teammates Gianelly Gargurevich and McKenna Eggleston, Coach Eggleston’s daughter. Both were freshman at Portland State last year.
As with most college freshmen, Masters will have a bit of an adjustment period when she starts school. While she’s not going too far away for school, she is leaving behind her family, including her twin sister, Ashley Masters, who is going to the University of Oregon.
“It’s going to be hard,” Claire Masters said. “I feel like growing up, you just had a built-in best friend. We did everything together, so it’ll definitely be a big change for us.”
Claire and Ashley are the youngest of four. Their older sister is at Portland State, so Claire Masters said she’s a bit familiar with the school from visiting her sister.
She’s also not forgetting about her schoolwork. Masters said she is majoring in chemistry but is thinking about changing to public health so she can learn how to be a physical therapist.
“I think it would be fun to work with athletes,” she said. “It’s something I’m passionate about.”
