Lowry High School seniors Hannah Whitted and Joseph Garcia are going to have to start stocking up on some warm winter clothes come this fall and winter.
Both student/athletes are headed to Hancock, Mich., and Finlandia University to continue their academic and athletic careers.
The City of Hancock, founded in the 1850's by early copper explorers, is a progressive and welcoming city of 4,500 residents on the north shore of Portage Lake, and is the northernmost city in Michigan.
Near Lake Superior, Hancock has the dubious distinction of being the third-snowiest city in the United States, the snowiest city in the Midwestern United States, and the snowiest city in the Eastern United States, with snowfall averaging 211.7 inches per year.
Hancock is further north than Montreal in Quebec, Canada.
Finlandia is a NCAA Division III school and Whitted will head there to play basketball for the Lions. The colors are just like the silver and blue of the Detroit Lions.
The women's basketball roster this past season featured 11 players from Michigan and one from Wisconsin.
The Lions went 14-9 this past season.
Whitted was part of the Lowry High School girls basketball team that went 27-3 and won the Northern 3A and NIAA 3A State Championship.
The Lady Bucks defeated Spring Creek 52-29 in February in Las Vegas to wins its first state title and seventh overall.
The seven state titles are tied for fourth most in Nevada history.
Whitted averaged 6.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 1.4 assists and .8 blocks a game.
During her sophomore season in 2019-20, she averaged 7 points a game to do with 5.9 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Lowry reached the semifinals of the Northern 3A Regional Tournament, before getting eliminated by eventual state champion Truckee.
There was no 2020-21 season, as the NIAA canceled the basketball year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Whitted played three games a freshman in the 2018-19 season.
Whitted is also a member of the Lowry track and field team and competes in the high jump.
This spring, Whitted has been atop the standings in high jump throughout the year.
There were no state championships in track and field in the 2020 and 2021 season. Whitted plans to major in Physical Therapy.
Whitted will see a familiar face at Finlandia, as Melanie Thurmond is the PTA Program Director at the school.
Previous to this past season, Thurmond was the girls basketball coach at Lowry.
Garcia was a running back for the Lowry High School football team this past fall and rushed for 321 yards on 59 carries to go with four touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball at linebacker, Garcia had 56 tackles (20) solo. Five of those tackles were for losses.
Garica was second-team selection in the Northern 3A East at linebacker.
The senior was part of the Buckaroos squad that went 6-3 overall but missed out on the playoffs after going to 2-3 in the Northern 3A East.
Garcia also played for the Buckaroos in the shortened 2020 season that was actually played in the spring of 2021.
The Covid pandemic pushed the football season from fall 2020 to spring of 2021.
Finlandia University is just getting back with its program, bringing it back in 2015. The Lions have players from all around the nation, including Hawaii. There were no Nevada players on the Finlandia roster this past season.
Garcia plans to major in criminal justice.
