Photo by: Mitchell Patton
From Uprights To Finish Lines
10/25/2018 9:32:00 AM | Cross Country, Track & Field/XC
DENTON – North Texas freshman cross country and track and field student-athlete Aubrey Schmidt achieved much athletic success as a prep before her arrival in Denton with a background that proves to be quite diverse and unusual.
An individual state champion in cross country and track at Oklahoma's Washington High School located 15 miles south of Norman, Schmidt was a member of the state semi-finalist basketball team and also played club soccer. The most intriguing part of her time at WHS, however, was the 153 points scored by the 5-foot-7 inch blonde as a kicker for the Warriors football team.
Aubrey's involvement in athletics has always been family-centered, so the Schmidt influence that initiated her football career came as no surprise. Her parents, Jerry and Robin, have backgrounds in collegiate strength and conditioning, and Jerry is currently the Director of Athletic Performance at Texas A&M following nearly two decades working at Oklahoma.
"With my dad being a coach, if we were at the stadium, we would make up games and kick field goals for fun sometimes," Aubrey explained. "After one of my brother's football games, I went and kicked on the field and one of the coaches saw me. He was like, 'Wow, you can actually do that.'"
Coincidentally, shortly after Aubrey's on the field sighting, the team was in need of a kicker. "Nobody else in my high school played soccer except me. They ended up asking me, and the rest is history. I just kept kicking after that and had a really good time doing it," Aubrey said.
As a senior, the Warriors advanced to the 2A state championship before they were defeated by Millwood, which went on to claim the title. WHS finished that season at 12-3, and during Aubrey's three seasons donning #19, the Warriors compiled a record of 30-9.
"The success of the team helped me because I was probably on three of the highest-scoring teams at Washington," Aubrey acknowledged. "That gave me a lot of experience. It really helped me when we did get deep in our season to know that I could do it, and it really mattered. I needed to get the job done for them."
While Schmidt was limited to two team practices a week, the bond with her gridiron teammates still deepened. "I went to church with a lot of the guys, and Washington is a really small school so everyone is friends," she said. "They were my really good friends even from the beginning. I've been around football my whole life, but to actually be on the inside I learned so much about it. The true brotherhood that people talk about came into play, and that was really neat."
"Running and football are very different," Aubrey recognized. "With running, you have time to think about what you are doing, and in a race you have plan to time it out. In kicking, it's just three seconds of courage to be like, 'Okay, I can do this!' They both really balance each other out, and it's a really cool combination of the two because they are so different."
Although Aubrey has swapped out her red and black for the green and white, she is appreciative of the experience gained on the field but is now focused on her collegiate career. "I really enjoyed and am very thankful for my time playing football, but I am really excited to see where running is going to take me here at UNT," she said.
On Saturday, Aubrey will have the opportunity to rate her progress at her first Conference USA Championship when the Mean Green travel to Boca Raton, Florida. "The 5k distance is still new to me because in high school I ran two miles," she admitted. "I've been focusing on bumping my mileage all season, getting longer workouts and going on long runs. I really want a PR (personal record) in this race, and do the best I can for my teammates to put out a good effort."
An individual state champion in cross country and track at Oklahoma's Washington High School located 15 miles south of Norman, Schmidt was a member of the state semi-finalist basketball team and also played club soccer. The most intriguing part of her time at WHS, however, was the 153 points scored by the 5-foot-7 inch blonde as a kicker for the Warriors football team.
Aubrey's involvement in athletics has always been family-centered, so the Schmidt influence that initiated her football career came as no surprise. Her parents, Jerry and Robin, have backgrounds in collegiate strength and conditioning, and Jerry is currently the Director of Athletic Performance at Texas A&M following nearly two decades working at Oklahoma.
"With my dad being a coach, if we were at the stadium, we would make up games and kick field goals for fun sometimes," Aubrey explained. "After one of my brother's football games, I went and kicked on the field and one of the coaches saw me. He was like, 'Wow, you can actually do that.'"
Coincidentally, shortly after Aubrey's on the field sighting, the team was in need of a kicker. "Nobody else in my high school played soccer except me. They ended up asking me, and the rest is history. I just kept kicking after that and had a really good time doing it," Aubrey said.
As a senior, the Warriors advanced to the 2A state championship before they were defeated by Millwood, which went on to claim the title. WHS finished that season at 12-3, and during Aubrey's three seasons donning #19, the Warriors compiled a record of 30-9.
"The success of the team helped me because I was probably on three of the highest-scoring teams at Washington," Aubrey acknowledged. "That gave me a lot of experience. It really helped me when we did get deep in our season to know that I could do it, and it really mattered. I needed to get the job done for them."
While Schmidt was limited to two team practices a week, the bond with her gridiron teammates still deepened. "I went to church with a lot of the guys, and Washington is a really small school so everyone is friends," she said. "They were my really good friends even from the beginning. I've been around football my whole life, but to actually be on the inside I learned so much about it. The true brotherhood that people talk about came into play, and that was really neat."
"Running and football are very different," Aubrey recognized. "With running, you have time to think about what you are doing, and in a race you have plan to time it out. In kicking, it's just three seconds of courage to be like, 'Okay, I can do this!' They both really balance each other out, and it's a really cool combination of the two because they are so different."
Although Aubrey has swapped out her red and black for the green and white, she is appreciative of the experience gained on the field but is now focused on her collegiate career. "I really enjoyed and am very thankful for my time playing football, but I am really excited to see where running is going to take me here at UNT," she said.
On Saturday, Aubrey will have the opportunity to rate her progress at her first Conference USA Championship when the Mean Green travel to Boca Raton, Florida. "The 5k distance is still new to me because in high school I ran two miles," she admitted. "I've been focusing on bumping my mileage all season, getting longer workouts and going on long runs. I really want a PR (personal record) in this race, and do the best I can for my teammates to put out a good effort."
Players Mentioned
Distance
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