Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Jan. 5, 2025)
When Abington senior Olivia Capps first came out for the swim team as a freshman, she didn’t know what to expect. Even if she made coach Joe Lennon’s squad, Capps knew she would be jumping into the deep end and, literally, be in over her head. But she kept pushing and soon found herself treading water before becoming a major factor for the Ghosts. “Freshman year, it was a little bit rocky,” she said, adding that her progress was a bit impeded by a broken arm and broken ankle in middle school. “It wasn’t my best year. Sophomore year, toward the end of the season, I kind of just evolved. I started getting some of the faster times on the team.” In fact, as a sophomore, she was one-fourth a 200 freestyle relay team that went to districts. “That’s when I discovered that maybe I should start thinking about swimming a little more seriously,” said
Capps.
A three-sport athlete, she also realized that most of the battle is being mentally prepared. “I realized, growing up, that I needed to prepare a lot more than just a week before something,” said Capps. “Our soccer preseason is really hard, just like it is with swimming. I was always going for runs maybe a week before swimming or soccer, and then I would be disappointed with how I did the first couple days of practice. “I just learned that I need to be patient and that nothing is going to happen overnight. I just need to keep on working or else nothing will change.” Describing Capps as a sprint freestyler, Abington swim coach Joe Lennon has had a front row seat for watching her develop and evolve. “She is a delightful young lady, who has really had a terrific Abington career,” said Lennon. “She is a very good athlete who also plays two other sports, soccer and lacrosse, and my sense now is that swimming was once her third sport. I would say that it is now actually swimming that she is thinking about doing in college, and that it has probably surpassed her other two sports in how she has performed over her career.”
Lennon believes Capps can absolutely end her swimming career with some postseason accolades, both in individual and relay events. “Looking at her career arc, she has gotten faster every year for us,” said the coach. “Last year, she started swimming on our ‘A’ relays. She is on our school-record teams in 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. We wouldn’t have gotten there without her.”
If there is a sport out there, Capps has probably played it – or at least tried it -- a few times. She played softball up until high school, and is still an avid fan of the Phillies. She picked up lacrosse later as more of a fun endeavor to keep her running. While she also enjoys competitive mountain biking, there is no denying that her first love was actually soccer. “I always played soccer, my whole life,” said Capps. Although priorities have shifted, he passion for soccer remained. “Olivia is the consummate teammate
who will do anything to help the team win,” said Abington soccer coach Rick Tompkins. “When our goalie was injured, Olivia took her place and posted a clean sheet.” Capps also evolved into a true leader in her senior year. “As a senior, she exhibited leadership in addition to her skills which helped our team succeed,” said Tompkins. “We will miss her next year and wish her well in all of her endeavors.”
Beyond the postseason, Capps – who plans to major in nursing or public health - absolutely has her sights set on being a collegiate athlete. “She is the kind of kid that college coaches should look at,” said Lennon. “She’s super athletic. She is a strong freestyler, so I would expect that they could get her faster in those races. She also has a pretty good breast stroke. That’s her best non-freestyle stroke, and I’m sure college coaches would be interested in a kid with her athletic profile. And she’s very tall, too. She is just a kid who is scratching the surface of what could be.” The list of schools she is talking to include the likes of Rutgers, West Chester and St. Joseph’s. “I was never expecting to swim in college,” she said. “Last year, I started to get in contact with some coaches. The assistant coach on our swim team, Alex Cohen, was helping me looking into colleges that were in my time ranges. Some are a stretch, but some are ones I could possibly look into.” Capps is also not ruling out a change of athletic plans. “I am also looking into rowing in college,” she said. “It seems kind of random, because I have never actually rowed before. Because of my swimming background, it actually helps a lot with rowers. It’s either going to be rowing or swimming, I think, but I’m still thinking more about swimming right now.”
To read Capps’ complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/olivia-capps-00116524
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Jan. 5, 2025).
Ask Upper Moreland boys’ basketball coach Dan Heiland what makes Colson Campbell the ideal leader for the Golden Bears, he can tell you all about Campbell’s impressive average of 14 points, eight rebounds, and four assists per game this season. He can … but he won’t. At least, not at first. Because as important as his contributions are on the court, what Campbell brings to the team goes far beyond numbers in the scorebook. “Colson is a kid that does all the right things on the floor, in practice, in and out of the classroom,” Heiland said. “He’s a coach out there for you. He knows where everybody needs to be, what the game plan is, and he knows how to execute. He’s a role model for the younger guys, a kid you can trust to do the right things in the right moments both during and outside of game situations. We always preach the ‘We Over Me’ mentality,
meaning that ‘we’ the team are more important than any individual and that means doing what is best for the team even when it might not feel or be what is best for you. Colson is a great example of that mentality for our program, and he sets that example every day on and off the floor.”
That’s the way the three-year starter and three-year captain has always approached the game. And now that he’s in his final season for Upper Moreland, Campbell just wants to pass on what he’s learned while having the most fun possible. “This year has been really special,” he said. “I get to be at the head of the team, be one of the guys to lead everything. All the things I got from the seniors before me when I was a freshman and sophomore, I’m now in the position to take that advice and I get to show the younger kids how to do it. I’m really enjoying it this year. I think this is one of the best teams I’ve been on. We have so much depth on our bench, I’m excited to have all these different pieces and players to mix and match during games.”
Of course, it’s always fun to win, and this year’s Golden Bears’ team has had no shortage of victories. The Bears sit in second place in the Freedom Division, and hope to make some noise in the league, district, and even states before the season ends. A strong postseason run would be a stellar finish to a basketball career that actually spent a lot of time in a different Suburban One gymnasium – Central Bucks South where his father Jason Campbell was a longtime head coach. “I was a C.B. South fan. My dad was the coach and I would go to all the games when I was younger,” Campbell said. “We always joked around about me playing there, but we live in Upper Moreland, so I always knew I was going to play at Upper Moreland. But it was cool to see how the team worked, what went on in the locker room and off the court. I was able to take a lot of that with me to Upper Moreland.”
He took his father with him as well. Jason Campbell is in his third season as an assistant coach for Upper Moreland. In addition to playing for his father, Campbell
also gets to play with his brother Cannon, a freshman on the team. “It’s very special to have my father here, not many people get that opportunity,” Campbell said. “He was always a coach on my teams growing up, but having him on the high school team and bringing his knowledge over really helps the team. And it’s really special playing with Cannon. We always play against each other in the driveway, and it’s competitive. I think it was the second game this season, I assisted him on back-to-back baskets, that was really cool.”
Campbell doesn’t just excel on the court, but in the classroom as well. The epitome of student-athlete, Campbell carries a difficult course load filled with Honors and AP level classes. Despite his commitments to basketball (and baseball in the spring), Campbell is ranked near the top of the senior class with an outstanding GPA. Wherever Campbell spends the next four years – whether he’s representing the school on the hardwood or just in the classrooms – there’s no doubt what that school will be getting … and what Upper Moreland will be losing after he plays his last game for the Golden Bears. “Wherever Colson ends up, that school is getting an incredible young man who continues to grow in maturity,” Heiland said. “He makes the right decisions and is always going to positively impact whatever institution he goes. He’s a great student, someone you want to have as part of your student body. And he’s the kind of kid who isn’t going to make it all about him, he’s going to make sure everyone around him is doing the right things and having fun and making a positive impact.”
To read Campbell’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/colson-campbell-00116521
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