Prep of the Week: Claire Loftus
(ABC 6 News) — Repeating as a state champ gets you remembered.
Make history and you are impossible to forget; just ask the back-to-back Class AA champion in team and singles, Claire Loftus.
“Yeah, it’s definitely really exciting being the first to ever to do it back to back in both team and singles,” Loftus explained. “So, really excited and really no better way to finish my high school career than like this.”
Loftus’ name is now a historic one along with her career in Mayo Tennis.
“Claire is a special player, we knew that in 7th grade that she was going to be a special player,” Spartans head coach Jeff Demaray recounted. “Incredible tennis player but not only that, an incredible person.”
Culminating in four titles over just two years, that’s quite the set of trophies added to the cabinet. But the Loftus name will be floating around Mayo High School for years to come.
“I’ll be going but the Loftus name — Aoife, currently a sophmore and Emily, currently a 7th grader, will be here for the next several years so I definitely have faith in them to keep up the MGT reputation.”
“Definitely some big shoes to fill going into the next season,” Aoife admitted. “But I’m proud of (Claire) and excited to see where she goes next with her tennis career.”
Although her sisters will have the torch passed to them, Claire has set a very high bar.
“There will never be another Claire Loftus, you know?” Demaray affirmed. “We will have a lot of other players but she has just meant so much to this program the past six years. And as a coach, I am definitely going to miss her dearly.”