Kaitlyn Anderson, Lauren Harbison elevate programs at Henry, hope to do same at IVCC

HENRY – Since playing T-ball on the same team at age 5, recent Henry-Senachwine graduates Kaitlyn Anderson and Lauren Harbison have always been teammates.

“I’ve never been on a team that Lauren hasn’t been on for softball in my life,” Anderson said.

Same goes for volleyball and basketball.

That won’t change for the lifelong best friends as they’ll continue their volleyball and softball careers at Illinois Valley Community College next year.

“We’re two peas in a pod,” Anderson said. “If I’m somewhere and Lauren’s not there, they ask where Lauren is. We’re basically a package deal, and everybody knows that. Our families are pretty close. She’s kind of another one of my siblings. She’s family to my family, and I’m family to hers. It’s always been that way since we were little.

“That makes it more fun when you get to play with your best friend and do so much, and then we get to continue that.”

Anderson and Harbison formed a dominant duo in all three sports at Henry and led the Mallards to unprecedented success as seniors.

In the fall, with Harbison at setter and Anderson as a six-rotation hitter, the Mallards won a school-record 30 matches, won the Tri-County Conference Tournament for the first time since 1988, claimed a regional title for the first time since 2011 and advanced to a sectional final for the first time since 1978.

In basketball, Henry went from eight wins to 15, and Anderson eclipsed 1,000 career points.

The duo capped their careers by leading the softball team - with Anderson at catcher and Harbison pitching - to a school-record 25 wins, back-to-back regional titles for the first time and the first sectional championship in program history.

Both were voted all-state in volleyball and softball.

“Not very often in my 25 years here have I seen two athletes who excelled like they have across multiple sports,” said Henry athletic director and former volleyball coach Rita Self, who added that the pair were both top 10 in their class academically and were involved in many school clubs and charity organizations. “They share a strong bond and friendship. They’re great leaders. I think Kaitlyn and Lauren have really pushed each other to achieve at the highest level in every sport they played. Their impact on our programs has been nothing short of remarkable.”

“It’s great to see them take the drive and chemistry they developed in high school to the next level and play together in college. We’re super proud of all they’ve accomplished at Henry as athletes and as people. We’re really excited to see what they can do at IVCC.”

The pair said their close relationship helps with their dynamics as pitcher-catcher or setter-hitter. For example, Anderson knows Harbison so well as a pitcher that their school and travel coaches allow Anderson to call the pitches.

“We can talk to each other,” Harbison said. “We can tell each other anything, especially in sports. If she needs to hear something, I’ll tell her. If I need to hear something, she’ll tell me and it doesn’t affect anything.”

Anderson said in addition to she and Harbison having a strong bond, they also had that trust and respect with the rest of their Henry teammates, many of whom they played with since early childhood.

That’s perhaps why they were able to be strong leaders at Henry.

Self said Anderson was a leader from the moment she stepped into the school as a freshman and is more of a vocal leader, while Harbison leads by example.

“Kaitlyn’s not just a lead-by-example person,” Self said. “She’s someone who is very vocal in a positive way but also is the type who can command a court or field when play needs to be picked up. Lauren is more of a grit and toughness kind of leader who will do whatever it takes to win and keeps her composure in very heated moments in games.”

Henry softball coach Lori Stenstrom said Anderson and Harbison were able to elevate the programs at Henry with a strong work ethic as well as athletic ability and competitiveness that first caught her eye when she taught the pair in kindergarten P.E.

“Each year every team got better and better, and it’s because of them,” Stenstrom said. “I think they make the people around them better. They raised up everybody. When you can get everybody playing a little bit more competitive and working a little bit harder, you’re going to see success.”

Anderson and Harbison hope to do the same thing at IVCC.

“That’s the plan,” Harbison said.

They know it’ll be much different as they play with athletes from all over the area, including some former Tri-County rivals.

“Our coaches talked to us about how it’s not going to be comfortable for us because we’ve always played with the same girls, but I think we understand that bonds and relationships between teammates is what takes you far,” Anderson said. “We learned that here at Henry, so I think establishing that early is important. We start summer workouts soon for volleyball, so I think it’ll be easy to create bonds with them.”

They’re happy they’ll be Eagles together even though they started the college recruiting process considering and visiting schools separately.

“We didn’t really plan it,” Anderson said. “I always thought it’d be fun, but we didn’t want to make the decision together. But it ended up that way, and I’m glad it did.”