Catonsville multisport standout Casey Fisher named one of three Catonsville-Arbutus Times Female Athletes of the Year

Catonsville junior Casey Fisher scored a career-high nine goals in a 17-4 win over Perry Hall and finished with a team-high 63 goals, but she proved she is more than just a goal scorer on the lacrosse field.

Her athletic versatility was showcased in all three sports she played during the 2022-23 school year.

Fisher, who ran cross country in the fall and sprints and relays during indoor track and field season, is one of three females selected for Catonsville-Arbutus Times Athlete of the Year. She shares the award with seniors Leah Vacin and Hallie Shepard.

Fisher has verbally committed to play lacrosse at High Point University after she graduates and plans to play all three again sports next year.

“Honestly, one of the biggest things that I respect and admire about Casey is that never once has she ever said the words, ‘I’m just using cross country and track to get in shape for lacrosse,’” said Sandra Gallagher-Mohler who coached her in cross country and track. “She has so much respect for the sport of running that it is not just her personal training hour. She is a competitor and she goes out and competes to the best of her ability no matter what she’s doing and that brings such a level of elevated competition within our program.”

Fisher, who works as a lifeguard at Five Oaks, gave up competitive swimming when she got to high school and started running.

“I have always had a love for running and it sounds weird because a lot of people actually hate it, but I love running. And I met Coach S [Gallagher-Mohler] in eighth grade and I loved her and she really helped me get into the sport and just really welcomed me and I just fell in love with it.”

In a cross country meet at Franklin with Woodlawn, Milford Mill and Patapsco on Oct. 12, she placed second behind Shepard. At the Baltimore County championship meet, Fisher was 21st and Shepard was sixth. At the regional championship meet, Fisher was 18th and Shepard was fourth.

“Running with Hallie has probably been one of the most memorable experiences of my life,” she said. “I love her. She pushes me all the time and I know that helps me in lacrosse, so it’s great.”

Catonsville football coach Jaren Maybin coached Fisher during the indoor track season and was overly impressed.

“Casey is a beast and I didn’t know she was a junior,” Maybin said. “Casey is the nicest young lady and she is always smiling, always supper pleasant, but when she is in competition, like she gets this fire in her eyes and you say go get this girl and she is going to chase that girl down to the best of her abilities and she kept us in so many races it wasn’t even funny.”

Fisher doesn’t hide her competitiveness on the track.

“I think I’m just always a very competitive person and we had a great track team this year and I was really able to just get into a groove and have fun and competition just really brings that beast mindset out of me and I think when I see competitors or really want to win, it’s just that urge to win that really pushes me forward,” she said. “We have kind of a joke going because in relays I was always determined to catch the person in front of me and I think I just kind of carry it on as to how I am as an athlete, just very competitive and always want to win.”

She spent most of the season running the 300 meters, 500 or 4x200 or 4x400 relays, but did enter her first 800 meters in a 12-team league meet on Dec. 19. She won in a time of 2:36.86.

At the county championships, she ran 2:33.65 and finished fifth, but at the Class 4A North Region championship meet, she was fifth in a personal best 2;27.99. The top four girls qualified for states and she was less than a second behind the third and fourth-place finishers.

“I dropped a lot of time and it was a really fun race,” Fisher said. “That [800] is definitely a goal for next year.”

“She is probably a pretty true middle-distance, long sprinter,” Gallagher-Mohler said. “It’s an interesting combination. She’s got incredible muscle mass and power, so she can handle the sprinting solo events, but with the background of cross country, she can hold her own up to the mile even.”

Even though she is playing summer club lacrosse for the Sky Walkers, she is still dedicated to summer training for the cross country season.

“That’s exactly the way I feel. I absolutely love it and I wouldn’t trade it for the world and I got to be really close with a lot of people on the cross country and indoor track team and the whole atmosphere just helps you love the sport even more,” she said.

“I definitely anticipate her being a leader on the team without a doubt,” Gallagher-Mohler said. “She is incredibly disciplined and incredibly caring. She’s a wonderful role model for work ethic and at the same time, she is very joyful and she is just very caring toward her teammates and they really feel that. She is just a wonderful asset to the team in so many ways.”

Catonsville girls lacrosse coach Cantey Bailey echoes the sentiment.

“She is definitely quiet and reserved. She’s more of a leader with her skills than her voice necessarily, but I think the girls feed off her a lot,” Bailey said.

And she does more than score. She had nine assists, 37 draw controls, 48 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers.

“She is the definition of your all-around player,” Bailey said. “She is one that on defense is always communicating great helping slides and she’s great on the 1-v1 defense and transition is where her speed is really seen and where she is able to separate herself. But on the attacking end is where she just sees the drive and sees the opening and she can take a shot from anywhere and a majority of the time she is finding the back of the net.”

Finding the back of the net nine times was not her intention in the Perry Hall game.

“That game I think I was just focused on doing the best I could, but also helping my teammates in any way I could,” Fisher said. “I think that’s kind of how I am every game, just going out and doing my best and letting the chips fall where they may.”

Her favorite moment for the 6-8 Comets, who won their second consecutive regional championship, came in a 14-11 loss to Mt. Hebron.

“We were really proud of that game. As a team, defensively, we played so well and we just really came together and bonded that game and I will always remember that game as a game our team just gave it our all and left it all on the field,” she said.