MaxPreps Weekly Honor Roll, presented by the United States Marine Corps: Megan Kline, Mountain Ridge

A typical day in the fall gets a little hectic for Megan Kline.

After a full slate of courses at Mountain Ridge (Frostburg, Md.) — where she is the top student in the sophomore class — Kline heads to soccer practice. When soccer concludes, Kline walks across the field for color guard/marching band practice for the next few hours.

Competing in soccer and then color guard is an interesting mix of athletic events.

"It's definitely a big mentality switch," Kline said. "It's going from you constantly have to be heads up and looking around and sprinting and transitioning from running and being aggressive and giving it your all in a soccer game to a more delicate manner as in paying attention to pointing your toes to making sure you go out on the right counts. It's definitely a big switch but I love the technicality of both of the sports."

Following the fall season, Kline transitions to winter guard. Just like color guard — which is held outside compared to winter guard which is indoors — Kline enjoys the team aspect.

"I just love the adrenaline rush of it all," said Kline, who got involved in color guard her freshman year. "I love how there's lots of different options. For example, you're not just stuck doing one thing. You can go from dancing to rifle to flag — there are just so many options to do."

During the fall high school season, Kline competes for the Mountain Ridge color guard on all of its main lines, which include dance, flag, rifle and sabre.

"As a freshman, I was the first student in Mountain Ridge's history to make APC's red guard — the intermediate level guard — in my first year doing color guard," Kline said. "I am also the first sophomore from Mountain Ridge to make the blue guard — the elite level guard."
Kline, 16, is currently competing for the traveling winter guard team, Allegany Performance Company (APC), which is one of the top guard programs in the tri-state area. For winter guard, Kline is on the blue guard team — the top team for APC. She is a main dancer and switches to flag and rifle as the show progresses.

The APC team gets out and travels quite a bit for competitions. That means Kline is on the go most weekends. Last year, APC's blue guard team won first in the highest bracket it could achieve. This year, the guard instructor is hoping to promote the team to world's competition, Kline noted.

Competing in soccer in the fall is a nice change of pace for Kline.

"I think it's a good release for her," Mountain Ridge girls' soccer coach Gene Lescallette said. "We have a pretty good time when we get to practice. We work hard, but we try to have a lot of fun, too."

After getting limited time on the field as a freshman on the varsity squad, Kline picked up her productivity this year.

"Honestly, there was a really big difference," Kline said. "The training in the offseason made such a big impact. Just my individual skills and my communication on the field with my team improved."

She started all but three games as a center defending midfielder and played an important role in the Mountain Ridge defense that notched nine shutouts; the team advanced to the state semifinals for the second straight season.

Lescallette knows Kline will be a staple in his defensive unit for the next two years. The on-field progress Kline showed this season pleased her coach.

"Probably one of her biggest positives is her mental game," Lescallette said. "She sees things well. As a freshman she really didn't have the confidence to move — she overthinks things. This year as a sophomore, she was quicker to act on her decisions — usually they were the right ones."

Kline, who used to play basketball and was a standout runner on the track and field team, is also a second-degree black belt.

It's an activity that Kline started as a first-grader and has taught her so many life skills.

"It really helped me in my academics because learning all of those terms really boosted my vocabulary and taught me how to study different studying techniques, which really helped me out in my AP classes," Kline said.

Kline is also an orchestra member and was the second bass chair for an honors orchestra at West Virginia University in mid-February. Along with the bass, Kline is skilled at the violin and viola.

"It's something that I really needed in my schedule because I really needed a brain break," Kline said. "I needed something to release my stress and really playing the bass is something that I enjoy doing."

Said Lescallette: "I don't understand how she could be so successful in so many different areas. She's a perfectionist and sometimes that works to her disadvantage when she's trying to budget her time sometimes."

Even though she keeps busy with so many activities, Kline's top priority is doing well in school. She has a 4.71 weighted grade point average and is taking all honors and advanced placement courses this semester.

Being at the top of her class is something Kline takes immense pride in.

"That is very important to me because I think I've been first in my class since seventh-grade year," Kline said.

Kline has started to look at colleges and is hoping to get a scholarship for color guard. She would really like to get into an aerospace program and ultimately conduct research from a space station.