Frey To Play Multiple Sports at Blackburn
By Mark Jurgena
After a senior year filled with adversity, recent Collinsville graduate Camden Frey has committed to furthering his ath- letic career in multiple sports at Blackburn College in Carlinville beginning this fall.
Frey will be competing in both soccer and baseball.
“I chose Blackburn because I felt like their coaches understood me better than anyone else I talked to. I feel like it’s more of a family than a team. It’s not going to be soccer rst, it’s going to be a family building bonds and then put it all together on the eld,” said Frey.
Blackburn competes at the NCAA Division III level and is in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
As for playing multiple sports in college, Frey was looking forward to the challenge.
“It was just convenient be- cause they were both interested in me for both sports so I gured why not just play both, I love them both, I can’t play just one,” Frey said.
In addition to his commitment to athletics at Blackburn he plans to focus on Psychology in the classroom.
“I just took Psychology in high school and it was my fa- vorite class and it’s what I like so I decided it would be best for me,” said Frey.
He is no stranger to juggling academics and athletics.
Frey was a member of the 2018 Kahoks soccer team that earned a 3rd place finish at the Class 3A state tournament.
He returned for the 2019 campaign with ten other Kahok seniors looking for big things. In fact, Frey scored Collinsville’s only goal in their season opening 2-1 loss at Class 2A powerhouse
Chatham-Glenwood.
But the promising start to the
mid elder/forward’s season was short-lived. Against Glenwood he injured his hip. He tried to stay on the eld playing through pain but in the fth game of the season, a 3-1 loss at O’Fallon, the grind of soccer caught up to him and he had to miss the remainder of the season.
He had a torn labrum in his hip that required surgery.
“Cam is an incredible athlete who had an unfortunate ending to his senior year,” said Collinsville coach Rob Lugge.
The surgical procedure and ensuing rehab put him out of commission until late March, coincidentally the same day Col- linsville baseball was supposed to have their season opener.
“(It feels) good, honestly better than ever,” he said about his hip.
Frey actually began his ath- letic journey on the football eld when he was really young but switched to soccer.
He played soccer for the Gateway Rush until he was eight years old. After that he played for Scott Gallagher Illinois until he was 14. He joined the Kahoks after that.
Simultaneously he worked his way through the ranks of youth baseball eventually becoming a middle in elder for CHS. He platooned his junior season and finished with an on base percent- age of .333 in 27 plate appearances. He had four RBI.
His senior baseball season was wiped out due to the CO- VID-19 pandemic.
Despite the adversity he experienced at Collinsville, Frey was complimentary of his time at CHS.
“I feel like everybody at Collinsville was very supportive, especially coaching staff wise. If I had problems throughout high school they would always help me get through them. They were always there for me,” he said.
Frey wanted to thank CHS soccer coach Lugge and former baseball coach Ryan Warnecke. He mentioned assistant coaches Jeff Hayes, Josh Boyd, Brian Curry and Josh Oswald as among those that have contributed to his effort to get this far.
He also wanted to thank his parents Dale and Deana Frey for all they have done for him.
