Female kickers across the country
generally generate attention for two
things: Playing football and being
female. Akron, Ohio's Alana Gaither,
however, is earning serious acclaim for
a third reason: She's a truly
outstanding kicker, as backed up by
a recent field goal believed to be the
longest ever made by a girl in a
competitive football game, at the
high school level or higher.
According to Akron's WKYC.com,
Gaither hit a 43-yard field goal just
before halftime during her
Firestone (Ohio) High School team's 45-6
win over city rival Ellet on Oct. 8.
The kick was the final play of the first
half and easily sailed through the
uprights, with some in attendance
estimating the kick would have easily
been good from 48 yards, too.
"I was like, 'Coach, I'm feeling
good,'" Gaither told Firestone coach Tim
Flossie, according to WKYC. "I can do
it. I know I can."
The Akron Beacon-Journal reported
that John Gillis, the assistant director
of the National Federation of State High
School Associations,
has said that the kick qualifies as a
national record for a female high school
kicker. Further research has failed
to find any evidence of a kick made by a
female kicker from farther than 43 yards
in college football, which would mean
Gaither's record extends beyond just
high school football.
The 43-yarder was the first field
goal Gaither had hit from beyond 40
yards in a game, though she has
reportedly connected on kicks from
beyond 50 yards in practice. Having seen
that, Gaither's teammates were hardly
surprised when she nailed her
record-setting kick in a game.
"Before [the kick] it was like,
'You'd better not miss it because you
could make history here,'" Gaither's
teammate and Ohio State-commitment Tommy
Brown told WKYC. "Then she kicked it. I
was just like, 'Wow, I knew she could do
it.'"
While her kicks from distance are
garnering most of the attention,
Gaither's accuracy is often touted as
her greatest asset. Her coach said that
she routinely hits 8-of-10 attempts from
beyond 40 yards in practice, and he said
he's confident enough in her ability to
trust her with an attempt of 50 yards or
farther. Through her team's first seven
games, Gaither hit 27-of-29 extra points
and was a perfect 4-for-4 on field
goals, all from beyond 30 yards.
If the rest of the nation wasn't
paying attention to Gaither's exploits,
at least a few collegiate coaches were.
While the soccer star is considering
playing that sport in college, Gaither
said she's received more than a few
letters recruiting her to play football,
too.
"I've gotten a handful of [football
recruiting] letters," Gaither told WKYC.
"I'm sure that half of those might not
even recognize that I'm a girl."
If they didn't know Gaither's sex
before, they probably do now, and her
recent success can only make them more
interested. To get that kind of
collegiate attention is a heck of a
compliment when you consider the
Firestone senior is a self-taught kicker
who only began practicing with footballs
after her freshman year.
"I went over there and saw these
girls kicking the heck out of the
ball," Flossie said. "And she was
the youngest one and kicked it the
farthest.
"And she was bugging a couple of
coaches, like a week later, for a
bag of footballs," said Flossie.
"And we gave it to her. And she's
done it by herself."
While Gaither doesn't need to share
the credit for her accomplishment,
that's precisely what she did when asked
what the kick meant to her.
"If there's anything I want people to
get out of this story, it's just how
well my team has treated me during this
entire experience," Gaither told WKYC.
"A lot of them have grown to be my best
friend."
Updated:
10/20/2010 4:59:55 PM Posted: 10/20/2010 1:55:22 PM 
