Extra Effort: Bunn's unassuming, tenacious three-sport star Carlee Tart

Carlee Tart is a three-sport star at Bunn High School, but don't be fooled by her first impression.

"If you look at her, she looks like she would be meek and shy," said her tenth grade English teacher Patrick Reynell.

"I'm a bit shy at the beginning," Tart agreed.

"As a freshman, I don't think she spoke," said Bunn softball coach Melanie Lovin.

"She's the friendliest, nicest kid you will ever meet," said Bunn tennis coach Dale Murphy, "but inside of her she has some fight."

With the tenacity to overcome a height of only 5-foot-2, Tart is a three-year starter and the captain of the Bunn girls' basketball team.

"Defensively, she's in everyone's face," said Bunn girls' basketball coach Jovon Blacknall. "Offensively, she passes the ball when she needs to. She attacks the basket, and she can shoot that thing."

As a tennis player, Carlee only played the sport the last two years, but she still won the conference championship as a senior.

"She gives it her. It's not her number one sport," said Murphy.

"She is good at everything, but her passion I feel like is in softball," said Lovin.

"I've been playing softball since I was three years old," said Tart. "I just love the game. It's just so fun to go out there, and it's just relaxing and peaceful."

Tart dreams of playing softball in college. She was all conference last season as a junior.

"The highlight was during playoffs last year when she chased down a ball in centerfield and caught it, ran into the fence, hit the ground, held the ball up, was excited but also hurt. But she did not want to tell anybody, and that is Carlee to a 'T,'" remembers Lovin.

Tart also has a 3.7 grade point average.

"So that same tenacity that comes out on the field and the court, you see it in the classroom with how diligent she is with her work," said Reynell.