Camp Verde High School offers eight sports for boys to participate in. During the 2020-21 school year — his senior year — Mason Rayburn participated in half of them. He played football in the fall, basketball in the winter and doubled up in the spring, playing baseball and participating in track and field. Not only did Rayburn do all those sports, he did them well.
Because of his overall prowess, the The Camp Verde Journal is naming Rayburn the Athlete of the Year for the 2020-21 school year at Camp Verde High School.
The football season lasted only three games. In that time, Rayburn had an interception and a punt return for a touchdown, though the latter was called back due to a penalty. He was the only senior on the basketball team and was second on the Cowboys in rebounds and steals. In baseball, he hit .482/.559/.857 and led the team with 11 doubles, two triples, two homers and 12 steals. As a pitcher, he had a team-leading 45 strikeouts and had a 1.71 ERA.
Track and field was something of a part-time deal. He only participated in one regular season meet but at that meet, had a long jump distance [20-03] that was good enough for first place and qualified him for state. At state, his distance [19-06.75] earned him a 13th place finish.
Rayburn was a four-year player for the Cowboys in both basketball and baseball. Football and track and field were different. After spring sports in 2020 were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020-21 sports season looked anything but certain, Rayburn decided to give the gridiron a try.
“I didn’t think we were going to play any other sports because of COVID,” he said. “I just needed to play some sports after having so much time off last year because of COVID — I needed to do something. Football was the first thing and I hopped on that.”
As for track and field, coach Amy Wall approached Rayburn a few weeks into the season and asked if he’d be interested in participating, even on a limited basis. He did. While Rayburn acknowledged that it was totally out of his comfort zone, he also said that he had a good time with it.
During Rayburn’s junior season in 2020, the Cowboys had a baseball team that was coming off of a state semifinal appearance in 2019 and thought it had a real chance at competing for a state title. Obviously that was not meant to be, as the pandemic cut the season short only a few games in.
“It taught me to be in the moment at all times and not look ahead,” he said. “Last year I was already thinking I was guaranteed baseball. Then that was taken away. So it taught me to just not take things for granted.”
While football and track were new activities for Rayburn, the sports that he had more experience with — basketball and baseball — offered unique aspects, as well. Even during his junior seasons in those sports, Rayburn was a young player on the team, as the Cowboys’ basketball and baseball teams were senior heavy. This year, that was not the case. Rayburn was the only senior on the basketball team and one of only two on the baseball team.
That created a little bit of an awkward experience for Rayburn, particularly in basketball.
“It was weird being the only senior, especially on senior night,” he said. “Usually you get to stand out with your teammates and I was the only one there. I’d say it was weird but the team still had a close bond.”
With high school over, Rayburn will now attend Park University in Gilbert. There, he hopes to play on the baseball team. Rayburn also has aspirations of playing baseball after college and hopes to one day play in Major League Baseball.
Rayburn ultimately hopes that his classmates at Camp Verde will see him in a few years and realize that they went to school with an MLB player. Beyond that, he hopes to be remembered for what he did in sports while in high school and for his personality.
And having gone out of his comfort zone in two sports during his senior year, would Rayburn recommend that other students follow his path?
“Definitely,” he said. “Because of how fast high school went for me and how in the blink of an eye it’s over. Do the most things that you can while you can.”
