Sports have allowed the Churchill sisters to grow closer

By Grace Schwab

Paige and Megan Churchill, two rising stars at Flagler College, have always been able to grow closer as siblings through sports.  

“We grew up always playing games around the house, in just a competitive environment… That’s probably a big part of why we’re both in team sports,” Paige said. 

Flagler College Athletics prides itself on creating a family atmosphere for its athletes.  

For the Churchill sisters, they believe their childhood playing sports and how they were raised contribute to their current athletic success. 

Now that Megan and Paige attend Flagler together it has allowed them to help each other through this chapter of life like they used to do growing up. 

This year, Megan, who runs for women’s cross-country and Paige, who plays for women’s soccer, take that value to a more literal level. 

“I honestly didn’t consider coming here until Megan mentioned it… that’s when I decided to email them my highlight video, I came on a visit and just loved it, I felt like ‘Wow, this is where I want to be.’ I would definitely say Megan played a huge role in that,” Paige said. 

Not only did her older sisters help Paige start playing soccer, but Megan helped her to continue playing at the college level.  

The sisters grew up playing soccer together along with Megan’s twin sister, Alyson Churchill, who runs cross-country and track at Florida State University.  

They all played on the same recreational team when Megan and Alyson were about nine and Paige was six. They continued to play together until they got older and started club soccer. 

Megan has been at Flagler for four years now. She has earned a range of accolades in her time on the women’s cross-country and track team. 

Both sisters have gone above and beyond in their respective sports. 

In 2021 and 2022, Megan was named to the All-Peach Belt Conference Team and All-Southeast Region Team. Megan recently helped the women’s cross-country team earn its sixth straight Peach Belt Conference championship title. 

Paige is in her first year here at Flagler and is on her way to her first conference tournament on the women’s soccer team. 

Paige was recognized as an Academy Bus Athlete of the Week and a Peach Belt Conference Player of the Week. Paige has garnered 10 goals and four assists so far this season. 

Paige credits her sisters for helping her get into soccer when she was younger. 

“I definitely think the reason I was playing soccer was because Megan and Alyson played soccer as well, I just wanted to do what they were doing,” Paige said.  

Megan played soccer up until high school when she started running cross-country full-time.

“I did both for a few years, I dropped soccer in high school… I was better at cross-country,” Megan said. 

The Churchill sisters have been able to grow closer as siblings through athletics.

“It’s something we can relate to each other on, I’d say sports has brought us closer,” Paige said. 

The sisters look forward to the rest of their respective athletic seasons, as well as the rest of this one year of college they have left together. They both hope to continue routing each other on from the sidelines and in everyday life. 

“I think it’s cool being here with her, especially because Megan has already experienced the same things as a freshman before so it’s easy to ask her questions or for help,” Paige said.