MICDS Multi-Sport Star Torchin is Ultimate Student-Athlete

MICDS senior Campbell Torchin has an interesting story to tell.

There’s one side of her persona that is warm and fuzzy, and another side that’s tougher than nails.

First, the soft side.

Ever since Torchin, 17, went to an MICDS Unplugged activities event during her sophomore year, she’s been doing volunteer work for BJCs Hospice program. Once or twice a month, Torchin, along with some friends, carve out precious time to spend with those in their last moments of life.

On the tougher side, she’s as good a competitor in athletics as one might hope to find.

In golf, she’s been the Rams’ medalist in each of their first three matches this season. Last year she placed 9th at the state golf meet as MICDS finished second overall. In basketball, Torchin is a hard-nosed shooting guard who averaged nearly 11 points per game last season as the Rams went 22-2. In soccer, she was the last line of defense as goalkeeper for a much-improved 15-8 squad.

So where just she get all that athletic prowess?  “Most of it comes from my mother’s side of the family.” Torchin said.

She had an uncle who played football at Occidental College (Los Angeles) and a grandfather who was a walk on for the UCLA football program.

Being an athlete at MICDS is no easy chore. On some nights, the basketball team won’t get home from games until 10 p.m., and then there’s homework to do.

“You just get better at time management,” she reasoned. Torchin maintains an admirable 3.4 grade-point average with course work mostly in the humanities. She thinks she might pursue a career in communications. Her brother, Jake, is a sophomore in the journalism program at the University of Missouri.

Torchin entered MICDS in the eighth grade. Prior to that her family lived in Ladue, and she went to Reed Elementary. Believing their father was going to take a job in California, they sold the family home in Ladue and lived in temporary quarters in Clayton. She went to middle school at Wydown.

Torchin’s love for the west coast lingers. Though no college choice is imminent, she is looking at Loyola-Marymount (Los Angeles), the University of San Diego and DePaul University in Chicago, if she chooses to extend her golf career.

By nature, she’s an outdoors type and loves the beaches in L.A., San Diego and Hawaii.

Torchin’s coaches think she’s great.

“She is the epitome of a student-athlete. She works hard at everything she does and for the right reasons. Her leadership presents itself in both her willingness to hold herself accountable (she is her own toughest critic) and to work with teammates to ensure the group enjoys success more than one individual,” said basketball coach Scott Small, the newly-named principal of the Upper School.

“She is everything we hope for from our athletes, hard working, unselfish, acutely aware of the life lessons that connect the athletic court to the classroom,” Small said.

Chris Muskopf, another MICDS coach, agreed. “Campbell is a phenomenal person. She is engaging and hard working. I have had her in my classes, and based on how she treats others in class, I would imagine she is a tremendous teammate.”

Torchin was the perfect alter ego to high-scoring Delaney Hobbs in the backcourt on last year’s basketball team. Hobbs has since graduated, and is now at Wake Forest University. The mantle of leadership falls to the unassuming senior.

She gushes when talking about the hoop prospects this coming year. “We have so many players coming back,” Torchin said, while rattling off names like Cameron Jackson, Josie Cusworth, Hannah Akre, Emily Kyman and others.

“We lost just two games, both to Westminster. We have high hopes for this next season.”

During a time when athletes are so highly specialized, and concentrating on just one sport to guarantee a college scholarship, it is refreshing to see Campbell Torchin playing three sports, and excelling in each one.