Stella Laird doesn’t have to travel far to witness all of the success she’s experienced throughout her 12-year tennis career.

Fairview’s leading lady recently ended her senior season at fourth place in the Class 5A No. 1 singles state tournament bracket. Her wall of trophies in her home, stationed just behind the family’s piano, is a testament to all the hard work she’s put in since her parents first enrolled her in the sport at age 6.

Her ascension to the near-top of Colorado’s high school tennis scene began just before her freshman season with the Knights.

“I like one (trophy). It’s from Las Vegas, actually,” Laird explained. “It’s a pretty tall one. It’s like a solid two feet, I think, so a pretty hefty trophy. I think that was actually from the first sectional that I won, level four. That was a pretty big moment because before then, I was usually just in the middle of the pack, maybe getting to the semifinals, doing good in consolation. That was the first point where I really was on the top.”

This spring, Laird easily played her way into the state semifinals in Colorado’s biggest classification, and then fell to the eventual two-time state champion, Valor Christian’s Caroline Daugherty. That sent her into the consolation bracket, where she dispatched Boulder’s Tessa Botha in a 6-2, 6-1 showing. She lost the third-place match to Fossil Ridge’s Irene Cobos, who won with 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 scores.

The Daily Camera player of the year ended her final high school campaign with a 22-4 record and said that her attention toward improving her serve and groundstrokes during the offseason paid dividends in her long run through the postseason.

She began her rise during a global pandemic.

The Lairds took advantage of online schooling rendered by COVID in 2020, touring the country in search of United States Tennis Association tournaments for Stella. They hit locations like Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Montana and Idaho. When she came back from the competitions, even during her later years in high school, she would have to catch up on homework and tests, but she handled that stress more than gracefully. Earlier this month, she graduated from Fairview magna cum laude.

Her mother, Kathy, said that Stella’s ability to focus, in everything from piano to tennis to academics, has helped her excel in life. She and her husband did everything they could to support Stella in her athletic journey.“It’s very hard to be better as a tennis player in Colorado, because we don’t have the environment in a way that we don’t have facilities,” Kathy said. “Nine months out of the year, you can play outside, but during the winter months, it’s very, very tough to find indoor courts or it’s very expensive to find indoor courts. … So in order to get better, you have to go out of state to play, and play against the stronger players to grow.”

Stella will now turn her focus more toward academics as she heads to Northwestern University to study computer science in the fall, and she still plans to keep tennis close to her heart through club play.

She’s left quite the legacy at Fairview.

“I’m going to miss it, but I’m so glad I did it,” Stella said. “I’m so happy with how I did. A lot of the results in high school tennis and with tournament play, I’m super proud of it. It’s crazy just knowing that I’m one of the best in the state. Honestly, that’s not what I would have envisioned when I first started tennis. It’s just super cool to now look back and say to my old self that I made it super far.”