HARBOR SPRINGS — Opportunity.
Most of us have so many opportunities open up in a given day, week or month that plenty go unnoticed and taken for granted, both big and small.
With every chance to live a normal high school senior’s life, Carrigan Warner doesn’t let that happen.
The simple moments like strolling the halls of Harbor Springs High School, sitting in a classroom or getting ready for volleyball practice aren’t taken lightly by Warner.
She’s had to put everything she has into those small daily chances, quite literally. You won’t find many high school athletes celebrating the opportunity of just another practice.
But you also won’t find many high school seniors like Warner.
“It’s definitely tiring, but it’s a lot of fun,” Warner said. “I love it.”
It’s tiring because when she was just two years old doctors didn’t believe Warner may ever walk or even talk. She’s dealt with a neuromuscular disease since that young age and extended hospital stays. She was later diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) while in the intensive care of the U-of-M Children’s Hospital.
Warner’s daily life is everything but a typical teen’s experience. So, it’s easy to see why a volleyball practice would be celebrated.
“She is just inspirational,” Allyson Warner, Carrigan’s mother, said. “All the stuff in our lives that we complain about and just get so frustrated with and then nothing brings her down. She just pushes forward and it really is just inspirational to watch her.”
Opportunity knocks
Between her neuromuscular disease and POTS, Warner gets fatigued fast. The simple act of walking the halls of school can take it out of her, leaving her often relying on her wheelchair.
So, her schooling has changed over the years. She spends time both in the classroom at Harbor Springs High School and another chunk of the day taking classes online from home.
But, because of that – and the extreme fatigue – Warner hasn’t always found a place to fit as a Ram. Until an opportunity with the volleyball team came about before her senior season.
She became a fan of the sport over the summer watching beach volleyball.
“I instantly fell in love with it,” Warner said.
So, the Warners and Harbor Springs volleyball coach Josephine Johnson found a way to make her new-found love work with the Rams this fall.
“I think it’s really special for the girls and her that she gets an opportunity to be a varsity athlete and I’m so honored to be the first coach to give her that opportunity,” Johnson said. “In my coaching career, that’ll make one of the biggest impacts for me.”
Wearing the No. 9 jersey for the Rams and cheering along the bench on days she’s well enough, Warner has felt something she hadn’t been able to yet as a high school student.
“High school hasn’t always been the greatest for me,” Warner said. “Inclusion has been really bad, but volleyball made me feel as included as ever with friends, compliments and just feeling like myself for the first time in ages.”
Sitting along that bench is an opportunity most would take for granted. Not Warner.
“I love it,” she said. “It brings me so much confidence and I just love being here with my team.”
She has good days that allow her to take part in practice and show up on game days, then bad days of course that keep her at home in bed. She’s been on weekly infusions that have helped quite a bit.
But so too has the mental lift of feeling part of a team. In Johnson’s eyes, however, it’s the team that gets the boost from Warner.
“She lifts everyone up,” Johnson said. “She’s such a bright light of energy. When she enters the room I think everybody smiles and just having her on the bench, hearing her cheer means the world.”
Pursuing a passion
Warner has always had a passion for sports.
A family full of Michigan State Spartan fans, they’ll get together for game day barbecues and watch games, so Warner has always had that part in her.
Before she found her passion for volleyball, she showed off that love by, well, helping others show their passion.
Years back, Warner took a graphic design class at Harbor Springs, which turned out to be a perfect match.
She could harvest her creative side, tap into that fanatic feeling and it was something she could even pursue beyond school. That’s when Carrigan’s Creations really took off, designing everything from t-shirts and sweats, to candles, stickers, hats and even her own coloring book.
“I loved it so much,” Warner said of the class. “That’s where the first time I used the Cricket (machine) and I just instantly fell in love with it.”
Harbor Springs athletic teams have kept Warner insanely busy with designs, while local businesses like Petoskey’s Rocking Horse Toy Store have continued orders for the coloring book.
Just like volleyball has been an uplift and confidence boost, designing things her peers show off has been huge for Warner.
“My favorite part is definitely throwing all of the designs together and seeing all the girls wear them at school,” she said. “That’s been a pretty nice part. I love it.”
So far, Carrigan’s Creations has just been word of mouth and a Facebook page, which has more than kept Warner busy.
Seeing the orders come in one after another and having her daughter step up to meet the demand, while dealing with mental and physical drain has been, again, inspiring for Allyson.
“I’m just in awe of the things she can do when she puts her mind to it,” Allyson said. “She’s doing the powderpuff junior shirts, she just did suicide awareness shirts for volleyball, next week is volleyball team for the pink shirts.”
The best part for Warner is that the passion of design and printing is one she can pursue beyond high school. She hopes it continues to grow as big as it can get.
“I hope it goes really big all over the world,” Warner said, excited. “I hope I’ll be doing 1,000 orders some day.”
The only thing is, she might need a few more employees than just Mom.
“Yeah, I definitely might need some,” she said with a laugh and big smile.
Senior moment
There are moments all high school seniors look forward to checking off. For a high school athlete, the spotlight of senior night is one of them.
And, Warner will have that opportunity.
But while she’ll of course have the chance to be there with her team for introductions and along the bench celebrating moments, she’ll also get another planned opportunity.
For the first time – with the hope of a good day physically for Warner – she’ll see the court come Tuesday, Oct. 21 against Harbor Light Christian, senior night.
“It was a conversation with, how can we get her in there, give her an opportunity to pass the ball and be able to score some points,” Johnson said on planning it out.
It’s been a tough season for Harbor Springs overall, with a young team in a competitive league, though they previously earned a four-set win over Harbor Light in late August.
Win or lose come Oct. 21, Warner is beaming at the thought of getting onto the court as a high school athlete.
“That’s going to be a really exciting game,” she said. “I can’t wait.”
It’ll be an opportunity not taken for granted by Warner. You can count on that.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor’s Warner not taking opportunity ‘that brings so much confidence’ for granted
Reporting by Drew Kochanny, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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