Hello, My Name Is: Grant Warren

MARATHON CITY, Wis. (WSAW) - Grant Warren’s always been the ‘tall kid’ in his class. However, between his eighth-grade year and freshman year of high school, it was taken to another level.

“If I hadn’t seen him a couple of times during that COVID quarantine, I would’ve been completely shocked,” said Marathon junior Tyler Underwood. “I still was. He was just huge.”

Warren had a growth spurt that elevated him to six feet, nine inches. It was baffling to Warren and his parents, as the height of that level hadn’t run in the family.

“My dad, always during COVID would walk by me and eventually he walked by me and like, ‘Hey, I’m taller than him,’ said Warren. “From then on, I just kept going.”

Warren has experienced some pros and cons to his height.

”It might be cliche, but reaching stuff on the top shelf is definitely easy,” said Warren. “Some downsides, I’ve hit my head on low-door frames a couple of times, but you know...”

An easy area where the height has helped is on the basketball court. In his second year on varsity, Warren is averaging 23.2 points and 13 rebounds per game. His teammates know how unique his talent is.

“Obviously, when you have a guy like Grant, he’s six-nine and in this conference, it really makes it easy as a guard just to pass it up to him,” said senior Drew Love. “I think he understands it’s that it’s bigger than just his own individual stats and he’s grown a lot in that way from last year to this year.”

”It’s nice to be able to play off of him and you know, you can trust him,” said Underwood.

Warren has taken a leap in his junior year. In his first year on varsity, he started alongside four experienced seniors. As a leader this year, he’s using the experience he learned from his past teammates to help his current, younger teammates.

“The more experience you have the more you can play with guys who are older, you can learn from there a lot more,” said Warren. “Something I’ve stepped into a little and other guys, other juniors on the team are stepping into that leadership role and helping because we’ve got some young guys on the team, so just teaching them what we know.”

Warren’s experience has helped him grow individually as a player too. He points to rebounding and passing as being two key areas for him.

“I think rebounding is a big deal, being able to get offensive and defensive rebounds,” said Warren. “Passing ability as well. I think with my height I can really see over the defense and pride myself on being a good passer.”

Warren has the Red Raiders sitting at 15-3 overall and 12-1 in the Marawood North, even with Newman. While the Cardinals beat Marathon in the first go-round, the two have a rematch Feb. 17. However, Warren and his teammates insist that this is a team that takes games one at a time, enjoying every opportunity to step onto the floor.

“We’re just a team that really loves playing and loves being around each other,” said Warren. “We love coming in here every day and getting better and having fun.”

The Red Raiders return to the floor Friday at home against Phillips.

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