ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington University Athletics has announced its 2026 Hall of Fame Class to be inducted on May 2 inside Nicholson Arena. To purchase tickets, click HERE
 
Among those being inducted is former Wildcat Volleyball Player and All-American Catie Fry.
 
One of the most accomplished setters in program history, Catie Fry left an indelible mark on CWU Volleyball during her five years donning the crimson and black. Fry ranks second all-time in program history in total assists and remains among the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's statistical leaders, finishing her career 11th in GNAC history with 3,820 assists and 12th in assists per set at 10.27. Her consistency and high-level play earned her numerous accolades, including First Team All-GNAC honors in 2013, 2014, and 2015, following an Honorable Mention selection in her freshman season. Fry excelled academically as well, earning Academic All-GNAC recognition in 2015.
 
Nationally renowned for her playmaking abilities, Fry was named an AVCA First Team All-West Region selection in 2014 and received AVCA Honorable Mention All-West Region honors in 2013 and 2015. She was also a three-time AVCA Honorable Mention All-American. Her breakout early in her career was highlighted by a GNAC Player of the Week award during the week of October 8–14, 2012. Fry's leadership and skill set the standard for excellence within the program, and she remains one of the most decorated student athletes ever to compete for CWU Volleyball.
 
Below is a Q&A with Catie about their time, thoughts, and memories with CWU and the Ellensburg community:
 
Q: What does it mean to you to be inducted into the CWU Athletic Hall of Fame?
 
Catie: It's a huge, huge honor to one, be able to play college sports is already an honor and a privilege in and of itself, but then to be 10 years plus down the road recognized by your program and by the university is a huge, huge honor. The years of blood, sweat, and tears that you pour into everything. It's really really nice to be acknowledged well into retirement.
 
Q: Looking back on your career, what moment or match best represents who you were as a setter and a leader for CWU Volleyball?
 
Catie: It's tough to really pinpoint one single moment. You know, I think back on my career as a whole and like when I tell stories to my girls that I coach now I talk about it more as a whole experience versus singular moments, but really anytime you beat Western (Washington) obviously is a good experience, it's a good night to have. So, probably that. It's also really cool to kind of be a part of the flagship program or years of the program where now we're starting 13 years in a row making it to postseason which I believe is a GNAC record (which is correct) is really cool to look back on and realize. The very first game that my class and I ever played we got spanked, it was maybe 9-25, I'd have to go back and look at the scores, and I'm sure that Mario (Andaya) and Chloe (Solum) were probably sitting there looking at each other like "what did we do with this class? We messed up, they're not as good as we thought they were," but we actually came back and won that game and that was our very very first game that we played in preseason and that really started our run of beating top 25 ranked teams nationally from potentially a program that most people have never really heard of before. That was really cool too.
 
Q: You earned multiple All-GNAC and AVCA honors throughout your career, how did you stay consistent at such a high level over your career?
 
Catie: I guess at the time you never really think of it like that, like being consistent at a high level. I will say that Mario and Chloe made it easy to do that because that was just the expectation. Anything less than that was not even a thought, it was never even on the table, it was just the expectation and the standard of our program and our team at that time. So, honestly, it was really easy to compete at that level because that was just the standard, that's just what we did. So, it wasn't that hard, thankfully.
 
Q: You also excelled academically and earned Academic All-GNAC Honors, how did you balance the demands of athletics and academics so successfully and what advice would you give current or future student-athletes to find success in both aspects?
 
Catie: Yeah, again, it was just kind of the standard. Mario and Chloe set up times for us to have study hall during offseason, during spring and winter. They would set up office hours; we could go in and study. If we were traveling, they'd have us stop at Barnes & Noble and we'd have a study hour where we'd have wi-fi. They really created this culture of you do your schoolwork, don't even think about not doing it, it's not even an option, do your schoolwork, keep your grades up, show up to practice, show up to weights, condition, and work hard. Probably the biggest thing would be time management for any younger athletes coming in that are curious about that or potentially worried about it. It's just doing some time management. You know when your practices are, you know when weights are, you know what you're doing so really plan your times and plan ahead as much as you possibly can.
 
Q: When you arrived at CWU as a freshman, did you envision the kind of career you ended up having, or did that vision evolve over time?
 
Catie: It definitely evolved over time. I think when I first committed to come to Central, I didn't even know All-Americans were a thing or anything like that. So, it's not like that was necessarily a goal of mine I would say. It was really cool being brought on, when I went on my recruiting visit Mario said "we have this long-term plan, and it starts with your class. We want to build a program and build a future around you all coming in and being successful." So, it was always the goal, and I bought into that goal and that vision that we are going to be successful and that's the only option, you don't have anything else. It's really cool then to have the success we had as a team to be able to get onto the All-Conference, the All-Region, to then the All-American side of things where you're even visible enough to pick up votes and pick up attention to be able to achieve that. It was really really cool. The first time I got it I was so excited because I didn't even really know it was a thing, so I was so so so excited to even be on the radar at that level and then to continue it for the next few years of my career was really really cool.
 
Q: You're from Tacoma here in Washington, what was it like to be able to play in your home state and to play at such a high level in your home state?
 
Catie: On my recruiting, I'm looking back, a long time ago I won't even say the number of years but looking back I was always determined to leave this state and go somewhere else. I was looking in Florida and as far away as I could possibly get from Washington, telling myself "I'm not staying, there's no way," but I got some attention from Mario and Chloe, they came and watched me, offered me to just come and check out the school, and there was nothing to lose so I went in there and checked it out and absolutely fell in love with the school, fell in love with the program, with the people that were there. It was just so easy after that visit to commit because I was so excited and I fell in love with it so much when I really didn't expect to in all honesty. It was the best decision I've ever made in my life and it was really really cool and awesome to be close enough to home where I still had the support of my family as well and to be able to just go home two, two and a half hours and to just go home for the weekend if I needed it or to have my family come and watch me play was really cool and I don't take that for granted.
 
Q: Talk to me a little bit about why CWU is so special to you.
 
Catie: Oh, I mean, like I said I fell in love with it. I joke that Chloe really sold me on everything. It's really cool to be a part of something that's bigger than myself looking back on it, where there program and where the school is now is really really cool. It's really special to me, it gave me an opportunity to receive higher education and to be able to have multiple degrees when I graduated with my masters, so to hold degrees from the university and to be able to be in the Hall of Fame 10 years after I'm done playing, so to still feel a little involved is cool. I met my husband there and ended up in Nevada and now I have my daughter so Central always holds a really special place in my heart because I really feel like it shaped my life as I know it.
 
Q: Newly appointed Deputy Director of Athletics, Mario Andaya, was your coach, can you give me your best memory of Mario?
 
Catie: There's a lot, there's a lot of really good memories of Mario. You know I look back on being a player for him and you know now being a coach myself understanding his side of things and understanding his mindset on some of the stuff is a really cool kind of flipside of the perspective. He is one of the best coaches I have ever played for, for sure. He taught me a ton about being a player, reaching that level, and then obviously life lessons too, you pick up that stuff from athletics and being a part of a team sport. It's so bittersweet that he moved up into the world I feel like and isn't coaching volleyball anymore because he's just been, how long has he been there for like 32 years, as long as I've been alive basically. So, it's so bittersweet that he's not coaching anymore but I'm so so so happy for him and so happy that he stayed within the Central family and is still there. It's cool that he's still involved and it's a huge honor to look back and say that I played for Mario. He's absolutely the best, I have so many funny memories of him too, anybody that's ever played for him will know about the golf swing, whenever we're really not doing good and he's trying to hold it together he practices his golf swing. So, there's been many practices where the golf swing comes out or something happens and anybody that's ever played for him also knows the phrase "Great Scot" I'll throw that one out there too. Mario's great, he's the best. I remember, I don't know if he'd appreciate me telling this story but, we were having one practice, I think I was like a sophomore or junior and we were not doing well, it was hot, it was a bad day, we were struggling to be completely honest in practice and he was getting so frustrated and he had his youngest son with him (Darius) and Mario was getting madder, and madder, and madder, and madder at us and we were like "oh gosh what's happening?" And his son just looks at Mario and goes "Dad, I want to go home," and so Mario goes "okay, we'll just go home," practice ended early, he went home with his kids, it was so funny looking back on it, that was a really funny one. Thanks Darius, appreciate it!
 
Q: Any fond memories or stories you're willing to share with Wildcat nation?
 
Catie: There's a lot that I probably wouldn't share with the general population, just a lot of things that the team would look back on like when the girls come to town and get together or if we sit there and talk in our group messages the stuff that comes up and the old stories are hilarious that are probably best to keep within our core group. Any of the Alaska trips were a ton of fun, I always remember the stress of going over the border into Canada to go play Simon Fraser, Chloe obsessively checking if everybody has their passports and making sure that none of us got left behind or stopped at the border. Just a lot of good stuff to look back on and to think that all of that stuff accumulated to the success of the program and where it's at now is really really cool.