No matter what the sport or what she does Jessica Waggoner is always moving full-speed ahead and always striving to win. That was never any more evident than the February night when Douglas High School's girls basketball team played Reno in the Northern 4A Regional quarterfinals.
"Reno was up by about 30 points at the end of three quarters, there we were in the huddle and Jess is saying, 'Come on, we can still do this,'" Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "To see her so fired up for the last quarter of her last game, that was really special."
In an age of specialization, Waggoner never considered focusing on just one sport during her four years at Douglas. Then again, there was no reason to when you consider how far she went in each each of her three sports. Just consider the following:
- A four-year varsity letter winner in basketball, the 6-foot-1 center was named first-team all-league for the third straight season this past season as she helped Douglas post a 17-13 record. Her 1,524 career points are believed to be the most by any female player in Douglas history and rank No. 5 all-time among girls in Nevada, according to the NIAA state record book. She averaged 17 points and was the Tigers' MVP this season and was the Sierra League's co-Player of the Year in 2007-08.
- A three-year varsity player in volleyball, Waggoner received first-team all-league honors as a sophomore and senior. The senior middle blocker contributed a team-high 297 blocks to help the Tigers to a 34-2 overall record and perfect 14-0 Sierra League record last fall.
It marked the second consecutive league title and eighth in nine years for Douglas.
- In only her second track and field season, she rewrote school records in the shot put and discus and capped it all off with a gold medal in the discus at the state meet in Las Vegas. Her longest throw in the discus of 153-feet, 9-inches puts her among the top 15 female high school throwers in the U.S. for 2009 and ranks among the best ever in Nevada. Waggoner and Minneah Holdridge went 1-2 in the discus at the Northern 4A meet, an 18-point swing that put Douglas in control en route to its first regional girls team title (and the school's first postseason track and field title since winning the boys 2A state meet in 1974).
Three sports is a long year for any high school athlete. It was all just routine, if you ask Waggoner.
"I can never go more than three weeks without doing a sport," she said about handling a three-sport load. "I never got tired or burned out. I always find something to do.
"I played so many sports when I was little. I tried to do every sport ... I swam, I was a soccer goalie, I played softball. I wish I could have played football, but my parents said it was too risky."
Oh, by the way, Waggoner reigned as the Northern Nevada section Punt, Pass & Kick champion during her freshman and sophomore years, qualifying for the age group competition at the Oakland Coliseum. Her distances in the local competition were the best of any age - male or female.
Before moving to the Carson Valley, Waggoner was involved with Tae Kwon Do when she was still a grade school student living in the Denver area ... "I was like three belts away from my black belt. In third grade, I went to the Junior Olympics and finished first in my age group."
Christen had an early introduction to Waggoner - "Jess was 10 years old the first time I saw her" - when he saw her at summer basketball camps and on the same soccer field with his youngest daughter, Lisa.
"I'm sure she could have been an all-league goalie," Christen said. "She's one of those kids who loved those one-on-one situations. She wouldn't stand on the line and wait for something to happen, she'd come out after you."
Waggoner is no different on the basketball court. In addition to being an force inside and underneath the basket, the center creates matchup problems for opposing defenses with her ability to hit outside jumpers.
Even in the season-ending 76-43 loss against Reno, she scored 25 points despite being double- and triple-teamed the majority of the game.
"She's one speed," Christen said. "She's just Jess, you know.
"Off the field, she's the nicest, sweetest kid you'd ever want to meet. I'm going to miss her off the court as much as I'm going to miss her on the court ... she always has a big smile on her face and the first one to say hi. On the field, we often referred to her as a bull in a china shop. I mean that as a compliment. She doesn't worry about breaking the china, she just flies around and plays havoc on the court."
Before truly closing the book on her prep career, Waggoner has two more track and field dates remaining: the Golden West Invitational on June 13 in Folsom, Calif., and the Junior Nationals on June 27 in Eugene, Ore.
"It should be pretty fun. I'm just going down to throw far and have fun," Waggoner said of the Golden West meet, an invitational that showcases blue chip athletes from around the
nation.
The trip to Eugene for Junior Nationals will be an ambitious undertaking in itself. She is scheduled to throw at 9 a.m. on June 27 at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, then after the end of the competition, she and her father will head straight to their car and make a seven-hour drive to Sonoma, Calif., to attend her aunt's wedding.
Waggoner has the tools to compete at a national level - and perhaps beyond - according to throwing technical adviser Mike Louisiana.
"Jess is very coachable. She listens and she picks things up. I have worked with throwers from beginners, to state champions to Olympic champions and I would say Jess is someone who, I believe, can be one of our better throwers in the U.S.," said Louisiana, the 1971 NCAA discus champion for BYU.
"We first started talking toward the end of last season, just before the regionals," he added. "I looked at her athletic makeup, being as tall as she is and as strong as she is and felt she was an up-and-coming national type of thrower. She has a great right arm; I saw that in volleyball. I'm glad I wasn't on the other side of the net when she was hitting."
Waggoner's best memory at Douglas? She had to pause to think, simply because there have been so many.
"Being named Player of the Year for basketball was amazing ... winning a state championship has set in ... starting as a freshman on the basketball team ... I still remember those moments of being a freshman and being all scared, and now, here I am a senior. I'm sad it's over."
Not quite. Waggoner is bound for West Point Prep (Fort Monmouth, N.J.), where she will spend one year before moving on to the United States Military Academy. There's no let-up in her ambitions because she plans to pursue both basketball and throwing (she was also recruited to play volleyball at Army).
"I'll get five years in college, which gives me an extra year if competition," said Waggoner, noting that she will be eligible to compete one year at West Point Prep and still have four years left at Army. "It should be a lot of fun. I'm pretty excited. I made the decision because I like the structure and I felt it would give me the best situation for my future."
Army's throwers are coached by Knut Hjeltnes, a four-time Olympian for Norway who placed fourth at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Like Louisiana, Hjeltnes went to BYU (1978 graduate).
Don't expect Waggoner to let up on staying active. Even now, she still looks for something to do at the end of a long day.
"I love to bake and cook," Waggoner said, flashing a wide smile. "My
mom doesn't like it, but it'll be 10 o'clock at night and I'll start baking cookies or a cake. We'll be eating at midnight ... sometimes."
Waggoner's eventual goal is to become an orthopedic surgeon.
"Orthopedic surgeon?," Christen said with a chuckle. "When I need my knee replacement, I'll have to go to her.
"You know, she's going to be very successful, no matter what she does."
