Playing multiple sports in high school isn’t uncommon, but it’s rare to see a student athlete dominate the way senior Mary Jo Landon has at Chugiak in both soccer and tennis.
After she and her partner completed a successful defense of their girls doubles state tennis title during the fall semester, the Central Washington women’s soccer commit leads the entire state, among boys and girls, with 33 goals heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Dimond.
“It’s so cool and it was kind of unexpected,” Landon said. “My goal obviously was trying to get a lot of goals, but just doubling my goals from last season, too, was just insane to me. So I’m very proud of it myself.”
Her five hat tricks this year through 17 games are the most she has had in her high school career, with still more opportunities to potentially add to that total.
Committing to Central Washington was a multifaceted decision that started with her older sister, who used to live in that part of Washington.
“I was familiar with the area when I was younger and I used to go down to her house in the summertime,” Landon said.
Last fall during the tennis season, her dad asked if she wanted to attend a talent ID camp the program was putting on, and she was determined to make the most of it.
“I did really good and coach John (Hawks) scouted me out, and he was like, ‘Hey, I’d like you on the team,’ and it was like, an immediate choice for me,” Landon said.
She officially signed in November and never seriously considered any other schools.
“I just fell in love with the school itself, and the team environment was really nice,” Landon said. “I went down for another visit to meet the team, and they were all so kind. So, it was a really easy choice.”
She plans to major in business administration, and while she doesn’t know what her concentration will be just yet, she’s confident that it will lead to success.
“I’m just trying to be really rich, I guess,” Landon said with a laugh.
Sticking with her first love and looking ahead
Landon only started playing tennis in high school as an activity to do in the fall semester. Despite being able to play the sport at an elite level, she hadn’t previously considered pursuing it after high school.
“It was always soccer for me, because tennis was just a sport I did for fun, and I just immediately hooked up onto it,” Landon said. “Soccer’s been my one passion, so it wasn’t hard to choose between them.”
She didn’t even bother putting herself out there to be recruited for tennis.
“I did not expect to excel in it, but I did,” Landon said.
She started playing soccer at 4 years old, and then picked up tennis as a sophomore. She and her doubles partner, Timber Fleischhacker, did more than excel, they dominated.
“It was definitely a lot of hard work,” Landon said. “We just kind of trained our butts off, we’d stay after practice or meet other days and just play with each other and just try to up our game, and ended up winning it all.”
Her skills and experience as a soccer player helped her much more with tennis than vice versa.
“Because of the agility and the endurance,” Landon said. “Tennis focuses more on hand-eye coordination and so, but with soccer … getting to the goal first helps so easily with tennis.”
While playing soccer, she rarely comes off the pitch and always stays upbeat no matter how much they might be up or down on the scoreboard.
“Keeping that positive mentality and keeping that determination is very valuable to me,” Landon said. “Just working hard for the win to help my teammates out is how I keep that mentality up.”
One of her top goals heading into her final high school soccer season was to be named Gatorade Player of the Year, with honorees announced in the coming weeks.
That honor recognizes athletes for not only stellar performances in their respective arenas but takes into consideration academic excellence and exemplary character, both of which Landon has worked toward. She finished her senior year with a cumulative 4.0 GPA and does volunteer work through the National Honor Society.
“I was trying to be a good student,” Landon said.
If selected, she’d be the fourth player to receive the award in program history and first since Holly Brehmer in 2014.
Another top goal was to help the Mustangs best one of the powerhouse programs in the Cook Inlet Conference and state overall. They accomplished that feat late last month by beating Dimond 3-2 on the road, marking their first victory over the Lynx in over a decade and a half.
“It was insane,” Landon said.
With the state championship tournament less than a week away, her and the Mustangs’ focus is on making the most of their last ride.
“We are practicing our butts off,” Landon said. “(We’re) coming into practices with 110% effort and just seeing what we can learn from our mistakes, and going into the state with a really good mentality, and that mentality and drive to win.”
Adding to a family legacy
Nearly three decades after her parents roamed the halls at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Eagle River’s Reese Woodward will be doing the same after recently committing to compete in swimming for the Midshipmen.
“It’s really exciting and it was definitely a very tough decision for me,” Woodward said. “I looked at a lot of schools, but the Naval Academy felt like such a unique opportunity.”
Both of her parents graduated from the academy in 1999, making her a second-generation Midshipman. They met at the annual Army vs. Navy football game as seniors, and her mom was on the soccer team.
“I grew up hearing their experiences and seeing the impact it had on their lives, which made it even more meaningful to me,” Woodward said. “I also just love that it’s about more than just women or academics. It’s about leadership, discipline and being part of something bigger than yourself.”
She knew committing to a service academy would challenge her in every area of her life, so she didn’t want to pass up that kind of opportunity.
“While it took me a while to get to that decision, I’m definitely happy where I’m going, and excited for this challenge,” Woodward said.
Several schools reached out and were interested in recruiting her, but in the end, it came down to the Naval Academy or the University of California at Santa Barbara, who made a compelling case.
“I just loved everything about the school and the academics there and the team environment, and I really fell in love with the coach there as well,” Woodward said. “That made it very difficult.”
She is proud to be following in her parents’ footsteps.
“I’m so excited to carry on the legacy and be a part of something bigger than myself,” Woodward said. “I think that’s always been a really big thing for me.”
While she plans on majoring in economics, she has yet to decide on a concentration.
Reflecting on building a powerhouse
During her time competing for Eagle River High School, Woodward and her older sister Lola helped lead the program to its greatest stretch of success in school history.
Eagle River tied for fifth at the state championships when Reese Woodward was a freshman, then came in third her sophomore year, when she claimed her first individual state title and was on a first-place freestyle relay team as well.
The Wolves have been a dominant force in each of the past two years, claiming back-to-back team state titles while Woodward completed two more successful title defenses in the 100-yard butterfly and collected consecutive championships in the 200 individual medley.
“It’s been really cool just to watch the older swimmers and see them kind of lead the way I was swimming, and then just see the team grow over the years,” Woodward said. “I think that really is a testament to not just my work ethic, but the entire team and our coaches.”
She doesn’t believe that she’d be the swimmer, competitor or overall well-rounded individual that she has become without all the experiences and influences that shaped her during high school.
“(They) believed in me even during moments when I doubted myself, and I think that’s been really important for the success that we’ve had at Eagle River,” Woodward said. “I’m really grateful to have grown up on a team like (Chugiak Aquatics Club).”
If someone would’ve told her when she was 6 years old and shivering while holding onto the wall when she first started swimming that she’d one day fall in love with the sport, and meet some of the most important people in her life, she would’ve dismissed the notion.
“I think it’s really cool to look back on these past four years and see everything that we’ve been able to accomplish,” Woodward said.
As an ambitious freshman, she posted sheets with several state record times for the 15-19 age group in her room with the hopes of one day surpassing them.
Following years of hard work and dedication, she finally made her dream come true by swimming to state record times of 25.06 seconds in the 50-meter butterfly and 58.39 seconds in the 100-meter individual medley at her club season state championships late last month. The 50-meter time is the new open state record as well.
“That was really exciting and very full circle too,” Woodward said.
Now she is primed to be the next elite Alaska swimmer to show the rest of the country what the 49th state has to offer when it comes to competitive aquatic sports.
“It means a lot to represent Alaska, and I think Alaska has shaped me in a big way, and the work ethic, the toughness, and the way athletes here really have to make the most of every single opportunity,” Woodward said. “I’m really proud to come from here, and it’s an honor to represent Alaska at the Naval Academy, and show that athletes from here can compete at that level and what they’re capable of accomplishing.”
The Anchorage Daily News asked coaches, parents and student athletes to report individual college commitments. The following list is a compilation of those responses along with reporting from ADN sports reporter Josh Reed. If you know of a local student athlete who should be included in this article on college commitments, email jreed@adn.com or sports@adn.com.
Chugiak
Mary Jo Landon will compete in soccer at Central Washington University in Kittitas County, Washington.
Taylor Deschamps will compete in soccer at College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota.
Blake Fazio will compete in swimming at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington.
Matthew Varney will compete in track and field at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
Eagle River
Reese Woodward will compete in swimming at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Service
Sage Phimmasone will compete in soccer at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Emilia Zych will compete in track and field at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Tahtiani Keliikipi will compete in volleyball at Vernon College in Vernon, Texas.
Jase Emerson will compete in track and field at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Cullen Goodwin will compete in football at Doane University in Crete, Nebraska.
Cameron Hickman will compete in soccer at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Lily Ruiz will compete in volleyball at Cal Poly-Humboldt in Arcata, California.
Takumi Kosaka will compete in baseball at Bryant Stratton College in Buffalo, New York.
Connor Monahan will compete in baseball at Allen Community College in Iola, Kansas.
West Valley
Kieran Kaufman will compete in Nordic skiing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Zen Schaetzle will compete in swimming at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Colony
Gabe Black will compete in Nordic skiing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Iver Gates will compete in swimming at Davenport University in Kent County, Michigan.
Hayden Vanderpool will compete in wrestling at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas.
Emily Bishop will compete on the dance team at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana.
Tristen Mayer will compete in wrestling at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas.
Dimond
Amelio Ambrosio will compete in basketball at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Clint Kopp will compete in swimming at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri.
Bettye Davis East
Kenya Bruno will compete in wrestling at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas.
Ketchikan
Evan Dash will compete in swimming at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Nassau County, New York.
Gavin Harold will compete in swimming at the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine.
South
Brianna Bailey will compete in soccer at Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
Addison Bailey will compete in soccer at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.
Zoe Zipsir will compete in swimming at Lewis and Clark College in Lewiston, Idaho.
Addy Gasser will compete in soccer at Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
Anna Green will compete in track and field at Minnesota State University-Moorhead in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Samantha Stoehner will compete in soccer at Central Christian College of Kansas in McPherson, Kansas.
Dara Stull will compete in soccer at Bellevue College in Bellevue, Washington.
Kinsey Dufour will compete in soccer at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.
David Feigner will compete in baseball at Arkansas State University Three Rivers in Malvern, Arkansas.
Jillian Preston will compete in flag football at Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Michigan.
Jack Williams will compete in hockey at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan.
Audrina Rae Brown will compete in cheer at University of Central Florida in University, Florida.
Clayton McGuire will compete in wrestling at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota.
Sitka
Mia Von Turner will compete in swimming at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
Kenai Central
Abigail Price will compete in swimming at Arizona Christian University in Glendale, Arizona
West Anchorage
Payton Curtis will compete in swimming at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Mat-Su Central
Kylie Benner will compete in swimming at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colorado.
Jade Bamford will compete in swimming at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Interior Distance Education of Alaska
Hannah Cooper will compete in swimming at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Juneau Douglas
Valerie Peimann will compete in swimming at Pomona College in Claremont, California.
Revilla
JP Robbins will compete in swimming at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia.
Mat-Su Middle College
Chloe Blackburn will compete in swimming at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia.
North Star College
Shaye Persinger will compete in swimming at Lewis and Clark College in Lewiston, Idaho.