Throughout her upbringing,
Annie Kunz always heard she had the potential to be an unbelievable athlete.
Now, you can remove the "potential" qualifier. The
Wheat Ridge (Colo.) junior officially has arrived as one of the most dynamic female athletes in Colorado, if not the most, one who excels equally on the soccer pitch and in track.
"It probably is equal," said Kunz, who recently committed to do both at Texas A&M. "It’s so hard to choose because I’ve been playing soccer since I was 2 and running track since I was 3 or 4."
Kunz literally stands above the competition, with her 6-foot frame appearing even taller with her slender, athletic body type. She stood figuratively above her opponents last season, too.
As a sophomore, she helped the Farmers soccer team to a 19-0-0 record and contributed a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win against
Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) in the Class 4A state championship game, which would seem like a mighty good May to most athletes. But then there was the state track meet a few days earlier, where she won the 100-meter hurdles and high jump while placing second in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump.
"Annie is a super highly-motivated, competitive athlete," said Scott Chamberlin, who coaches Wheat Ridge track along with his wife, Judy. "She’s multitalented, motivated and just a nice girl with good sportsmanship. I can’t compliment her enough."
This spring has been a bit of a challenge for Kunz as she’s dealt with a left-ankle injury, which occurred when she rolled it on the top of another player’s foot while playing soccer. Still, she plans a quick return to help her youthful Farmers (7-0-1 through Wednesday) defend their title and to qualify and compete in the same track events at state next month.
Despite the recent injury setback, it has been an eventful spring for Kunz, who settled on the Aggies despite having one more year of high school and felt a "weight lifted" from her shoulders.
"They just seemed like they were going to cooperate more," said Kunz, who also listed North Carolina as a finalist. "A lot of schools said they were going to let me do both sports, but Texas A&M sounded like they really meant it. Plus, I loved the coaches and it just felt right when I was down there."
You can bet Wheat Ridge is thrilled that she won’t be donning Aggies gear until the 2011-12 season. It’s also a safe assumption Farmers soccer coach Dan Watkins cannot wait to get Kunz back on the field, where she has produced 10 goals and two assists in only four games this season as her game continues to ascend.
"The physical tools are what stand out immediately, but I think one thing she’s really improved on is her understanding of the game, the technical side," Wheat Ridge soccer coach Dan Watkins said. "The first reaction many people have, even for me when she came in as a freshman, is that here is this fast, tall player, who, with that alone could become a dangerous player. That’s evolved so much more to where she is today, and that’s an incredible soccer player."
The pedigree is there. Her father, Terry, a Wheat Ridge alum, was a standout running back at the University of Colorado and played one season in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. It was a good season to be with the Silver and Black, as Oakland won Super Bowl XI with a 32-14 win against the Minnesota Vikings.
Chamberlin, the track coach, believes Kunz would excel at the heptathlon at and after college if she specifically focuses on track, but understands why she is choosing to participate in both sports. He knows, too, that Texas A&M won’t be getting an athlete who will rest on her laurels.
"She has enormous talent, but talent alone doesn’t get you to the top," Chamberlin said. "You have to have to determination and she has that. She loves to win. If there’s one time when you see the stress come out in Annie a little bit, it’s when she might not have a chance to win something."
