Athletes achieve college dreams and aspirations

photo courtesy of Silver Crane Photography

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Heidi Laabs-Johnson (right) uses her head, literally, to defend the ball for Juan Diego. She signed a Letter of Intent as a defender for Seattle Pacific University. 

DRAPER — Three Juan Diego Catholic High School seniors are models of the school’s mission. They have met and exceeded the challenge of their academic education. They exercise Catholic values and morals and have matured spiritually, intellectually, physically and socially into young adults.

Taylor Anderson, a senior at Juan Diego, signed a Letter of Intent with Snow College next year to play softball. She has received both an academic and an athletic scholarship.

Michelle Rueckert, a senior at Juan Diego was accepted into the doctoral program to study physical therapy at Marquette University in Wisconsin.

Heidi Laabs-Johnson signed a Letter of Intent with Seattle Pacific University as a defender on their soccer team. She will pursue a career in either sports medicine or physical therapy.

At Juan Diego, Anderson has been a starting pitcher all four years. She is a powerful pitcher, and plays third base when not pitching. Anderson was selected on the All Region Team her freshman, sophomore, and junior years, made Second Team All-State her freshman year, and First Team All State her sophomore and junior years.

"She is an unbelievable player with a great work ethic," said Juan Diego softball coach Tom Rogers. "She loves the game."

Assistant coach Lee Gasu agreed, noting, "She is a tough competitor in everything. Even in checkers."

The coaching staff agrees on her tenacity and leadership skills recalling games when she played with a broken toe and finger.

"She broke her pinky finger at a national tournament in Colorado, but there was no stopping her," explained her parents Mike and Cheryl Anderson. "On the way back from the hospital, she re-taped it so she could get back into the game."

"There is nothing better than going out on the field," said Anderson. "It does not matter if it is raining or snowing, I want to be out there. I had a bat and ball in my hand before I was four. I was swinging the bat breaking everything in my grandparents house."

Anderson has played on competitive summer teams since she was 11 years old, playing national championships as well as national tournaments. She serves as a student ambassador, and said the demands of both athletic and ambassador programs make it a challenge to maintain high academic status, but she does it.

Taylor’s parents said Juan Diego provided an incredible experience for her, so much so that she has aspirations of becoming a history or art teacher, as well as a coach for a high school like Juan Diego one day.

For Rueckert, after getting involved in sports on the track team, she decided she wanted to go into physical therapy.Rueckert runs the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, the four by one relay, the medly relay, and the 200 meter.

"I was talking to my trainer at school, Jeanette Nelson, and she suggested Marquette University," said Rueckert. Their physical therapy program is 16th in the nation. I applied and I got in, so I figured I might as well go there.

Candidates for the physical therapy program are typically ranked in the top quarter of their high school classes and have comparable ACT or SAT scores, and have done well in both science and math courses. They must have completed high school courses of biology, chemistry, college-preparatory math (algebra, geometry, advanced algebra and/or trigonometry), and one year of physics is recommended.

At Marquette, Rueckert is going to try out for inter-mural rugby, which will be a new experience since she has never before played rugby.

Rueckert has visited Marquette and said it was different than she had expected.

"Milwaukee was a culture shock for me, and definitely not very pretty, but I am really excited to go to school there," said Rueckert. "Being there and looking at all the dorms, was alright."

Laabs-Johnson was awarded a Trustees Scholar Merit and the Philip Eaton Leadership Scholarship from Seattle Pacific University. She demonstrates athletic ability and leadership qualities on and off the field. Her grade point average is 3.86 in all honors Advanced Placement classes. She is a National Honor Society student, works four days a week at Spaghetti Mama’s, serves at the Utah Food Bank, and plays club soccer twice a week with three practices a week, now that Juan Diego’s soccer season is over. At school, she gives guided tours as a school ambassador, and manages to complete her homework requirements. Her coaches and peers say she has a deep sense of good sports ethics.

During the summer between her junior and senior year, she represented Juan Diego as a People-to-People Sports Ambassador for the International Youth Friendship Games in Amsterdam, Holland.

"It was really cool to experience so much more than just playing soccer," said Laabs-Johnson. "We played soccer in the morning and afternoon, and the rest of the day, they set up tours for us. We went to see the Anne Frank House, and we walked around Amsterdam, and a couple of the other smaller towns. We went to the beach, to the Van Gough Museum, and we were able to experience the culture. When we went to the restaurants, it was hard because everything was in Dutch. Some of the girls from the Netherlands team showed us around. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"It was awesome to be able to play soccer with people from all over the United States on my team, and against people from all over the world," said Laabs-Johnson. "We played teams from the Netherlands, Sweden, England, and Scotland. I became friends with, and still keep in touch with some of the girls from Florida, New York, Texas, Colorado, and the Netherlands."

Laabs-Johnson earned the High School Heisman Award from Juan Diego, Academic All-Region Award in 2007, and recognition for her contribution to the All State team in 2006-2007.

"Laabs-Johnson is the toughest defender in the state," said Steve Cramblitt, Juan Diego athletic director.

"She has an incredible calming influence on the field," said Jamie Schock, Juan Diego soccer coach. "During high pressure situations, it was Heidi’s composure that held the team together."

"Heidi has had a passion for soccer since she was 3 years old, but it takes more than athletic ability to bring about success," said her mother MaryKaye and her father Tom. "The Juan Diego school community deserves credit for shaping who she is becoming – a confident, aspiring, buoyant, young woman with a strong connection to her graduation class."

"I have always been interested in finding a college in the northwest because I have always loved Oregon and Washington. It is so beautiful up there," said Laabs-Johnson. "My friend’s dad told me about Seattle Pacific, so I looked into it.

" I was looking for a couple of things," she said. "I wanted the college to be small and have some religious affiliation. I did not want to go to a college and be a number. I wanted the class size to be small and the teacher to know my name. I selected Seattle Pacific University because, like Juan Diego, it is a smaller community environment. It is a very religious Methodist school. They require you to do service hours. It is very much like Juan Diego with high morals and values. That was a huge factor in my deciding which college to choose. I also looked at their science program to see how well developed it was because I want to go into sports medicine or sports therapy. I wanted to know what majors they offer in that field.

"The final deciding factor was visiting the campus. I wanted to see it and meet the people there," said Laabs-Johnson. "I was able to meet and talk to the soccer coach and he was so friendly and so welcoming. When I would send him an e-mail, he would send me an answer back the next day. That was comforting and reassuring. I would e-mail coaches from other universities and they would not e-mail me back, or they would take months.

"Over the summer I went to a soccer camp there with one of my friends and we got to see how he coached and meet the team," said Laabs-Johnson. "Everything just fell into place and I knew that was where I wanted to be. In February, the coach had all the new members come up for a signing ceremony. We all signed our Letters of Intent and stayed in the dorms with the team. It was a good experience."