Richard Smith

West Valley Preps

A Willow Canyon track and field program that focuses on multi-sport athletes is the perfect for junior Allison Veloz, a natural athlete who seems to always be involved in one sport or another.

Until late April most high school sports fans outside of Northwest Surprise probably knew Veloz as one of the fastest and deadliest soccer strikers in Arizona. This year she scored 39 goals, tied for third most in the state.

Now you can add Arizona’s top high school heptathlete to the resume. In her first heptathlon, the non-AIA sanctioned Arizona Multis State Championships April 27-28 in Mesa, she made a second-day charge and won the event by a solitary point.

“I had already done my homework and knew what she was capable of for day two. I had all the confidence that if she stuck to the plan, she was going to do well,” Willow Canyon girls track coach Rachel Guest said. “Going into the 800, we knew who she had to beat and by how many seconds.”

She was in fifth place entering the second day of competitions. However, her three best heptathlon events — the long jump, javelin and 800 meters — were on deck.

Veloz was third going into the 800, the last event. Down 193 points, she remained confident given the difference in her time from the other top contenders.

“I knew going into that race that my time was way different than the others. So I knew I would be running by myself the whole race. Nobody would really be pushing me. I knew I had to run as fast as I could,” Veloz said.

She ran a 2:22.47 and edged Goodyear Millennium senior Terayah Stukes with 4,090 points to Stukes’ 4,089.

The Wildcats’ boys and girls teams train together and started orienting their program toward multi-event athletes a couple years ago. 2016 graduate Grant Carpenter, now a decathlete at Grand Canyon University, was a catalyst for this philosophy shift — as was the hiring of Guest.

After Veloz’s performance at Chandler Rotary her freshman year, she was the next candidate

“This all started a couple years ago because colleges were saying they were looking for multi- athletes. That’s how Rachel and I connected because colleges wanted kids that can score points in as many things as possible,” Stangler said. “I sent out a tweet a couple years ago, stating that we’re going to be a multi-athlete school. I think it’s the best way to get kids.”

Veloz hurt her knee her sophomore year and ran a limited schedule, avoiding the heptathlon.

The opportunity came back around this season.

“A really strong heptathlete or decathlete is an individual that is very good on average across multiple events. You’re not going to see somebody that’s great in one event,” Guest said. “When we look at someone like Ally, who is very athletic naturally, it made sense.”

Building a heptathlete, though, is not simple. And Veloz’s burgeoning soccer career makes for more of a balancing act.

“For Ally we have to really be on top of it because she plays club soccer at the same time. We’re constantly communicating and coach Guest does it as well. We evaluate every week what she needs to run because she runs so many events,” Stangler said.

Plus, other than the multis meet, there are no other high school heptathlon events in Arizona. Guest said a couple of community college meets include pentathlons, but the logistics of two-day event makes it tough during the AIA season.

So coaches look at the season schedule and find meets where multi-sport athletes get reps in events they’ve never attempted. In Veloz’s case that is hurdles and high jump.

“It was a matter of taking a look at where we can get experience. Some of the events, it was down to the last week. She literally had one meet where she had the chance to run the hurdles and high jump,” Guest said. “What was important going into this was to set some targets for her. To say, okay, we want to try to stay within this pocket. What is the ideal, what is average and what is oops, that didn’t go as planned.”

Veloz said in preparation for the multis meet these goals helped.

“I knew that I’m capable of it. I can throw and jump. Confidence is really the key in multi-events because you might go into something not knowing how to do it. But compared to the other girls, they can get intimidated,” Veloz said.

Following her victory, Veloz multi-athlete skills made her a potential multi-sport college athlete.

She said this summer will be a time to sift through schools interested in offering scholarships for both track and soccer.

“Programs are looking for athletes that they can fit into many different aspects. They can fill a lot of holes with one athlete,” Guest said.

Ideally, Veloz said, she gets to show the full extent of her versatility at the next level.

“I have colleges for both or just one. If I do have the chance to do both I will. I’m used to staying busy,” Veloz said.