Feb 8,
2001 - 03:22 PM
Jones signs to play soccer for
Fighting Irish
The recruiting season officially ended Wednesday as area
athletes put pen to offer and verbal commitments became binding agreements.
Amid all the hoopla
surrounding football players, there was one particular that may have gone
unnoticed.
But considering Reagan
Jones played in obscurity for four years, it's OK if you missed it.
A four-year starter at
Hillsborough, Jones inked an offer from one of the top Division I college
women's programs in the country when she signed an offer of a partial
scholarship from Notre Dame during a brief ceremony Wednesday at the school.
The Fighting Irish reached the NCAA Final Four last year, losing to eventual
champion North Carolina in the semifinals.
``Wow, I am so excited
about this opportunity and it was amazing how the whole process took place,''
she said. ``I'm speechless about the whole thing.''
Jones' signing is
considered to be the highest profile signing since Leto's Stacia Masters joined
the Fighting Irish following the 1993 season and helped lead Notre Dame to a
national championship in 1995.
But Jones wasn't sure if
the leprechaun would ever knock on her door.
She knew Notre Dame was a
high-profile program that has strong academic standards, but wasn't sold on
herself enough to think she would be considered for a scholarship offer from
the school. Her experience at the Olympic Developmental Pool regional tryouts
only worsened her fears.
Jones was not selected for
the Southern Regional team for her age group in early July in Alabama and
college coaches were not calling her during the first week they could
officially make contact with her.
``I just had a horrible
experience and I was worried that my performance there would have an effect on
the whole recruiting process,'' she said.
Fortunately she was signed
up to attend a camp being run by Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum on the school's
campus the week after ODP tryouts. It was during that camp, when Jones would
take on varsity players and do more than just hold her own. Waldrum approached
her at the end of the camp and started the process of trying to bring her to
South Bend.
``The coaches were not
allowed to talk to us because of NCAA rules, so when he came up to me it really
made my day, especially coming off the week before,'' Jones said.
It didn't take long for
other college coaches to start taking notice of Jones' talents. A typo at the
ODP tryouts apparently had Jones' birthday wrong and showed her as entering her
junior year.
So after Jones competed in
the annual club soccer tournament held in Raleigh, N.C., with the Black Watch
Stirling U-18 club team in mid-November, the phone calls started flooding in.
She said not a day went by when she didn't receive at least one call from a
college coach or recruiter.
But Notre Dame was always
on the front of her mind, even after taking visits to Rice, Wake Forest,
Southern Methodist and Connecticut and an unofficial visit to Miami.
As a student enrolled in
the county's International Baccalaureate program - Jones carries a 6.13
weighted grade point average and 3.89 unweighted - she wanted a strong balance
of academics and athletics. She said Notre Dame offered the best of both
worlds.
Jones started playing
soccer at age 4 in Waco, Texas when ``her shorts were so long and her socks
were so high you couldn't see her legs,'' said her mother, Sue Ann.
She continued to play
soccer, never really taking an interest in any other sport. Her only other
venture outside of soccer came when she enrolled in a 5K race in Plant City her
freshman year at Hillsborough, a race she said she entered because they were
offering free strawberries to all the entrants.
Jones won her age group.
``We still try and figure
out where she gets all that athletic talent from,'' Sue Ann said. ``There are
three other members of the family that are not athletic at all.''
It's not difficult to find
that there is plenty of academic prowess in the Jones household, however.
Jones' brother Sam was salutatorian at Sickles for the class of 2000 and father
David has a Ph.D in chemistry.
Jones said she will likely
major in something in science and hopes to parlay that into a career as an
orthopedic surgeon.
But for now, she will
continue to use her feet as much as she can.
Feb 8,
2001 - 03:22 PM
Jones signs to play soccer for
Fighting Irish
The recruiting season officially ended Wednesday as area
athletes put pen to offer and verbal commitments became binding agreements.
Amid all the hoopla
surrounding football players, there was one particular that may have gone
unnoticed.
But considering Reagan
Jones played in obscurity for four years, it's OK if you missed it.
A four-year starter at
Hillsborough, Jones inked an offer from one of the top Division I college
women's programs in the country when she signed an offer of a partial
scholarship from Notre Dame during a brief ceremony Wednesday at the school.
The Fighting Irish reached the NCAA Final Four last year, losing to eventual
champion North Carolina in the semifinals.
``Wow, I am so excited
about this opportunity and it was amazing how the whole process took place,''
she said. ``I'm speechless about the whole thing.''
Jones' signing is
considered to be the highest profile signing since Leto's Stacia Masters joined
the Fighting Irish following the 1993 season and helped lead Notre Dame to a
national championship in 1995.
But Jones wasn't sure if
the leprechaun would ever knock on her door.
She knew Notre Dame was a
high-profile program that has strong academic standards, but wasn't sold on
herself enough to think she would be considered for a scholarship offer from
the school. Her experience at the Olympic Developmental Pool regional tryouts
only worsened her fears.
Jones was not selected for
the Southern Regional team for her age group in early July in Alabama and
college coaches were not calling her during the first week they could
officially make contact with her.
``I just had a horrible
experience and I was worried that my performance there would have an effect on
the whole recruiting process,'' she said.
Fortunately she was signed
up to attend a camp being run by Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum on the school's
campus the week after ODP tryouts. It was during that camp, when Jones would
take on varsity players and do more than just hold her own. Waldrum approached
her at the end of the camp and started the process of trying to bring her to
South Bend.
``The coaches were not
allowed to talk to us because of NCAA rules, so when he came up to me it really
made my day, especially coming off the week before,'' Jones said.
It didn't take long for
other college coaches to start taking notice of Jones' talents. A typo at the
ODP tryouts apparently had Jones' birthday wrong and showed her as entering her
junior year.
So after Jones competed in
the annual club soccer tournament held in Raleigh, N.C., with the Black Watch
Stirling U-18 club team in mid-November, the phone calls started flooding in.
She said not a day went by when she didn't receive at least one call from a
college coach or recruiter.
But Notre Dame was always
on the front of her mind, even after taking visits to Rice, Wake Forest,
Southern Methodist and Connecticut and an unofficial visit to Miami.
As a student enrolled in
the county's International Baccalaureate program - Jones carries a 6.13
weighted grade point average and 3.89 unweighted - she wanted a strong balance
of academics and athletics. She said Notre Dame offered the best of both
worlds.
Jones started playing
soccer at age 4 in Waco, Texas when ``her shorts were so long and her socks
were so high you couldn't see her legs,'' said her mother, Sue Ann.
She continued to play
soccer, never really taking an interest in any other sport. Her only other venture
outside of soccer came when she enrolled in a 5K race in Plant City her
freshman year at Hillsborough, a race she said she entered because they were
offering free strawberries to all the entrants.
Jones won her age group.
``We still try and figure
out where she gets all that athletic talent from,'' Sue Ann said. ``There are
three other members of the family that are not athletic at all.''
It's not difficult to find
that there is plenty of academic prowess in the Jones household, however.
Jones' brother Sam was salutatorian at Sickles for the class of 2000 and father
David has a Ph.D in chemistry.
Jones said she will likely
major in something in science and hopes to parlay that into a career as an
orthopedic surgeon.
But for now, she will
continue to use her feet as much as she can.