In rare company: Flagstaff two-sport athlete surpasses another milestone

WINDOW ROCK

Sometimes, two is better than one.

In the case of Gracelyn Nez, the Flagstaff High senior has hit two milestones.

The two-sport athlete hit her 1,000th point last month, and coupled with her 1,000th kill in volleyball, she is in rare company.

“Honestly, I think it’s an honor,” Nez said. “Not a lot of people can do that, but I have to say that it just wasn’t me that accomplished it. It’s more like my coaches, my family, and my teammates, so I didn’t do this alone.”

Longtime Flagstaff coach Tyrone Johnson said having Nez on his basketball team has been a delight.

“I mean, it’s just been a pleasure to have her,” he said. “She’s not only a great athlete, but she’s just a great person and a great student. And so just to be able to witness what she’s done and, you know, just to be a part of it has been a pleasure.”

In his 16-year tenure, Johnson said he’s had other players hit 1,000 points, but she’s the first one in history to also get 1,000 kills in volleyball.

“That’s huge,” he said. “It definitely means she’s been a solid and reliable player throughout her high school career in both sports.”

Johnson said coming into this season, Nez was about 100 points away from reaching the 1K-milestone, so she hit that pretty early.

She got recognized when the team played Phoenix Cortez on Jan. 13, leading the Eagles to an 86-27 win as she finished with a game-best 17 points.

“We wanted to honor her on the night where family and friends could come and support her,” Johnson said, “so that’s why we celebrated it in January.”

Nez said being recognized was a huge surprise.

“I didn’t even know they were going to do this,” she said. “I woke up, and I got to school, and I saw it on social media. People were congratulating me, so I was like ‘Whoa this is pretty cool.’”

She received balloons and flowers and her supporters created handmade signs commemorating her achievements.

“That was really nice,” Nez said.

The Flagstaff senior said hitting the 1,000-kill mark was a lot harder of the two sports.

“Volleyball is so mental, so it was actually harder to get,” she said. “Basketball is more physical, and I like to get pushed to my limits.”

Besides hitting her personal milestone, Nez and the Flagstaff team have hit a significant feat this season by winning 21 straight games heading into tonight’s Grand Canyon Region game with Prescott Valley Bradshaw Mountain.

The Eagles have compiled a 21-1 record, losing its season opener to Chandler Seton Catholic by a 50-46 count on Nov. 29.

“We lost our first game, and we’ve been winning since,” Johnson said. “It’s just something that we’ve just got to keep doing.”

The Eagles captured two tournament titles in that collection of wins – the Pepsi Holiday Tournament in Flagstaff and a four-day tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“The one in Las Vegas was good,” Johnson said. “I mean, in pool play, we didn’t necessarily see the toughest Nevada teams. But then once we got an actual bracket play, we beat a pretty solid Coronado team that’s ranked in the top 20 Maxpreps, and then the two teams that we beat in the semifinals and finals, they’re both ranked in the top 10 in the state of Nevada.

“They had some athleticism, some height, some strength, some stuff that we don’t necessarily see every day, and so it was good for us to be able to battle and not just compete but be able to win those games.”

In the championship game, Johnson said his team was down 19 points, but they could still battle back, winning 88-80 in OT over Las Vegas Shadow Ridge.

“Grace was in foul trouble, and Alyssa (Harris) didn’t play,” Johnson said. “There were some people that stepped up and really helped us bring that victory home.”

Johnson said that’s been the team’s identity this year as the Flagstaff team has a cache of weapons to overpower opponents.

“I have 17 girls on the team, and 11 of them are pretty solid,” he said. “When we go to our bench, I don’t think that we’re losing anything, and oftentimes when the Dugi sisters (Jaydean and Jazmine) come in, and Teagan (Martin) and some of our freshmen and sophomores I think we actually get better at times.

“So we do have a deep bench this year, which is obviously beneficial,” he added.

Nez agreed while noting that there is less pressure for one or two people to score.

“When other teams plan to play us, they don’t have to focus on one, two players,” she said. “They have to think about others, so it makes our team more of a threat. We have like six big threats, and we also have a good bench.”

With that, Nez said they have a good chance of advancing into the 4A state title game next month.

“We have so much potential, and I feel like we can do something this year,” she said.

“That’s the ultimate goal,” Johnson said of reaching the title game. “We just have to keep working. You know 4A girls’ basket is one of the toughest divisions in the state, and so we just have to do everything right when we get into those situations. If we can do that, and hopefully have the ball bounce our way we can get to the finals.”

The Eagles have six games left in the regular season, including five Grand Canyon Region games. It also has a date with top-ranked Glendale Deer Valley on Feb. 3.

“It’s never a given with Coconino and the rest of the teams they’re not gonna fold over just because we’re Flagstaff,” Johnson said of their region opponents. “They’re gonna try and be prepared, and they go come out to beat us, so we can’t take any games off. We can’t take anything for granted. We have to go out, and we have to actually play the game.”

The Flagstaff coach said the 21-game win streak has been superb, but they are not done yet.

“We still got work to do and, you know, we’ve just got to go out and focus on whoever our next opponent is and just try to take care of business,” he said.

“It’ll be a great story if we can cap it off with a state championship and have Gracelyn and our senior ride out on a high note,” he added.

The last Flagstaff team to win a state title was in 1992.

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