Intelligence, passion, athleticism show why 'Maya's amazing'
Always moving, Maya Neal. In one big regard she has remained constant.
The Neuqua Valley senior started attracting college attention, primarily for her soccer skills on the club level, before entering high school. Approaching the end of her eighth-grade year at Crone Middle School interest and offers started flowing from colleges nationwide - UCLA, South Carolina, Arkansas, Michigan, Stanford, Notre Dame, Florida State.
The first to contact the Neal family was Tennessee. It will be the last.
On April 30, 2013, Neuqua Valley - specifically girls track and field coach Gretchen Parejko - announced then-sophomore Neal had committed to the Volunteers to participate in both soccer and track. Neal remains set on signing her Letter of Intent to Tennessee on Feb. 4.
A forward for the Eclipse Select soccer club out of Oak Brook and a hurdler, sprinter and jumper in track who looks to compete in several events in college, Neal knew early what she wanted in a college.
"I wouldn't have committed if I had just one doubt in the future," she said. "It's not like I felt, 'Oh, I need to commit now,' but I was ready when I did because I knew all the aspects of the schools, including the academics."
She's venturing outside the family business. Older brothers Denzel and Sherman, both former Neuqua Valley football players and track athletes, followed in the footsteps of Sherman Neal I, a retired Navy commander. Sherman II is a captain in the Marines, Denzel a second lieutenant in the Air Force.
Maya seeks to enlighten the world of sports as an agent, where females are few. She plans to major in sports management with a minor in either pre-law or business.
Tennessee soccer coach Brian Pensky recruited Neal. NCAA rules prevent coaches from commenting on recruits until they sign their Letter of Intent, but Pensky graciously addressed what he looks for in a young athlete.
"In general, intelligence and athleticism are key ingredients in terms of what we want in a player," he said. "Understanding of the game, a want to continue to learn, individual speed, agility, vertical jump, etcetera.
"And then we also want to know about the person's want to be great, how self-invested are they, how great do they want to be? If you marry athleticism and intelligence with a want to be great, then you're going to have a pretty good player on your hands," Pensky said.
Neal fits the mold.
Called up to United States Women's Soccer national training camps her freshman and junior years, in December she was on the Eclipse Select team that won an Elite Clubs National League title in Florida. She's begun indoor training with the goal of a national championship in June - shortly before heading to Tennessee for summer school and acclimatization.
Speed on the soccer field attracted college recruiters. She's grown from there.
"I think I've developed a more technical aspect to my game so I guess I'm not just a one-trick pony," Neal said.
Her speed and athleticism have already created a wealth of national experience in track and field, from off-season AAU appearances in Houston, New York and Greensboro, North Carolina, to appearances the last two years at the Arcadia Invitational outdoor meet in California. Her 4,904 points last year in the heptathlon rank fifth all-time at the meet, she said.
Neuqua Valley's first indoor track meet isn't scheduled until Feb. 14 but Neal has already competed indoors - Jan. 3 at the Fort Wayne Holiday Express Classic, where according to Dyestat she ran the 60-meter hurdles, the 200 dash and high-jumped 5 feet, 2 inches, within an inch of her 5-2¾ personal best.
"I started where I was kind of in the midseason last year or toward the end," she said.
Neal will use every IHSA waiver she can to enter non-prep competitions, including this weekend's Arkansas High School Invitational in Fayetteville. Arcadia and the Mt. SAC Relays in California are on her long to-do list. After she graduates from high school, Neal seeks to compete with the Liberian National Team; her mother, Michelle, was born in Monrovia, and Maya has dual citizenship.
Obviously an athlete, Neal also proudly relates the completion of her Girl Scouts Gold Award with a District 204 program called Link Up.
"It's for military-dependent students moving to off-base schooling. It helps them to integrate," she said.
Some things have gone by the wayside in her pursuit of athletic excellence, which this spring includes adding to her Neuqua girls record of eight all-state track and field medals.
"I enjoy what I do more than anything," she said. "I haven't been to any high school dances mostly because of sports and because I'd rather focus my time on something that will help me improve on whatever I'm focused on at that moment - soccer or track - rather than on getting ready for a dance or going to lunch or something with my friends, or hanging out."
People such as Pensky and Parejko discovered this drive long ago.
"She's amazing and it's not just athleticism," Parejko said. "She's a great student of the two sports she loves to do, and talk about the epitome of passion - it's awesome when people have the passion to do that. If you follow your passion you can't go wrong, and Maya is passionate in everything she does. Maya's amazing."
Rings and rackets
On Wednesday the IHSA released a list of coaches named as 2013-14 National Federation of State High School Associations state coaches of the year.
From these parts the honorees were Glenbard West's Frank Novakowski for boys gymnastics and Hinsdale Central's John Naisbitt, whose boys tennis team a third straight state championship in the spring of 2014.
All in the family
In December, Wheaton North senior forward Nick Traversa was named the Daily Herald boys basketball MVP of the Week after scoring 41 points in a pair of wins.
On Monday Nick's older sister, Mandy, was named the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association women's player of the week. The sophomore forward came off the bench to average 23 points and 5.5 rebounds in a pair of wins by the Flying Dutch.
In another Wheaton family connection, former Wheaton Warrenville South receivers Titus and Corey Davis each were first-team all-conference honorees by the Mid-American Conference.
A Central Michigan senior, Titus Davis earned his second straight first-team honor after catching 60 passes for 980 yards and 13 touchdowns. Younger brother Corey, a sophomore at Western Michigan and the 2013 MAC Freshman of the Year, caught 78 passes for 1,408 yards, 15 touchdowns.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com
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