Spring signing day: Gonzaga Prep three-sport star Lydia Myers settles on soccer

In an era of specialization, it’s becoming more rare to find true three-sport athletes at the high school level, especially with potential college-bound athletes within the 4A ranks.

So that makes Gonzaga Prep’s Lydia Myers something of a throwback. Myers, who signed a national letter of intent to play soccer at Texas A&M-Commerce on Wednesday, lettered two years in basketball, three in soccer and four in track.

She looked at a lot of schools in Texas, where she had met several coaches at a camp, and in Arizona, where her brother goes to school.

“I’ve been down there a few times and I like the culture around the program,” she said. “Ultimately, the coaches were super nice and they just loved me, so I just thought it was the best fit.”

And she won’t mind the change in the weather.

“I like the heat and don’t mind the humidity.”

Myers considered playing soccer and basketball in college, but wound up settling on soccer.

“For a while I was going to play basketball because I grew up in a basketball family,” she said. “Freshman, sophomore year I was going to play basketball. Until junior year I was getting recruited to play basketball. I was thinking about playing basketball and soccer at Texas A&M-Commerce, but I talked it over with both the coaches and I’ll just focus on soccer.”

Myers had a unique situation during her junior year, playing nine games in four days between two sports.

The Gonzaga Prep girls basketball team was in Arizona Jan. 2-5, 2020, for a holiday tournament, while her club soccer team was as well. She played five basketball and four soccer games, driving back and forth between the Chandler (Arizona) Prep Hoops Classic and the 2020 ODP West Soccer Championships in Phoenix.

“We lost the (soccer) game that I left at halftime, so I was pretty bummed,” she said. “But when I got to the basketball game we were losing and eventually our team ended up winning on a last-second shot.”

She said adrenaline carried her through the weekend.

“I told my dad, ‘I don’t think I can run up and down the court, my legs hurt too much.’ But I got into the basketball game … I scored a bunch of buckets and everyone else was pumped up.

“At the end of the weekend I was tired, but I loved every minute of it.”

Myers’ Bullpups soccer team beat Central Valley last week for the “East Region” championship to finished the shortened season on a high note.

“We were pretty bummed that there wasn’t state, especially since we finished third last year,” she said. “We wanted to prove to everyone that we were still the best and could win. We were losing a lot of good players so we wanted to prove to each other that we could still do it without (last year’s seniors).”

“We made the most of what we could our last season. We wanted to leave our legacy there.”

Two other Gonzaga Prep athletes signed NLIs on Wednesday: David Cornwell, track and field (Belmont (NC) Abbey College) and Alaina O’Connell, soccer (Cal State San Bernardino).

Other signings

Mt. Spokane: Morgan Flesland, softball (Oregon State), Tyson Degenhart, basketball (Boise State), Jeter Schuerman, baseball (CC Spokane), Gracyn Ulias, soccer (Seattle Pacific), Kahea Figueira, cross country and track (College of Idaho), Carter Miethe, wrestling (North Idaho College), Katelyn Asay, soccer (Clarke University).

Freeman: Amanda Flory, soccer (College of Wooster), Peyton Brewer, soccer (Northwest Nazarene), Delanie Lamotte, soccer (CC Spokane), Jordyn Goldsmith, volleyball (San Diego State).