Star-Journbal Editor
The state's high school coaches and top two newspapers agree:
Hillsboro High School's own JuliAnne Chisholm belongs in the starting lineup among the top five basketball players in the state of Kansas.
When post-season honors were announced Sunday, the Lady Trojan senior was first team all-state in both the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Wichita Eagle. (Trojan seniors Tina Frick and Lucas Hamm received honorable mention Class 3A in both papers).
Being a top-five pick is a stellar accomplishment, especially for a player from at Class 3A school. But according to Hillsboro Coach Dale Honeck — "Ad astra per aspera" (To the stars through difficulties
"I don't think I've ever had anybody with a better work ethic," said Honeck, who through his years as a college and high school coach has had literally hundreds of players to compare her to.
"I've had other kids that have been totally committed, but I've never had any of them more committed," he added. "You can only be 100 percent I guess. Julie was a really good leader, and a wonderful kid to coach. She just blossomed this year and did a lot of really great things."
Great athletes play best in the most important games, and JuliAnne was no exception. In leading the Trojans to the Class 3A state championship, she not only wowed coaches who voted for her, but also big-time sports writers, who had lots to say about her jaw-dropping style of play.
The Eagle's biographical sketch of Chisholm reads as follows:
"Stats: An extremely athletic player, Chisholm led Hillsboro (23-3) to the 3A title and had 14 rebounds, 17 points, six assists, and three blocked shots in the final. She averaged 16.3 points, shooting 49.7 percent. She also averaged 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 steals, and 3.1 assists.
"Memorable moment: She set a school record with 40 points against Republic County. 'I set the record when I made two free throws in the final seconds'.
"Role model: Keli Chisholm, sister and assistant coach. 'All these years, she's the one who gets me up in the
"Coach Dale Honeck: 'When she's on the court, she's such a hard worker. Her mindset is so determined. When we practice, she's on the floor going for loose balls. When she goes up for a rebound, it's like it's in the final game of the state tournament.'"
In the Capital-Journal, Honeck said about Chisholm:
"She trains almost like a professional athlete. A lot of girls are good athletes, but they're not 12-month weight room people, watching their diets and doing something every day
"She just draws everybody up to another level of energy, and I can't tell you how valuable that has been to our basketball team."
In addition to Chisholm, the four other players selected to both all-state first teams were Morgan Boyd, Olathe East; Shekeira Copeland, Wichita Heights; Tierra Ford, Bishop Miege; and Brittney Miller, Paola.
All of the Eagle's first-team all-state selections gathered at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita March 14 for a lasagna lunch and photo shoot for Sunday's paper.
JuliAnne's entourage included Honeck, assistants Chisholm and Dennis Boldt, along with JuliAnne's parents, Kem and Autumn Chisholm.
Then the Hillsboro contingent got in the school vehicle and drove to Topeka for the Capital-Journal's dinner and photo shoot later that evening.
"The same five girls made it for the Capital Journal also," Honeck said. "So everybody just went up there. Basically they did the exact same thing. We had a great day."
With the exception of Chisholm, who will play big-time volleyball at Kansas State University next fall, the four other first-team players have signed to play college basketball, at Emporia State, Missouri Western, Memphis, and Arkansas.
With Chisholm's athletic ability (not only is she an all-state volleyball player, she's such a good high jumper that her personal best of five feet, nine inches would have won the gold medal at the Big 12 outdoor track and field championships last year).
With so much talent, it was difficult for Chisholm to decide what she wanted to do at the collegiate level. Her first love is basketball, her best sport is high jumping, but finally, it came down to picking the top school in her paradigm: All her life, the pinnacle of her sports aspirations was to become a K-State Wildcat of some kind.
K-State wanted her for volleyball or track, but not both.
"There would be a lot of good schools that would love to have JuliAnne play basketball for them," Honeck said. "But I think she's committed to volleyball."
While it might be a stretch to say Chisholm would be a shoe-in to make it in a Division I basketball program (the caliber that plays on television), Honeck wouldn't bet against her in any competitive situation.
"She handles the ball pretty well. I don't think she would be a point guard but she could play a two [the off-guard position] well. She's quick, obviously, and she's 5-11, so she could make a tough match up as a two guard in college basketball.
"How good her outside shooting would be day in and day out, that might be the one thing. Of all of her assets, her outside shooting would have to be the only question mark. She could hit the three, I've seen her do that. I know she can shoot outside, but her forte was dribble penetration, taking the pull-up jumper, or taking it all the way. She's a slasher, and a finisher.
"I've often thought that I'd love to see her go through a season at a 6A school," Honeck added. "I don't see enough 6A basketball to be able to say every team has a JuliAnne Chisholm."
Obviously, the state's coaches, who voted for her, and the sports writers, who picked her, think that there was only one JuliAnne Chisholm at any level or class this past season.
The big-time sports writers got their first look at her at the state tournament, and were obviously impressed, especially in the first minute of the championship game against Salina Sacred Heart, when she made one of the greatest plays her coach had ever seen.
With his voice suddenly alive with game-time enthusiasm, Honeck said:
"She took the ball down off the right side of the board on a rebound, went underneath the board on the other side, and just elevated up with power from out of a crowd and stuck that ball back on a reverse bank off the glass.
"It was unbelievable! That was a big-time high school move. I thought then, 'My God, we're going to win this game!' And that was the first basket of the game."
Led by Chisholm's 17 points, six assists, and three blocked shots, the Lady Trojans won in a runaway.
But as exciting as her performance in the spotlight, Honeck is even more impressed by the things she did during the regular season and in practice.
"For me, the 'Wow!' about Julie was the 32 minutes of total concentration and intensity in every game," Honeck said. "She never had one of those bad games were she didn't show up. Every coach expects a kid to have an off day, but I can truthfully say that Julie never had an off day in a game, or at practice. She was always on top of her game.
"That to me is the single most impressive thing about her; that ability to get her frame of mind right all the time. It's the biggest asset that she brought to the program.
"She plays about the same way in practice as you saw her in the season," Honeck added. "With her high-energy performance, she just raised the level of all of the kids; helped others up their own tempo."
So, what makes JuliAnne go?
Honeck says the answer has at least three parts.
First, she's genetically gifted, no doubt. Second, it helped to grow up youngest in a sports-crazy household, in which her father and three siblings played college sports.
But third is the special something, an attitude or mind-set, that allows her to take these two plusses, and make them much, much more.
JuliAnne's father described it this way, "Our other children all have their different strengths and so forth, but JuliAnne has the ability to really focus on what she's after, and I've noticed that in her more than the others. Not that the others don't, but she really does. She's a meld of all of their best attributes put together."
Honeck says Chisholm sets herself apart from other athletes he has coached with her "no nonsense approach" to physical fitness, and the way "she thrives on competition."
"She does weights all the time, constantly trying to improve her physical stature and conditioning," Honeck said. "She takes it to a level that most high school girls don't. I'm thinking the good ones probably do, but she has made herself by her hard work and her training program.
"Very few kids make that commitment that she does year-round to sports. She even brings her lunches every day to school, that's how particular she is [about eating the right kinds of food to maximize her performance]."
If there is such a thing as destiny, then maybe Chisholm's future was determined at birth, when her parents decided to put a capital "A" in the middle of her name.
In today's sports world, where star athletes often are one-dimensional phenoms, Chisholm is cast from a vintage mold.
Like a Jack (or, Jackie) Armstrong, she's an All-American Girl.
In addition to her sports accomplishments, when the Hillsboro High School Class of 2007 dons caps and gowns, JuliAnne, will be among the school's four valedictorians. Her 4.0 grade-point average is something she has worked hard for, in and out of the classroom.
"Driving from Wichita and Topeka, you think that most kids would put the books down for awhile," Honeck. "But JuliAnne was back there studying for a government test due the next day.
"I think she's a good role model for all kids of any age."
