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YORKTOWN — The fear among many coaches is that specialization represented by pay-to-play travel ball is all but eliminating the elite three-sport high school athlete.
Ashley Hunt is not only bucking the trend, she is doing so with extraordinary versatility. A first-team all-state selection in volleyball and soccer — where she is a top-flight goalkeeper and a high-scoring forward — Hunt was also the Falcons’ best basketball player.
Her incredible senior year started with volleyball, which she calls her “side sport.”
Hunt started at outside hitter for the Falcons and played “the best game of my life” in their Class 3 state championship-match victory over previously unbeaten Hidden Valley. Days later, she was selected all-state.
She transitioned quickly to basketball, averaging 22.5 points for the Falcons and surpassing 1,000 points for her career. That earned her All-Class 3 Region A honors.
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Her best sport is soccer, where she made Class 3 all-state as a junior and is starring at keeper again. But her contributions don’t end there.
Looking for an offensive spark in a game against eventual district champion Jamestown, Falcons coach Amanda Atwell moved Hunt to forward — the first time she ever played out of goal.
Not only did she score her first career goal to push the game into overtime — Jamestown scored in the final seconds to win 2-1 — Hunt has added 10 more while splitting time in goal and on attack. That’s the second-most goals for the Falcons, who are 10-5-1 as they open Class 3 Region A Tournament play at 6 p.m. Friday at home against Hopewell.
“It was a hunch, and a risk, but it has paid off,” Atwell said of alternating Hunt between defending her own goal and attacking the opponent’s. “I had coached her in basketball (at York Middle School) and I think basketball complements soccer with the angles and speed.
“Ashley is such a physical player, and with her speed I felt she’d be able to get behind (opposing defenses) and give us more scoring opportunities. She offers so much from an athletic standpoint.”
And she brings something just as important, according to the coach’s daughter, Audrey Atwell, Hunt’s longtime friend and the Falcons’ leader with 18 goals and 16 assists.
“One of Ashley’s biggest strengths is how competitive she is,” Audrey Atwell said. “She’s always trying to challenge you, and a lot of times we’ll go at it in practice to see who can do better.”
Added Hunt, “That’s what I love the most about sports: the competitiveness and camaraderie.”
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Hunt had the camaraderie part mastered from her first basketball game in kindergarten, but it took time to develop the competitive instinct her coach also considers her distinguishing characteristic.
Hunt said that in her first youth basketball game, she felt so guilty about stealing the ball from an opponent, she apologized. She wasn’t that excited early on about exhibiting the considerable speed so important to her success on the basketball court and on attack in soccer.
That’s how she ended up in goal.
“I think I was really lazy when I was younger and didn’t like running, so they put me in goal,” Hunt said. “Then they gave me these really cool (goalkeeper’s) gloves and I thought, ‘This is pretty sick.’
“The rest is history.”
History is important to Hunt. When she walked into the gymnasium as a freshman and spotted the banner with the names of York athletes selected all-state, she vowed to become one.
She realized that ambition a year ago in helping the Falcons reach the Class 3 soccer state quarterfinals, then added another line on the banner by repeating the feat in volleyball. True to form, the Falcons’ rally from two sets down to beat Hidden Valley in the volleyball state final meant more than her individual accolades.
After singing “Since U Been Gone” (from the “Pitch Perfect” movie soundtrack) with her teammates on the bus ride to Roanoke, Hunt, always a leader, offered practical and inspirational advice to her teammates during a pregame talk.
“I said, ‘Hey, guys, I don’t care what happens here. They have all the pressure on them to complete the perfect season. We just have to go out there have fun and do our thing. There’s no pressure on us, so we can play free.’”
Her favorite memory is the raucous celebration after Kenzie Wallace slammed home championship point to complete the comeback that gave York its first volleyball state title.
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“We all just tackled her because we felt we had achieved the impossible,” Hunt said.
Another unforgettable senior-year memory was jumping into the arms of basketball teammate Alonni Wells for assisting Hunt on her 1,000th point. Although the game was at Grafton, Clippers coach Tommy Bayse stopped the game to allow Hunt to savor the moment.
“It was really cool to be recognized by him and for the respect he showed,” Hunt said.
Hunt celebrated her first soccer goal with a pepperoni pizza Coach Atwell promised her if she scored upon the move to forward. She’s scored three goals in three games since, and added a goal against Norcom on Senior Night.
Her next goal is a return to the Class 3 state tournament, which the Falcons can achieve by reaching the region final. Then, surprisingly, she will likely forgo collegiate athletics.
Hunt, who carries a 4.6 grade-point average, was accepted at her dream school, Virginia Tech. She is unsure she’s good enough to walk on to the soccer team, but that doesn’t mean sports will ever be out of the picture.
“I want to become a sports medicine doctor and I’m sure I’ll play club sports,” she said. “I love sports so much, I’d become bored if I wasn’t playing.”