Former Wheat Ridge stars return to provide advice on leadership
WHEAT RIDGE — Annie Kunz and Nick Ossello haven’t walked the halls at Wheat Ridge High School since graduating in 2011.
Two of the most talented multi-sport student-athletes ever to come out of Jeffco made a return appearance to their alma mater Thursday, Aug. 11. Kunz and Ossello were on a panel of six WRHS graduates to speak during the two-hour leadership symposium that was mandatory for all Farmer student-athletes.
“I really think it’s a special place that can really set you up for some future success,” said Ossello, who played football and lacrosse for the Famers before moving on to University of Notre Dame where he played lacrosse for four years and stayed for a fifth year to play football for the Irish. “I want to pass the torch along and let them know Wheat Ridge is a great place.”
Ossello admits it wasn’t always easy at Wheat Ridge. The current midfielder for the Denver Outlaws in the professional Major League Lacrosse was the quarterback for the Farmers’ freshman football team that went 2-7.
“It was a long road and there were definitely a lot of hiccups,” said Ossello, who helped Wheat Ridge to a football state title in 2008 and was the starting quarterback for the Farmers in their state runner-up season of 2010. “I had coaches and teachers here that really made me believe in myself.”
A main point Ossello wanted to get across to the packed auditorium full of current student-athletes was simple.
“I think it’s really important to enjoy high school sports,” said Ossello, who will play in the MLL playoff semifinals Saturday, Aug. 13, in Connecticut. “Once you get to the college and pro level it’s a job. It’s important to be a part of your community.”
Kunz gave the Wheat Ridge community plenty of be proud of during her four-year prep run. She is one of the most decorated female athletes from Wheat Ridge winning six state championships and four runner-up individual titles in track and field.
Soccer was actually her main focus in high school. Kunz powered the Farmers to state titles in 2009 and 2010 before heading to Texas A&M University to play soccer and compete in track and field for the Aggies.
“I couldn’t have scripted it to go any better than it did. To have the opportunity to do both (soccer and track) for four years and then do a fifth year of just track was incredible,” said Kunz, who broke the A&M school record in the women’s heptathlon with 6,038 points at the U.S. Olympic Trails in Eugene, Ore. last month. “It was a storybook ending for me.”
The story isn’t over for Kunz, who placed eighth in the heptathlon at the trials to qualify for Rio. She will be in Colorado for about a month before deciding to go to either the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA or back to the College Station and Texas A&M to begin training for the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo.
Kunz added she wouldn’t have changed anything when it comes to her athletic career. While specializing in the heptathlon could have been an option in college, she feels privileged to have been apart of Texas A&M women’s soccer program that went to the Division I national championship semifinals for the first time in 2014.
“I got such a rare experience that was so special,” Kunz said. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
The message Kunz wanted to get across to the current Farmers was to take soak in every moment of their high school career.
“You don’t realize how quick it goes by,” Kunz said. “I would do anything to go back and put that Wheat Ridge uniform back on. I wanted to emphasize every moment they get to do that, don’t take it for granted.”
Wheat Ridge athletic director Nick DeSimone organized the symposium for the last handful of years to kick off the school year for the student-athletes.
“I’m trying to get (students) to understand the depth that this high school has and how far it reaches,” DeSimone said. “In turn, they understand the responsibility of maintaining that.”
