Category: Athletes

Purcellville, VA (April 19, 2017) – Please join us in congratulating Loudoun Valley’s Jordan Miller as the March 2017 Performance Edge/Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month!

“It feels good, winning an honor like this tells me the hard work is paying off, and if I keep working hard, there is more to come,” Miller said.

It has been quite a junior year campaign for the 6-foot-4 versatile guard, as he has racked up essentially every individual award possible after leading his Vikings to the first state title in school history. The lefty scored 26 points in a dominant 80-48 win over Jamestown on March 10 to capture the Virginia 4A State Championship.

“It means a lot, it was the first one, I think it really gives Purcellville a name, we may not have been heard of before, but now we are jumping on people’s radars as a team and community to look out for,” Miller said.

With a scoring average just shy of 23 points and double-figure scoring in every game the entire season, Miller was named the VHSL 4A Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Naturally, he was also named the Region 4A West Player of the Year, All-Loudoun Player of the Year and Conference 21 Player of the Year. His season-high was 36 points and never scored less than 12.

“I think of those awards as a wake-up, showing my hard work has paid off, I’m still not finished yet, but for now that makes me feel good about myself,” he said. “There are so many great players in 4A throughout the state, it just feels good knowing I got picked as the best player.”

According to Miller, his effectiveness this season came from slashing to the basket and his ability to get his teammates open. He also feels he did a better job of letting the game come to him as opposed to forcing the action.

Miller and the Vikings breezed through the season as they completed the year with just one blemish, finishing with a record of 30-1. The average margin of victory in post-season play was over 21 points.

During Miller’s sophomore season, in which he averaged 16 points, the Vikings ran through the season undefeated before losing their first game in the championship, falling by just two points. This time around, the game was never in question as they prevailed by 32 points.

“That was our first time as a team getting to states last year, so having that heartbreak and being able to bounce back from it, it was the experience and not wanting to lose again that really pushed us through this time,” Miller said. “Our chemistry and bond was just unbreakable.”

One of the keys to Miller’s personal success is his workout regiment with Performance Edge in Leesburg, where they can develop individualized strength programs to deal with the physical challenges associated with any sport.

“They’ve done a lot for me,” he said,” I started there last off-season, I knew that they had the best interest for me and all my teammates, a lot of my teammates go there too. I was a stick and now I feel like a bigger version of a stick. It’s a good overall program and it’s definitely something everyone should try.”

It remains early in his recruiting process as he has one more season with the Vikings, but he is eyeing several schools at this point, including Charleston, George Mason, Mount St. Mary’s, Radford and Virginia Tech. In order to succeed at the next level, he knows he needs to improve his jump shot and his ball skills with his right hand, as well as continuing to work hard in the weight room.

Next year Miller and his teammates will have the arrow on their backs as the defending state champions and a team that has only lost two games total the last two seasons. It would be easy to relax having accomplished so much already, but the budding star still wants more.

“Everybody on the team wants to go back-to-back,” Miller said, “I think that’s our motivation, and if we work hard in the off-season, it could happen.”

Viva Loudoun: We Live For Loudoun™
Written by Josh Apple
Special to Viva Loudoun
Copyright © Viva Loudoun Media Communications LLC.
All Rights Reserved
@JoshApple1

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Viva Loudoun has teamed up with Performance Edge to recognize an outstanding Loudoun County student-athlete, and their exceptional achievements for a given month by naming a Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month throughout the 2016-17 academic school year!

We are extremely proud to have Performance Edge on our team. Dave Mikel, CEO of Performance Edge offers exceptional competitive sports training to exceptional athletes who demand it.

The Performance Edge Mission is to prevent injury, optimize strength and power, and instill confidence and self-discipline.

South Riding, VA (March 18, 2017) – Please join us in congratulating Freedom’s Sydney Wrighte as the February 2017 Performance Edge/Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month!

“It’s a great honor to be named Athlete of the Month, I know there are so many competitive athletes in this county, to be recognized is just an honor,” Wrighte said.

A junior with the Eagles, Wrighte has been dominating the gymnastics scene for the last three years. This year she swept all four individual categories–beam, floor, uneven bars and vault–and the all-around at both the conference championship and the regional championship. She then took home her second consecutive VHSL state championship title by winning the all-around at the state meet.

At the VHSL 5A State Championship, held on Feb. 18 at Patriot High School, she took the top spot on the beam, floor and uneven bars, and finished second on vault en route to her impressive victory. Despite feeling extra nerves as the defending state champion, she was able to overcome those emotions as she felt she gave her best performance of the year on the beam and the floor.

“It was only my second time ever going to states individually, so I was still pretty intimidated,” Wrighte said. “There’s so many gymnasts that you don’t see until that meet, you don’t really know what your competition is like, you’re looking at everyone warming up and sizing up your competition, so it’s kind of scary but I’m just proud to come out number one.”

Admittedly, she believes the mental component is the most difficult part of the sport. Yet, the mental hardships only seem to make her better.

“I always put a lot of pressure on myself, I think it’s good to put pressure on yourself because that’s when you get the best out of yourself,” Wrighte said.

Thanks to her outstanding performance at states, she helped Freedom finish in second place as a team, just one year removed from their state title as a group in 2016.

“I know it wasn’t first, but being runner-up in the state is a great accomplishment,” she said.

The team championship during her sophomore season remains her favorite memory as a gymnast, as she was able to share a special moment with her teammates in what is typically a very individual sport. The Eagles have now reached states as a group in each of Wrighte’s three years with the program.

Wrighte has the rare opportunity to compete for her mother, Laura, who coaches the Eagles. According to the thriving gymnast, her mother has been the biggest influence in her career thus far.

“My mom is a pretty big influence, she coaches gymnastics and I feel like she helps me learn about the sport in every aspect, and I get to see it through her eyes,” she said. “When we’re in the gym practicing or at a meet, I do see her as my mom but she is my coach in that moment, I don’t even call her my mom in practice, I call her Coach Wrighte.”

Under her mom’s guidance, she was able to qualify for states due to her strong performances at the conference meet held in her home gym at Freedom and the VHSL 5A North Region meet at Park View on Feb. 8. Like the state meet, she admits to feeling extra pressure at the regional meet, but was able to rise above the jitters.

“Again, it was a little nerve-racking because we hadn’t seen many of the teams before and we started on floor which isn’t the best rotation, but I felt like as the meet went on my events got better and better,” Wrighte said.

After yet another remarkable season, Wrighte was recognized as the 2017 All-Loudoun Gymnast of the Year, an award she has now won three consecutive years.

“It’s a great honor as well, I had a lot of competition this year, and just to come out number one and be named Gymnast of the Year is a great honor, I don’t even know how words can describe it,” she said.

Although she qualified for states individually as a freshman in 2015, she was unable to compete due to a scheduling conflict. With states originally marked for a date in which she could attend, it was moved after a winter storm hit Northern Virginia. The new date coincided with one of her club team events and she missed out on the chance to represent Freedom.

Wrighte’s club team is Hill’s Gymnastics Training Center in Gaithersburg, Md., a program under the helm of legendary coach Kelli Hill. Hill was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005, and has coached multiple Olympians, including Dominique Dawes (1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Teams).

As a gymnast with high aspirations, she trains over 22 hours per week and has been able to travel all over the country with the sport. She has competed in California, Colorado, Florida, Las Vegas, and more, and hopes to continue with gymnastics at the collegiate level.

“I hope to keep doing it in college, that’s my main goal,” Wrighte said. “I hope to earn a scholarship, but if that doesn’t work I would be perfectly fine to walk-on to a school I love, I just hope to compete.”

Written by Josh Apple
Special to Viva Loudoun
Copyright © Viva Loudoun Media Communications LLC.
All Rights Reserved
@JoshApple1

 

Thanks for the shoutout Jordan Miller and congratulations Loudoun Valley Basketball on your state championship! Looking forward to getting you guys ready for the 2^nd one!