At some point in the future, current Highland High students will probably boast to their friends and family about how they once went to school with Logan Tom.
On Friday, they were just bragging about how she got them out of school."Y'all owe me one for getting classes off," joked Tom while addressing the student body during an afternoon assembly in her honor. "I'll take IOUs."
The Highland senior, whose volleyball talents have been compared to superstar Karch Kiraly, is also taking in a lot of hugs, handshakes and pats on the back after being named the 1998-99 national high school volleyball player of the year by the Gatorade Circle of Champions.
"It's just so overwhelming right now," said Tom, who led the Rams to two 4A titles and a third-place finish last season. "It's one of the greatest honors I've had and probably will ever have in my lifetime."
The two-time Deseret News 4A volleyball MVP earned the national honor by a landslide, according to Gatorade representative Andy Horrow.
"It wasn't even close," he said.
Tom was eligible for the award after recently being named the Mountain Region and Utah player of the year for the second year in a row.
The Stanford-bound Tom was the first Utahn in any sport ever to receive the prestigious national award. She was selected from a pool of 375,000-plus high school volleyball players in the country.
Tom is considered by many to be the best volleyball player in Utah history. She made a record 935 kills, 351 digs and 130 service aces in her four-year career.
"She was a phenomenal high school player," said Highland coach Kim Norman. "She's going to be a phenomenal college player. She's going to be a phenomenal international player, and she already is."
Norman is most impressed with what she has achieved in school, and that's part of the reason she won the Gatorade award. Tom, who was Highland's homecoming queen, carries a 4.0 GPA, and she has been a straight-A student since kindergarten.
"Her accomplishments in the classroom are awesome," Norman said. "That speaks even more highly for this national award because she's a phenomenal student as well."
Carrie Bowers, Tom's teammate and a future BYU player, had to make a special trip to school just to support her best friend. She underwent a foot operation only hours beforehand but said she wouldn't have missed it for the world -- or because of powerful pain medicine.
"She's amazing. I've always known that she's the best player in the country. She really is," said Bowers, who's also considered to be among the nation's finer prep volleyball players.
"I played with her on the junior national team with all the best players in the country, and she was the best out of the best. That's when it was really obvious."
Bob Gambardella, the director of USA Volleyball's national team programs, said Tom opened eyes when she started training with the Olympic squad. Now he believes she is a big reason why this country has a bright volleyball future. He even predicted Tom, who is one of the nation's hardest hitters on any level, will be part of several gold-medal-winning American Olympic teams. Perhaps as early as the summer of 2000 even.
"She's phenomenal on the court," said Gambardella, who made the trip from Olympic training headquarters in Colorado Springs. "She just does things of a wrld-class athlete . . . power, speed, agility, dynamic. Those are the words that really (describe her)."
Local government officials -- Gov. Mike Leavitt, Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, and Rep. Merrill Cook -- also had glowing words for Tom. They each sent letters to her that were read aloud.
"I'm finding myself a little beyond words. It's Logan's day," said Tom's mother, Kris. "I'm proud of her. She's worked hard for it and she's got it."
Emily Jardine, a Highland High student body officer, called the whole ordeal "wonderful and weird."
"One day I know she's going to be on the cover of a magazine," Jardine marveled. "And I'll have sat next to her in my classes and have hung out with her. It will be totally crazy."