HOUSTON -- The Russians hosted her earlier this spring. The Japanese just got done dealing with her. And now, Americans from coast to coast will soon become better acquainted with the volleyball sensation bursting onto the international scene -- the one who first learned the sport and then dominated it as a Utah teenager.
Less than one year after graduating from Salt Lake City's Highland High School, Logan Tom has gone from being Utah's celebrated volleyball standout to a starting outside hitter on the United States women's volleyball team. She's all but a lock to be named to the U.S. women's squad that has qualified to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.Although the final roster won't be announced until early July, a spot for the 18-year-old Tom seems even more secure, given that she's spending this weekend in Houston as one of two team representatives at the Olympic Media Summit.
Sponsored by the United States Olympic Committee, the four-day event serves as an introduction of sorts for some 90-plus Olympic-caliber athletes to the 300 national sportswriters and broadcasters doing advance interviews prior to the 2000 Sydney Games.
Utahns know all about Tom, a two-time MVP at Highland who amassed 910 career kills and 149 service aces -- even more impressive stats when one considers she didn't begin competitive volleyball until the eighth grade. An ankle injury suffered in the state semifinals her senior season was all that kept her from leading the Rams to three consecutive state championships.
During her Utah years, Tom was highlighted in Sports Illustrated, featured on the cover of Student Sports Magazine and named the 1998-99 Gatorade Circle of Champions National High School Volleyball Player of the Year. That put her in heady company with the likes of Emmitt Smith, Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, Lisa Leslie, Alex Rodriguez and Marion Jones, who all earned similar Gatorade national distinction in their respective sports as prep standouts.
At Stanford University last year, Tom became only the fourth freshman to earn AVCA first-team All-America honors and numerous freshman-of-the-year accolades as the Cardinal advanced to the 1999 NCAA Championship match.
The international volleyball community is quickly learning to respect Tom, who first participated with USA Volleyball in 1997.
"She brings velocity, explosiveness," said U.S. women's coach Mick Haley. "She's a leaper, a penetrating blocker. She's a dynamic player . . . Ever since I saw her in 1996, I knew she was going to be on this team."
Tom started with the junior national team on tour in Brazil in 1997; the next summer, she was a member of the national team that qualified for the Sydney Games. However, she balked at an invitation later that summer to move to Colorado and join the national team full time, favoring instead to stay at Highland for her senior season.
"Logan knows herself as much as any athlete," Haley said. "She wanted to be a kid still."
And the "kid" continued her dominance on the Utah prep sports scene as well as wrapping up her high school studies with a 4.0 grade-point average and being named Highland's homecoming queen to boot.
Now, Tom has made the move to full-time national team member, having traveled with Team USA to Russia this spring and then touring Texas and Colorado while competing against Japan's national team. And as the Russians and Japanese have already found out, Tom's as terrific in international settings as she was as the premier prep player in Utah only a year and a half ago.
Haley said it was obvious that Japan geared its blocking and defense against the powerful hitting attack of Tom. Still, she was among the team leaders in kills during the four-game series against the Japanese.
Tom and U.S. teammate Demetria Sance will take center stage Sunday afternoon at the Olympic Media Summit. After this weekend, it's off for more national and international exhibitions before the Sydney Olympics start in September, where the United States will have to contend with the likes of medal-favorites Cuba, Russia, Brazil and China.
Look for NBC, which will broadcast the Summer Olympics, to feature Tom. The story angle is easy -- a youthful, attractive, dominating athlete still under the age of 20 who many think may be a star on the U.S. women's volleyball team not only at the Sydney Olympics but at the 2004 Athens Games as well.
"They're calling her 'The Future,"' said U.S. men's assistant Rob Browning, a former men's assistant at BYU. "She's mature beyond her years on the court."
And Utah can take pride in knowing they witnessed only recently the maturation and rise of an Olympian-to-be.