The Nett Reed Show heads to Western Kentucky

BLAKELY — There was a police chase last week in Blakely. The alleged criminal was running on foot as the cops pursued. He darted into the apartment complex where Early County three-sport superstar Nett Reed lives, and was finally trapped and arrested in an adjacent building to Reed’s. As the cops left the complex, the arresting officer noticed Reed’s mother, Lucindie Troup, sitting on her front porch.

The officer then jokingly yelled to Ms. Troup: “Hey, where’s Nett? We could have used her to run this guy down.”

Seems like just about everyone in Early County knows about Nett.

That’s Ms. Antqunita Centell Reed to the folks in the census office, but to everyone in Early, she’s just Nett. Like Cher, Madonna and Elvis, Ms. Reed can go by her first name only.

If you’ve driven by Early County High the last two weeks, that was Nett’s name plastered on the school marquee sign, telling all about how she had won three state track titles and set state records in two of them. Just for fun, the marquee pointed out that Nett had won 19 state track titles in her four years at Early.

The marquee didn’t mention that Reed is one of the top basketball players in this part of the state, a two-time Herald All-Area and preseason Super 6 selection who averaged 20 points and eight rebounds a game this year.

Didn’t have to — anyone who has ever seen Nett on the court knows she’s a force who plays a tough, serious brand of ball peppered with grace and savvy and the kind of soft touch from the 3-point line that can bury teams.

Now she’s leaving Early right on time.

Nett, who signed a letter-of-intent with Western Kentucky, where she will play basketball and run track, said goodbye Tuesday morning amid family and friends and a bouquet of warm embraces from just about everyone.

“It’s a beautiful school, beautiful campus,” Nett said.

But she will be sorely missed.

“Everyone at this school just loves her to death,” track coach Jay Winkler said. “She’s the total package: great athlete, great student, great kid. We’ve had kids before who were great athletes, but we’ve never had anyone who embodied everything.”

Nett signed in a ceremony in a large room adjacent to the gym that was packed with students.

“We could have let the whole school out to be here, and we wouldn’t have had a single kid in here who wanted to be here just to get out of class,” Winkler said. “They all wanted to be here for Nett. That’s how everyone feels about her.”

As the crowd filed into the room, pregnant Early volleyball coach Windy Cox, who is close to giving birth, was slow to climb the stairs. One of the kids backtracked and then helped the coach.

“Nett helped me up the stairs,” Cox said with a warm smile. “She took my arm and helped carry me up.”

By the way, Nett was also a two-time first-team, All-Region volleyball player, who obviously knows a little bit about handing out an assist.

After Nett survived a hundred embraces and countless congratulations from all her coaches and friends, Karen McNeal, who doesn’t coach anything, came over and gave Nett one of those heart-to-heart, gonna-miss-you hugs. The kind that stays with you.

“She’s an inspiration to me,” said McNeal, who is Early’s curriculum counselor. “She’s so humble, so giving. She doesn’t want any attention brought to herself. She doesn’t get a big head. Nothing fazes her.”

If you talk to 100 people in Early about Nett, the word humility will come up more than 100 times, And humility is about the only thing that runs side-by-side, step-by-step with Nett, whose horizons in track are endless. Winkler will be the first to tell you, there’s no point putting a limit on her because no one knows just how good she can be.

That’s why track programs from all over the country wanted the kid from Blakely, including the University of Houston, where former U.S. Olympic star and UH jumping coach Carl Lewis tried to convince Nett to spend her next four years in downtown Houston. The offers were a bit overwhelming, however, and she said she went to the state track meet two weeks ago looking to escape the pressure of making a decision.

Her escape included winning Class AA titles in the long jump and setting AA state records in the triple jump and the 400 meters. That gave her four long jump state titles, three 400 titles and a couple of triple jump titles, including her remarkable 40-feet, 1-inch jump that smashed the old state record of 39-5. Her time of 55.57 broke the old mark of 55.62 in the 400, but the remarkable thing about her time is that Nett rarely even practices running the 400. When she wasn’t earning a 3.0 GPA in class or training in the jumps, she was volunteering her time at the middle school meets, where she did everything from help set up the hurdles to holding the blocks for the sprinters.

“I don’t know anyone else like that,” said Craig Storey, who is Early’s assistant track coach. “She wins state track titles and holds the blocks at middle school meets. You get someone like her maybe once in a career — if you’re blessed.”

Now Western Kentucky gets the blessing. That’s the way they feel in Early County, where Nett will be missed beyond words. She has some relatives in Bowling Green, and the lifestyle there seemed to fit better than the hustle of Houston or Miami (Florida International recruited her for basketball). And she has been told she can play hoops and run track for the Lady Hilltoppers.

“It’s a little closer to home and I do have some family there,” Nett said. “It just feels right for me. They’re a powerhouse in track. They’ve won the Sunbelt Conference 14 years in a row, and I can play basketball and run track for them.”

Other schools, including Houston, offered both opportunities, and that was critical.

“It’s very important,” she said. “If I could only do one, I would have missed the love for the other.”

Nett is a natural on the track, although the general consensus is when she progresses to the college level and her technique and development run stride-for-stride with her god-given ability, the future is boundless.

She gets her speed naturally. Her mother ran the 100 meters at Early County High until an injury stopped her progress. Her father, Anthony Lee Reed, ran the 400 at Early.

She gets her speed from both and her full first name — Antqunita — comes from her mother’s creative beauty and her father’s name Anthony. It was Nett’s grandmother, Linda Troup, who began calling her Nett long before the young phenom started running.

Now everyone in Early County wonders what giant strides will come next.

For Nett, the biggest burden — like the ones who run against her — is behind her. She said the last weeks have been a “whirlwind” as she pondered the biggest decision of her young life.

“It was like quicksand,” she said. “There was the pressure to make a decision, and I knew I was running out of time. I’m glad it’s over. I knew wherever I went to school I had to feel at home.”

She plans to major in sports medicine, but that’s a career that will come in time.

“I’ll seek that career, but what I really want is to run in the Olympics, to win a (gold medal) in the Olympics,” she said. “I remember watching Marion Jones in the Olympics when I was growing up, and dreaming about it. I really started thinking about it when I got to ninth grade.”

Her time in the 400 improved each year.

“I started going on the Internet and looking up the times in colleges to see how I compared,” she said. “I know I can improve on my time. Once I get the proper training, I know I can really drop the time in the 400. I know I have been blessed with raw talent, and I want to do whatever it takes to make the most of it. I want to win in the Olympics.”

If she does that, they won’t have to worry about the marquee at the school. They can put up a billboard: “Welcome to Early County, home of Nett.”

No last name will be needed.