Michaela Onyenwere was in Italy last week -- not that many of her friends knew about her exotic summer trip.
Onyenwere's European "vacation" was spent representing the Adidas All-American Select team. She averaged 20.7 points in leading her American team to a 3-0 record, and the only negative was an inadvertent elbow she took that knocked out a tooth.
Outside of basketball, she visited some of Italy's most breathtaking sights and soaked up the culture, touring, for example, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. She also saw some of the classic buildings and cathedrals in Treviso.
But despite her globe-trotting adventure, Onyenwere kept her flight plan low key.
"She didn't tell anyone," said her mother, Edith Onyenwere. "To her, if she told anyone, it would seem like bragging."
Onyenwere doesn't brag ... but she would have tons to boast about if she had that inclination.
The 5-foot-11 forward/wing for Grandview (Aurora, Colorado) is the No. 14 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Super 60 the 2017 class. She has yet to commit to a college but is considering UCLA, USC, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville and Arizona State.
As a freshman in 2014, she made first-team all-state in Class 5A. She followed that up the next two years by winning Colorado's Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.
At the state track meet last month, Onyenwere -- with very little training in the sport -- finished second in the 100 meters, third in the 200, fifth in the 400 and fifth in the long jump.
Yet, even with all that, humility is a big part of Onyenwere's persona.
John Reyes, who taught Onyenwere in her freshman algebra class, remembers asking her what she did athletically.
"She said she played basketball," Reyes said, "but I had no idea she was so special."
When Reyes saw Onyenwere play basketball during that freshman year and also found out that her father was an Olympic sprinter from Nigeria, he lit up.
Reyes, you see, is also Grandview's track coach, and he soon got his wish -- Onyenwere on his roster for something other than a math class.
As a freshman, Onyenwere ran the 100 in 11.77 seconds and the 200 in 23.97, times that put her among the top five girls in the nation among her age group.
"She's as talented as anybody in the country in track," Reyes said. "It's phenomenal what she's been able to do with almost no track conditioning."
It certainly seems as if Onyenwere would have a big future in track if she had that desire and/or time. Onyenwere, though, left no doubt that track will continue to be a hobby for her.
"I missed a lot of meets this year because of basketball," said Onyenwere, who has a 3.3 GPA and is interested in becoming a dentist or a pharmacist. "I've played other sports, but basketball is by far the most fun."
Her basketball coaches -- Robert Sanchez of the AAU New Mexico Heat Elite and Josh Ulitzky of Grandview -- are thrilled she feels that way.
Onyenwere averaged 24.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.0 steals, 2.3 assists and 1.4 blocks last season for Grandview. She doesn't yet shoot many 3-pointers -- she made 9 of 25 -- but that is a part of her game that will continue to expand as she transitions from high school forward to an eventual college wing.
Not that anyone is worried about her making that adjustment.
"She's the most explosive athlete I've ever coached," said Sanchez, who has 20 years of experience. "She's a special player -- very intelligent and with the type of charisma you see in a person once every 10 years."
Ulitzky said Onyenwere has a good chance of becoming the first three-time Gatorade player of the year in Colorado history.
The coach watched as she led Grandview to a 26-1 record, losing 69-67 in the state semifinals to eventual champion Thunder Ridge. Onyenwere had 12 rebounds in that game and scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half.
But it was far from the only big game Ulitzky has seen her have in her brilliant prep career. As a sophomore, she had a career-high 43 points and a career-high 29 rebounds in an 86-83 playoff loss to Lakewood.
Ulitzky said she was even better this past season in a regular-season win over Thunder Ridge, producing 34 points and 18 rebounds.
"There was one possession in that game in which she was on the low block, and she saw a kid about to take a 3-pointer," Ulitzky said. "Michaela jumps out there, blocks that shot, deflects it down the court and streaks in for a layup.
"She is as fast with the ball as most players are without the ball. It's at least once a week where she will do something incredibly athletic, and I will look at my assistant coaches and say: 'Are you joking?' "
The joke is on her opponents, especially when it comes down -- or rather up -- to her leaping ability.
"Her second bounce off the floor is higher than her first," Sanchez said. "That's how she can defend 6-5 players. On their second jump, they don't have the velocity of Michaela.
"She's probably the fastest girl in high school basketball from baseline to baseline. I've never seen anyone better than her at rebounding, running the floor and driving the lane.
"Michaela is physically developed -- a powerful player. The college coaches all say the same thing -- she seems to be everyone's No. 1 target."
