Anne Marie Armstrong doesn’t hear it as often as she used to — “Hey, aren’t you the girl who won 10 state championships in high school?” Once, the question was asked almost daily.

Anne Marie Armstrong, a forward on the women’s basketball team, passed up a chance to play basketball and volleyball elsewhere to play for Georgia. Photo by Frances Micklow | The Red & Black

Since arriving at Georgia two years ago, the sophomore forward for the Lady Bulldogs said the number of queries about her high school accomplishments have slowed to a trickle.

“I guess some people see it in the program handed out at the games, since they list stuff about our high school careers in it,” she said. “And then they’ll randomly ask me about it.”

During her four years at Wesleyan School in Norcross, Armstrong won three basketball state titles, three volleyball state titles and one track title to go along with her three individual state championships in the high jump.

But all of Armstrong’s success came at a price when she was picking what college to attend, pitting what she called her “two favorite” sports against each other.

‘Impossible’

Georgia head coach Andy Landers was up front with Armstrong during the recruiting process — it was either going to be basketball or volleyball.

“I told her that was impossible for her to play both sports,” he said. “Everybody will tell kids what they want to hear when they’re recruiting them. I just refuse to do that. There is no way she could have gone anywhere else and played both sports. By this time, she would have had to pick one.”

One of the other school’s trying to acquire Armstrong’s talents was Florida State, and former Seminole volleyball head coach Todd Kress disagreed with Landers. He said he could make it work to allow Armstrong to play both sports, since he had similar experience with former player Nikki Anthony.

“[Lady Seminole basketball coach] Sue Semrau and myself had worked something out because we had been through the process before,” he said. “We had it down as far as practice schedules and playing schedules and that type of thing to where that could be done. Armstrong was obviously the type of athlete — which is very seldom these days — who could handle both, but we felt she could, so we were going to give her that opportunity.”

Even that opportunity to play both sports at FSU did not sway Armstrong to leave her home state, though.

“I loved the coaches here at Georgia, I got along with my teammates when I came on my visit and it was close to home, which was a big thing for me,” she said. “I didn’t have a reason not to go here.”

Her decision came as no surprise to Kress.

“I felt like we were on the outside looking in the whole time,” he said about her chances of landing at Florida State.

‘Literally unstoppable’

Each of Armstrong’s three high school coaches at Wesleyan — basketball coach Jan Azar, volleyball coach Ted Russell and track coach Candler Baxley — swear by both her athletic ability and strong mental makeup.

Sophomore Anne Marie Armstrong is still trying to find her niche at the college level after an extremely successful high school career. Photo by Sara Caldwell | The Red & Black

Baxley remembered one such occasion that exemplified Armstrong’s focus.

Armstrong was pulling double-duty as a senior, doing both the shot put and the high jump. She made a jump at the state meet that most felt was good enough to win the competition, so she returned to the shot put. While there, another girl beat Armstrong’s jump, meaning Armstrong had to better her competitor’s mark on the next attempt or lose.

“I explained the situation and told her that if she wanted to win, she had to make this jump,” Baxley said. “She just said, ‘OK’ and went and made one of the best jumps of her career and won the event for the third year in a row.”

Her other two coaches each have their own standout memories of her — Azar brought up Armstrong tipping in a shot at the buzzer to send Wesleyan into the state championship game her sophomore year, and Russell recalled her putting on an unforgettable show in her final volleyball match for the school.

She had 36 kills and 30 digs in four games, which was “outrageous statistically,” Russell said.

But Armstrong always made the impossible look routine, with Russell calling her “the most talented kid I’ve ever had in the gym” in his 27 years of coaching.

“She could just take over a match by herself,” he said. “We would play teams that were some of the best in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and they would put a double or triple block with their biggest and best kids on her, and they couldn’t stop her. She was just literally unstoppable.”

Finding her niche

When judged against her incredible high school achievements, Armstrong’s career as a Lady Bulldog has been underwhelming so far, with averages of just six points per game to go along with 3.2 rebounds after nearly two full seasons of play.

She has not let this frustrate her — or at least she does not admit it.

“Coming from high school to college — every player on the team is just like you were in high school,” she said. “Everybody was the best player on their team and was one of the best players in the state, if not the best player in the state. Just coming to college and not being one of the dominant players hasn’t really bothered me at all.”

That is an attitude she carried over from her high school days, according to Azar.

“Anne Marie — that’s what made her so great in high school — never really cared about her own accomplishments,” Azar said. “She wants to do what the team needs her to do for them to be successful. So I can see how some kids may be frustrated, but Anne Marie is just trying to do what she can to contribute to the team.”

So it is possible Armstrong may always be just a contributor for Georgia, not the dominating force she was for Wesleyan. That doesn’t mean she will give up trying, though. It’s not in her character.

“When you’re the prized athlete like she was — going through middle school and high school always being amazed by how you’re doing — and then you get to college, and all of a sudden, you’re crawling on the carpet a lot, that’s a major transitional point for everybody,” Russell said. “And that certainly is a point she has had to adjust to. But Anne Marie is very resilient, and she’s the kind of kid who is tough and shakes things off. Ultimately, she wants to be out there and try to win at whatever she does.”

Auburn vs. Georgia

When: 7 tonight

Where: Stegeman Coliseum

More Information: Tickets for students are free.