Cedar Park three-sport star Megan Woods living in the moment
Photo Credit: Scott W. Coleman
Megan Woods is content to find a spot on the beach on a sunny day and get lost in a good book.
But the Cedar Park senior will also spike a volleyball in your face, rip a rebound from your hands or beat you in a 400-yard footrace, and she’ll do it with a smile on her face.
At a time when many high school athletes dream of continuing their athletic careers in college, Woods is unique. An all-district honoree on the volleyball and basketball courts, and a regional finalist in track, Woods prefers to live in the moment.
“I want to simply be happy,” she said. “I love doing things that make me happy, whether that’s being out with friends or sometimes sports, whatever is going to make me the most excited. For me, that’s hopefully going to be a really good job and education.”
She has been a key contributor to the Cedar Park girls’ basketball team, which won its second straight state championship on Saturday, beating Frisco Memorial 45-40 in a double-overtime thriller.
Woods finished Saturday's game with two points and six rebounds but played an important role in helping the Timberwolves reach the final, scoring six points and grabbing seven rebounds in a 59-31 win over College Station in the 5A semifinal last Thursday.
“Whether she admits it or not, when she walks between the lines, there’s a competitive switch that flips, and she doesn’t accept losing very well,” Cedar Park head coach Donny Ott said. “She’s the ultimate competitor and can’t stand to lose. She wants the toughest challenges. She wants to guard their best player and be put in situations that force her to compete.”
There is absolutely a correlation between Woods’ mindset of taking things as they come and success in sports.
It hasn’t always been easy to stay in that frame of mind.
Last year, before Cedar Park’s first-ever appearance in the state title game, Woods was very nervous. The trust that he’d been built within the Cedar Park locker room helped her overcome that fear.
“Everybody has good games and bad games, I don’t like to dwell on that,” Woods said. “I want to cherish moments and spend time with the people around me. There is so much trust in our team. If I mess up, I know someone has my back.”
The list of standout moments from her high school athletic career is long.
Woods made the Cedar Park varsity volleyball team as a sophomore despite not playing the sport on a consistent basis, and she got to run track with her brother and sister when she was a freshman.
One of her first games back with the basketball team after the volleyball season this year was against Class 6A power Duncanville, a game the Timberwolves won by three points.
“I enjoy everything,” she said. “I don’t have a specific time that I can think of. I just enjoy every single game and every single meet.”
After a volleyball season in which Woods was named to the all-district second team and helped the Timberwolves finish in third place and make the playoffs, Ott and the basketball coaching staff suggested she take a few games off to relax.
That didn’t go too well.
“She suited out for the first game she was eligible,” Ott said. “We tried to ease her back in the rotation. Megan, being the competitor that she is, with time made sure she proved why she’s in the spot she is right now.”
There are some days that Woods would rather stay in bed than go touch a court or a track.
Other days it’s her cat, Louis Vuitton, that motivates her to get up and move.
For a person that wants to live her life one moment at a time, Woods’ experience with Cedar Park basketball will linger a bit longer.
“It’s not like you do this easily, we had to work,” Woods said. “I have a ring to show for it. Even though I like to focus on the present, this is something, as it kind of gets into my past, that will still be important to me for a while.”