East Brunswick Cheers for Hometown Girl Heather O’Reilly in Rio Olympics

East Brunswick, NJ - At this point, the Olympic games may be old hat for Heather O'Reilly. But that's not stopping East Brunswick from cheering for her as loudly as ever.

O'Reilly is hometown soccer phenom, who wowed them on the fields when she was a student at East Brunswick High School, which she graduated from in 2003. This August, she will join the U.S. women's team, competing as an alternate in Rio de Janeiro. This is hardly O'Reilly's first rodeo: She's already got three Olympic gold medals under her belt as part of the U.S. women's soccer team. In fact, she was named to her first Olympic team in 2002, at the tender age of 17 and while still in high school. In 2004, at 19, she competed in the Athens Olympics, where she took a pass from her idol Mia Hamm and made the game-winning shot against Germany. It's a moment O'Reilly has called her proudest on the field. From there, she competed in the 2012 London Olympics and also competed on the U.S. women's soccer team in 2015, the year they won a little thing called the World Cup.

(Meet the 34 other athletes from New Jersey competing in the 2016 Olympics.)

"Heather was a freshman when I was a senior at East Brunswick High," said Chris Yannazzo, who is currently the athletic director at the high school. "And even as a freshman we were totally in awe of her. She was just a phenom on the soccer field."

O'Reilly, who played as a forward at East Brunswick, won a state title for the high school. She also played for the girls' basketball team in the winter.

"It was her speed and tenacity on the field," said Yannazzo. "And she was a great student — she went on to the University of North Carolina. She was just one of those well-rounded student-athletes. She's always been an outstanding role model for young athletes. They can look up to her hard work and determination."

O'Reilly returns to East Brunswick often, where she runs a girls' soccer camp every year, usually at the high school. She also stopped by the high school last fall to give a pep talk to the girls' soccer team before the 2015 season began. Her parents still live in East Brunswick, Yannazzo said, and her father is a cross-country coach at St. Joe's. One of her three older brothers is in the armed forces.

"They're a great family," Yannazzo said. "All her accomplishments are just really well-deserved. The whole East Brunswick community is really proud of her. We're really honored to have someone like that in the community."