Keythin Thomas is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mesquite High School for AZPreps365.com 

Graduating senior and four-year varsity point guard Jaylen Wollangk’s career at Mesquite was excellent, going 83-27 with two semifinal state tournament appearances and a state championship in 2022.

This success was despite a potentially career-ending injury before his freshman year while riding ATVs with friends. It happened before he entered high school, and led to Wollangk being stuck in a wheelchair.

“I broke a couple of bones in my hand and messed up my foot badly. Getting back into basketball was really hard, and there was a question about if I’d ever be able to play basketball again,” Wollangk said.

He never gave up though, and got through the rehab before the end of the year, ready to help the Wildcats in their playoff push.

“I was blessed with a great physical therapy team, and they got me right and ready to play for my freshman year. I also knew just to never take anything for granted ever again,” Wollangk said.

He hit the ground running as soon as he was ready to play again, hitting the court for the Wildcats varsity squad as a freshman after a few key injuries to a few of other players.

Mesquite coach Shawn Lynch recalled that once Wollangk got that opportunity, his play on the court made it impossible to take him off.

“Early in his career, Jaylen was more of a distributor on offense and most often guarded the opposing team's best player. From his freshman year on, whether he started or not, he was always one of the five players on the court when it mattered. After our state championship in 2022, Jaylen became the full-time starting point guard and continued the winning culture at Mesquite.  His competitive nature and understanding of the game served as a role model for our younger players, and his ‘will to win’ was contagious,” Lynch said.

Wollangk had his best season in the 2022-23 season, averaging 11 points, seven assists and three steals per game. The Wildcats fell short of repeating as state champions, dropping a one-point game to Deer Valley in the semifinals.

In his senior year, Wollangk averaged ten points per game and six assists. Mesquite once again fell in the semifinals to Deer Valley, losing 51-38.

Desean Middlebrook, the leading scorer for Mesquite this past season, named Wollangk’s work as a team leader on the Wildcats as one of the key reasons why they’ve been as good as they had.

“I got a great point guard, Jaylen Wollangk, guiding us this year; I got the rest of my teammates together. I think we’re going to do fantastic,” Middlebrook said.

Despite all the success and adversity Wollangk overcame in his career at Mesquite, he believed he could have done a bit more in his career at Mesquite, partly due to his drive to continue being better.

“Obviously, no matter what I have accomplished in my four years as a Mesquite Wildcat, there’s always going to be that part of me that feels that we could’ve accomplished way more, especially in the past two years. But I will never take these four years for granted, and overall, I am blessed and happy with how my career went at Mesquite,” he said.

Wollangk’s legacy as a Mesquite Wildcat will likely be felt for years to come, and if there’s anything specific to remember him by, it’s the way he kept his and his team’s energy at a constant high throughout his high school career.

“No matter on or off the court, I’m just trying to keep everyone’s energy up, no matter the score, no matter the time,” Wollangk said. "Just keep our energy up no matter what, and we will have a chance."