Becky Novacek: Everything she plays turns to gold. Click photo for larger image.

Becky Novacek's championship collection already was big, but it grew a little more recently.

Novacek, a senior at Hopewell High School, helped the Vikings win WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA championships in girls' basketball. You now need two hands to count her gold-medal collection.

In basketball, track and volleyball, Novacek has won 10 golds -- for either team or individual championships. She also won the Post-Gazette Female Athlete of the Year award for the 2005-06 season. The award takes into consideration all WPIAL and City League athletes.

Here is Novacek's gold rush: She has won two WPIAL and two PIAA basketball championships, three WPIAL volleyball championships, one PIAA volleyball championship and two WPIAL track and field individual championships in the high jump.

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And there could be more to come. Novacek has track and field season to get more championships. The WPIAL and PIAA championships are in May. Novacek finished second in the Class AAA high jump at the PIAA meet last year.

But while Novacek has excelled in three sports, her future is in volleyball. One of the best volleyball players in the WPIAL, she has accepted a scholarship to the University of Dayton.

"I just like volleyball," Novacek said. "It has more of a rhythm."

Hopewell track coach Kevin O'Connor has speculated that Novacek could be better in that sport if she weren't participating in others. O'Connor said that a successful basketball season is so long, it limits the strength work he'd like Novacek to do for track.

But she's already a good jumper. A year ago, she cleared 5 feet 8, which ties for the third-best in WPIAL history.

Novacek prefers to be an athlete for all seasons -- at least in high school.

"When I was younger, older students told me, 'You have to pick one,' " Novacek said. "But I like all three sports, and since you play only one in college, I decided to go for it."

She wears her genes well, too. Twin sister Joyce was a Post-Gazette Fabulous Five selection in basketball last year and the two made for one of the most potent one-two inside punches in Pennsylvania basketball. They both averaged close to 15 points a game this season.

Their father, Jim, is Becky's jump coach and a former All-American pole-vaulter at Rose-Hulman Technical Institute, an NCAA Division III school.

And the girls' uncle, Jay Novacek -- Jim's brother -- was a tight end with the Dallas Cowboys.

Academically, the Novaceks are both in the top 10 in Hopewell's senior class.