While many high school athletes are taking the summer off, Gunn senior Amy Watt is doing quite the opposite — despite finishing a busy track and field season last month.
Watt just finished a full schedule of events at the U.S. Paralympics Track and Field National Championships held at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn.
Watt, who was born without her left hand her left arm stops right below her elbow won two gold medals and two silvers while setting a pair of American records in her category.
She set the U.S. marks in the long jump (17-2) and 400 meters (1:02.85), both personal bests. She also took second in the 100 (13.09) and 200 meters (27.58). Her marks in the long jump, 100 and 400 met the National Team B standards.
In her three years at Gunn, Watt has participated in cross country, soccer, track and field and enjoyed a ton of good time and great success. Last summer, she discovered the Paralympics when the Paralympics National Track and Field Championships were held in San Mateo.
A friend from Iowa whom Watt had met at an amputee camp competed there and Watt went to watch her.
According to her mother, Gwen Liang, the meet inspired Watt to work hard, get better, and to hopefully compete for the USA in future events. Watt was selected a few months ago to represent Team USA at the 2015 IWAS Jr. World Championships in the Netherlands this July. She leaves on July 1 and will compete in the 100, 200, 400 and long jump.
Watt also is hoping to be named to the U.S. team that competes at the ParaPan Am Games in Toronto in August. Last weekend’s national championships was the qualifying event for the meet in Canada. The Olympic committee will name the team on or before July 6.
Football
Stanford has secured the talents of Bailey McElwain, a 6-1, 230-pound rising-senior linebacker prospect from Hewitt-Trussville High in Alabama. His work at Stanford’s camp, largely at fullback, led to his first scholarship offer and subsequent commitment.
Golf
Menlo School grad Andrew Buchanan from Los Altos and Portola Valley resident Dakota McNealy both came up short in their attempts to advance in the 104th annual California Amateur Championships on Tuesday at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City.
Buchanan finished tied for 40th after the second day of stroke play, with only the top 32 players advancing to match play. Buchanan shot a 3-over 75 after shooting a 1-over 73 on Monday, finishing with a 148 total — missing the cut by just two strokes.
McNealy shot 74-84 for his two rounds of stroke play and wound up tied for 130th in the field of 156 golfers.
Rowing
Colette Lucas-Conwell, a Palo Alto High graduate and junior at Virginia, recently was recognized on the College Rowing Coaches Association Pocock All-America second team. She coxed the Cavaliers’ Varsity 8 that finished third at the NCAA Championships, won the Atlantic Coast Conference title and was named ACC crew of the year, as well as winning the Head of the Charles. She and three of her teammates also were named to the CRCA All-Region 3 first team. Lucas-Conwell is currently at the U23 selection camp in Princeton, N.J.
Tennis
Stanford’s Carol Zhao and Taylor Davidson are among 26 elite collegiate tennis players who have been named to the 2015 ITA Collegiate All-Star Team, a collection of the most accomplished student-athletes from each of the college divisions during the 2014-15 season.
Oracle and the ITA will recognize these honorees, along with the ITA/Arthur Ashe Jr. National Leadership and Sportsmanship Award winners, at the Oracle/ITA Outing & Awards Luncheon held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, NY, on Friday, August 28.
Inaugurated in 1984, the ITA All-Star Team honors the nation’s top-ranked men’s and women’s players from the year-end Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings and spans the five competitive divisions: NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior & Community Colleges. Also receiving honors are the winners of the 2014 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships and 2015 NCAA Division I Championships.
Zhao and Davidson were the nation’s No. 2 doubles team and played deep into every tournament on their schedule. In the fall, they reached the finals of the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships and the semifinals of the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championship.
During the spring, they advanced to the NCAA Doubles Quarterfinals and took home the crown at the Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Doubles Championship. Davidson and Zhao held the No. 1 doubles ranking in April and finish their first season together with a 33-8 record.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports