As 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to look forward to the year ahead in sports.
With the Winter Olympics in February, March Madness on the calendar and a landmark NWSL season to come, women’s sports fans are in store for an exciting year.
Here are the 20 athletes to know or get reacquainted with in 2022:
[Read more…] about CATARINA MACARIO, CHLOE KIM AND MORE: 20 FEMALE ATHLETES TO KNOW IN 2022By Karen Rosen
After winning the Olympic gold medal and the Diamond League Trophy this year, Valarie Allman still longed to throw farther than one other person: herself.
Allman did just that Sunday, winning the women’s discus throw in Berlin at the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) meet.
Her first attempt flew 71.16 meters (233 feet, 5 inches), a personal best by a meter which held up for the victory.
The “AR” next to Allman’s name on the results sheet did not stand for American record – although it was certainly that, eclipsing her own mark of 70.15 meters (230-2) from 2020. Allman now has eight of the top 10 throws in Team USA history – and her 68.80 in the final round in Berlin would have given her nine if secondary throws in a series were counted on the official list.
No, this AR stood for Area Record, with Allman breaking the North & Central American & Caribbean record of 70.88 meters set by Cuba’s Hilda Ramos in 1992.
“This season, it’s been filled with so many magic moments,” Allman said. “The one thing I want to do every season is try to improve my best – 2021 was coming to the end and to have a PR feels so good! All the work paying off and to see that show up is really special.”
The 26-year-old Colorado native also shattered the meet record of 68.64 meters by Margitta Pufe of East Germany that had lasted since 1979.
And, finally, the mark was the longest throw in the world this year – surpassing Jorinde Van Klinken of the Netherlands, who threw 70.22 in May — giving Allman the coved “WL” next to her name.
“HOLY MACARONI,” Allman posted on Instagram below a photo showing her and coach Zebulon Sion next to the scoreboard with the winning distance.
That was a fitting exclamation since Allman’s career began with pasta. Back in high school, the promise of a spaghetti dinner tempted athletes to try the field events. That led Allman, who had been a competitive dancer, to discover a new passion in life.
By Jim Schiltz | The Daily Gazette
Recent Taconic Hills graduate Clare Howard couldn’t help but notice just how proud the parents, siblings, coaches and friends were of the individuals who were honored Monday evening at the second annual Capital District Sports Women of the Year Awards Gala at Proctors.l
Howard’s rooting section included her mom, dad, brother and sister.
“You could see how each family supported their athlete,” said Howard, who, after each individual was honored, earned the prestigious Grand Scholastic Sports Woman of the Year prize. “To be able to invite people shows how far we’ve come in this pandemic.”
The first awards ceremony held last August saw only two guests allowed for each of the young women who were honored for their outstanding athletic and academic achievement, service to their school and community involvement.
The 2020 Capital District Sports Women of the Year gala was originally scheduled to take place in May of that year at Proctors, but that was postponed due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and was instead held at The Desmond Hotel in Colonie in a low-key affair where the grand winners were sprinter and soccer player Lydia Ware of Averill Park in the high school category and soccer player Morgan Burchhardt of Saint Rose in the collegiate category.
“This was the dream I had,” Capital District Sports Women of the Year president and founder Eric McDowell said as pictures were taken in a room adjacent to the GE Theatre, where the event was held. “Women’s sports deserve coverage and recognition outside the arena. This is what I wanted to do, and I wanted to do it here.”
Soccer player Hallie Klosterman of Russell Sage College was the Grand Sports Woman of the Year winner in the collegiate category.
Also honored Monday were recent high school graduates Phoebe Fox (Glens Falls), Riley Gibbons (Germantown), Jenna Hoffman (Maple Hill), Anna Jankovic (Averill Park), Sara Langworthy (Warrensburg), Izzy Mancini (Galway), Madison Relyea (Mayfield) and Kate Sherman (Mohonasen), rising high school senior Beth Irwin (Guilderland), and Naseyah Dix (Bryant & Stratton College).
“What an all-star team,” McDowell said before each of the honorees received a trophy and gave a speech. “What accomplishments.”
Howard, Taconic Hills’ five-sports participant and senior class president, said she was both surprised and excited when the grand awards were announced.
“I was expecting a lot when I got here, but when I heard the resumes, it was mind boggling,” Howard said. “I was blown away by what the girls had done. Each girl has so much to offer. We all could have won it for different reasons.”
“We read about them. Put out the releases,” McDowell said of the honorees. “To see them come to life was very, very special. What they did is amazing.”
McDowell said there were more nominations for the 2021 awards than in 2020, and he expects an even larger number next year.
“It’s growing,” McDowell said. “Word will come out and they will say, ‘We have someone, too.’ ”
Howard began competing in sports at Taconic Hills as a seventh-grader, and as the years passed she kept adding teams to her athletic resume. She capped off her record and award-filled scholastic career this school year by participating in soccer and cross country in the fall, swimming and skiing in the winter and track in the spring. She would have done the five as a junior, too, had that spring season not been taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Clare is a remarkable young lady that manages her time well in order to be successfully involved in as much as she is,” Taconic Hills math teacher Angela Webster said in a pre-event testimonial. “She is one of the most all-around talented individuals I have met in my career. I admire her for her positive, calm demeanor in the classroom while being an aggressive, sportsmanlike competitor on the field.”
Howard will focus on the 400 hurdles at William and Mary, and while she has yet to declare a major, she has great interest in the math and science fields where the National Honor Society member has received several prestigious awards.
“How many hours are in her day?” McDowell asked.
The multi-talented teen also has an ear for music, and can play the piano, flute and cello. She has been involved with several different groups, and was invited to perform with the Empire State String Youth Orchestra.
“I was always active growing up, and that carried over to my teenage years,” Howard, who served as her class treasurer for three years and was on the school’s COVID-19 reopening committee, said prior to the awards gala. “I am just really thankful that with everything I’ve done, I’ve had my family and friends and everyone in school backing me up and supporting me.”
Howard graduated third in her class.
“I really want to be the best version of myself as I can,” the 18-year-old academic and athletic star said when informed earlier this year that she was among the 10 high schoolers to be recognized. “It’s rewarding to see it all pay off.”
Klosterman anchored Russell Sage’s run to its first Empire 8 women’s soccer championship last spring as a junior, while academically, she was named to Russell Sage’s President’s List, Dean’s List and Athletic Honor Society for the third time. This past academic year she was also named to the college’s Athenian Honors Society. The Wallkill High School graduate has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average throughout her college career.
“The key to my success is challenging myself to be the best I can as a student, athlete and person,” Klosterman said.
Klosterman was named the Empire 8 tournament MVP after the team captain assisted on the winning goal in the semifinals, and scored both the tying goal late in the second half and the game-winner on a penalty kick in extra time against Utica College in the title match.
“Oh my gosh,” Klosterman had said, “it was incredible. Everybody on the team, that was their goal. That’s what we were striving for. Did we have a perfect season? No. But, in my opinion, winning a championship doesn’t have to be a perfect season. If you have some upsets here and there, that’s where you learn. That’s where your growth comes from. That’s what can make or break a championship.”
Klosterman has already completed her undergraduate work at Russell Sage and is now embarking on a three-year graduate program in physical therapy.
News Channel 13 sports personality Ashley Miller served as the master of ceremonies and Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, who lived in Schenectady as a youth, was the virtual guest speaker. Indie-pop artist Annie Scherer of Voorheesville performed on piano at the beginning of the event and on guitar after a brief intermission.
Jayla Jamison added another top award to cap her high school career.
The Airport High School junior was named South Carolina’s 2021 Gatorade Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year on Friday — it’s the third straight year she’s won the honor
Jamison is the first three-time winner in South Carolina since J.L. Mann’s Brianna Nelson did it in 2008-10. She is the first Midlands athlete to win three in a row since Spring Valley’s Monique Hennagan in 1992-94.
Jamison won in the long jump and the 100, 200 and 400 meters in the 2021 S.C. track and field championships in May. She was the lone Airport runner who placed in the meet and helped the Eagles to a third-place finish in Class 4A. Jamison’s four state championships give her 12 for her career. She won four events in 2018 and 2019. Had last year’s championships not been canceled because of COVID-19, she would have likely added to her total.
[Read more…] about Best of the Best: Future Gamecock, Local Standout Wins Third SC Gatorade AwardThe first Para athletics competition was held in 1952 when several athletes with a spinal cord injury took part in a javelin event as part of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which served injured World War II veterans. At Rome 1960, the Para athletics competition featured 31 athletes (21 men and 10 women) from 10 countries who took part in 25 medal events.
Para athletics differs significantly from athletics at the Olympics as athletes are placed into competition categories (called sport classes) according to how much their impairment affects sports performance.
Track events may include short, medium and long-distance races as well as relays. However, they are not fixed since the question of which events and classes are held is determined on a competition-by-competition basis in light of factors such as the number of participating athletes.
Athletes challenge their limits by striving to shave even a fraction of a second off their personal best time while compensating for their impairment.
Find out about the details of athletics classification
[Read more…] about One Minute, One Sport | Para Athletics TrackBy Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA
Tara Davis is synonymous with collegiate history now.
Davis, exactly two weeks after breaking the collegiate record in the indoor long jump, established the all-time collegiate standard in the outdoor version with her 7.14m (23-5¼) effort at the Texas Relays this afternoon. That topped the former collegiate record of 6.99m (22-11¼) set by Jackie Joyner of UCLA way back in 1985.
[Read more…] about COLLEGIATE RECORD: Tara Davis Sets Outdoor LJ Standard
