mesa legend

September 13,2005
SPORTS
Amete reaching new heights

Chris Ramirez
Mesa Legend

The life of an athlete is like a one-way journey upon a mountain range with the highest of peaks and the deepest of canyons. There are no short-cuts, and if you hit the bottom, you may never return to the top.
Nonetheless, this journey is one that all athletes must make as they write their story of victories, accomplishments, defeats, and failures.
Michelle Amete, for instance, last year reached the highest peak on the mountain, and sustained it long enough to have an unparallel season in track.
The impressive list of accomplishments begins with breaking several indoor and outdoor track records in the weight and hammer throws, including the 189-foot hammer throw that made her a national junior college champion, and placing second at the USA Junior Outdoor Championship Meet.
By placing second in the hammer throw out of all the other participants in the division of 19-and-under, she qualified to be on the USA Junior Team that took part in the biennial Pan Am Junior Games in Windsor, Canada.
Held at the end of July this past summer, she took fifth with an average throw of 55.76 meters.
Amete’s coach, Selmer Olson, believes Amete’s representing the United States with not only her athletic ability, but her personal characteristics, too, was a great way to finish a successful year.
Amete herself will confess that originally she didn’t think it was a big deal, until she arrived there to compete and met the other participants.
She now believes competing with those high-caliber athletes has been her best sports experience, so far.
Amete, looking forward to the future, has a full plate in front of her. She has resumed a former passion by joining the volleyball team at MCC, adding to an already talented team.
When asked why she didn’t play last year and what drove her to play this year, she replied that, though she took last year off to focus solely on track, she realized the fire to play still burned after practicing with the team a few times during the offseason.She had previously played for Queen Creek High School throughout the four years she attended there.
And should there be any doubt she still has improvements to make in her throwing, Amete is already naming goals that she would like to reach this year. Besides breaking all the records she set last year and overcoming those who beat her last year, the goal she is focusing on is to throw 50 feet in the shot put.
Also, she said she’s driven to prove wrong those who say she will lose a step by playing on the volleyball team.
In fact, she said spending all her time playing volleyball makes her more anxious for the upcoming season and for throwing.
Beyond this year is where Amete’s journey loses it direct path. It is no surprise she is being highly recruited by big-time NCAA Division I schools for track.
Yet, she still has no preference as to where she’ll attend. On her short-list of schools she plans to visit this winter are the University of Oregon, University of Georgia, Colorado State University, and ASU. The biggest factor in her decision, she said, will be deciding which coaching staff is perfect for her.
However, Amete mentioned that she wouldn’t mind staying close to home.
When most people think star track athlete, they tend to think Olympics.
Still, both Coach Olsen and Amete are quick to dismiss the idea that the Olympics are in Amete’s near future. That is because hammer throwing, an event she’s only competed in for one year, is a very technical process that takes years to master.
It is not uncommon for hammer throwers to train for years into their late twenties before thinking about the Olympics.
So for now, both will work together, by taking a day-by-day approach to see how high her mountain will go.