Aliso Niguel's Jaslene Massey taking aim at state title in shotput
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
When Jaslene Massey smiles, it's contagious. You want to return the smile. She has a bubbling personality that encourages track and field fans to cheer for her to succeed.
In the shotput, she has developed into the favorite to win a state championship. She won the Orange County championships with a mark of 50 feet, 7 inches. She's the first California high school girl to surpass 50 feet since 2016.
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Last week she won the Arcadia Invitational. On Saturday, she won at the Mt. SAC Relays. She finished second last year in the Southern Section Masters Meet at 46 feet and third in the state championship after being a high jumper as a freshman.
'It's definitely come as a shock to me,' said Massey, a junior who has a 4.4 grade-point average. 'Last year I thought I was going to go 47 feet. Now I want to keep working.'
She deserves to be considered one of the best female athletes in Southern California, because she's also a standout volleyball player and was a youth figure skater. Her athleticism has been put to good use in the shotput, something she had not done until high school.
'She's so strong and explosive,' her club coach, Mike O'Dell, said.
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O'Dell first saw her at a meet and went to her parents to offer support. 'I saw her throw a shotput like it was a three-pointer,' he said.
She's 5 feet 9 with long arms, making her a good fit for the event.
'Being long really helps,' said Sherman Oaks Notre Dame throwing coach Nick Garcia.
O'Dell helped revise Massey's training, including in the weight room.
'The way I weightlifted completely changed,' she said. 'I was doing it on my own freshman and sophomore year. I think my explosive ability from volleyball really helps. He's been able to build me up.'
NFL draft
This coming week will be a big week for fans of Servite High football, because two former Friars, defensive lineman Mason Graham and receiver Tetairoa McMillan, are expected to be selected on Thursday during the opening night of the NFL draft.
Servite's Mason Graham has 10 sacks.
They were teammates on Servite's 2021 team that lost to Mater Dei in the Southern Section Division 1 championship game before moving on to Michigan and Arizona, respectively.
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Former Servite coach Troy Thomas, at the invitation of Graham, will attend the draft in Green Bay.
There's lots of unique things to like about both in this time of change in the sports world. For one, they were both four-year players at Servite and multiple-sport athletes. Graham also played rugby and wrestled. McMillan played basketball and volleyball. "They check every box. High character, durable," Thomas said.
Both endured the pandemic of 2020-21. It affected Graham's recruiting. He didn't become a top recruit until late in his senior season. "Every year, he got better and kept growing," said Thomas, who remembers him as a 6-1, 200-pound freshman. "He was 265 junior year and 285 senior. He played like a linebacker on the defensive line."
McMillan was one of the best athletes at Servite. His intelligence and toughness came through in practices and games. "His control in the air has been a big factor," Thomas said. "He does so many things well. It seems effortless and seems easy when you watch him. He's very competitive and very tough."
Another player who should be taken taken in the first two rounds is former Oaks Christian and UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger. He started out as a walk-on for the Bruins and also had his recruiting affected by the pandemic even more, graduating in 2021 after a brief spring season of football. His story will be told again and again about a teenager seeking a chance and trusting the process.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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