Selecting three senior female Athletes of the Year from a Gilroy
High School pool deep with talent is no easy task. The Dispatch
honors Elise Ogle, Sarah Una’Dia and Lindsey Foster as the 2009-10
Senior Athletes of the Year.
Editors Note:
Selecting three senior female Athletes of the Year from a Gilroy High School pool deep with talent is no easy task. Especially with the likes of field hockey goalie Geralyn Moon, point guard Sovi Nou and shortstop Alissa Castro, roaming the campus the last four years.
But, choices had to be made, and The Dispatch honors Elise Ogle, Sarah Una’Dia and Lindsey Foster as the 2009-10 Senior Athletes of the Year.
These three athletes have been integral parts in the Mustangs’ formula. Each made immediate impacts upon arrival. And with hard work, commitment and dedication on and off the playing surface, they remained prominent members of the athletic family. Their achievements in the classroom helped exemplify the definition of student-athlete and each have opportunity for success at the collegiate level.
Congrats to all senior athletes on your accomplishments. Good luck.
Ogle’s new favorite color is Cardinal red
It wasn’t on purpose, but Elise Ogle perfectly illustrated one of the dilemmas that can stem from being really good at two different sports.
The senior qualified for the Central Coast Section Track and Field Championships in the 1600-meter run, placing second at the Tri-County Athletic League Finals on May 14.
However, Ogle passed on the CCS opportunity to tryout for the California regional field hockey team in San Diego.
Apparently being talented has its drawbacks, too.
Ogle made the team – for the fifth time – and will travel to Virginia Beach this summer to play in a national tournament against teams from 11 regions.
Field hockey is her sport of choice – she even played this past season’s playoffs on a bum ankle, adding the spark the Lady Mustangs needed to get them to the semifinals. It’s a passion that runs deep.
Ogle was destined to wear Gilroy High Mustang blue. And she wore it proudly, in two sports, throughout her four years on campus.
But, as shocking as it may sound, her athletic prowess, she said, wasn’t natural ability. In fact, as she puts it, “I sucked.”
“I wasn’t very athletic at all. My dad wanted me to try sports, but I just wanted to dance,” Ogle giggled. “I didn’t have the given ability to just pick up a stick and play. There were a lot of backyard practices, some against my will. It took more work than people think. I didn’t really start doing sports until eighth grade and for some reason I came out freshman year and was pretty good at it.”
A four-year starter on the prolific GHS field hockey team, she made an immediate impact, getting the call to play at the varsity level her freshman year.
“They were all huge and I was like … tiny,” Ogle said.
Ogle fit right in with some of the top field hockey players in the section. It
didn’t take long to gain recognition and her leadership skills began to catch up with her physical tools on the turf.
“I did leadership (class) all four years,” Ogle said. “It really helped me in field hockey and track. It’s not always fun to be the one who goes the hardest in practice, but you know that you are helping your teammates get better. I think that’s the most rewarding part of playing sports.”
That example on the practice field translated over to games where Ogle commanded the attention of not only her teammates but her opponents as well. The captain band she wore on her calf this season may as well have been a target, but no matter how many defenders swarmed, it was never enough.
Some of her fondest memories revolve around youth teams she helped coach through the Infinity Field Hockey Club.
“I remember an indoor tournament we had and my team lost every game,” Ogle recalled. “But they were having fun and smiling.
“I have a passion for (field hockey) and passing it on to kids.”
And she will continue the love affair as a Stanford Cardinal in the fall.
Stanford University is one of the top-10 most difficult universities in the United States to gain admittance.
She was accepted on an academic scholarship. That’s right … an academic scholarship.
“You have to have higher than a 3.8 (grade point average), community service hours, you have to have higher than 600 in each of the sections on the SAT,” Ogle said, listing the handful of requirements it takes to be considered for a scholarship. Hearing the list and contemplating the work necessary is exhausting.
She has a 4.4 GPA.
Ogle said Stanford has been on her mind since the third grade, explaining to her teacher she wanted to attend.
“It’s kind of been my dream, I guess you can say, ever since I was little,” she said.
Ogle hasn’t decided her major yet, right now throwing around options of literature or chemistry, maybe.
Ogle leaves GHS as one of the more well-known athletes in the last handful of years. Perhaps, it’s her name. But more likely, it’s her personality and the respect for sports.
“Me getting into Stanford was more than me just getting in,” she said. “It’s the whole community and everyone who has ever helped me. It’s the ones who taught me how to hold a stick or tutored me.”
Una’Dia: A quiet ferociousness
Soft spoken but focused. Humble yet ferocious. Sarah Una’Dia has a way with balancing her emotions.
Her presence out on the track has an affect on opposing athletes, whether they admit it or not. But Una’Dia isn’t about intimidation. She is about results and putting in the hard work necessary to obtain those results.
“It’s all timing and organization,” Una’Dia said. “Those are two of the most important qualities to have especially when you’re in school and sports at the same time.
“My freshman year, I didn’t know how to balance everything out. But after my first year of sports I kind of got the hang of it.”
And because she has gone the extra step, in her training and in the classroom, doors to the collegiate world are wide open.
With a 3.8 GPA and a track and field resume chalk-full of accolades, Una’Dia will pack her bags in the fall for Fresno State University, getting the confirmation for her classes last week.
“I’m really excited,” Una’Dia said through a giddy laughter. “Competing at the collegiate level is definitely a big jump from the high school level.”
It won’t only be a jump, but it will be a run and a throw, too. Una’Dia said she will turn her attention toward the heptathlon while at FSU. As the name suggests, the heptathlon has seven disciplines: 100-meter hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, 200-meter dash, pole vault and 1,000-meter run.
“I got my summer workouts already so I will be starting on those,” Una’Dia said.
Reaching the collegiate ranks is only a plateau for Una’Dia, with a pinnacle of accomplishments still to be obtained.
“You need to be the one to set the example for everyone else,” Una’Dia said of being the ideal teammate.
It’s that approach that separates Una’Dia from the rest of the pack. A knowledge-based understanding of the sport, which was established by her father and coach Jeff, is complemented with skill.
Una’Dia leaves Gilroy High with two school records, one of which she set “at least five times,” and one she secured on the state’s biggest track and field stage.
It doesn’t happen very often that a freshman comes into a sport and raises eyebrows. Una’Dia did that and continued to turn heads throughout her prep career. A four-time league champion in the 100 hurdles, Una’Dia originally broke the school record in the event as a junior. Since then she set a faster mark on four different occasions, with 15.32 seconds the final number next to her name in the history books.
Her training regimen, which includes early morning workouts, began to pick up steam following her
junior season.
A disappointing finish in the CCS Finals in the high jump, where she missed an opportunity to get to the state meet, sent Una’Dia on a one-way road of determination.
“When I didn’t make it, I said to myself, ‘ouch, “‘ she said. “I felt like I could have done so much better. I was like ‘OK, next year I have to do this, in order to get past this.’
“I worked my butt off. I worked hard over the summer. Even during the offseason I never stopped training. That’s how I got to where I am.”
Sure enough, the extra work paid off and Una’Dia finished third at this year’s CCS Finals, earning a trip to the state championships. She shined at last week’s state meet, clearing 5 feet, 6 inches for a new school record – a fitting end to a storied prep career.
“I’m going to miss all the friends I have made,” Una’Dia said. “When school ends, we are all going to part and that’s going to be hard.”
Full-speed ahead for Foster
Lindsey Foster’s prep career didn’t culminate how she had envisioned.
Seemingly on her way toward section greatness in the long jump, Foster pulled her hamstring making the turn in the 200-meter dash at last month’s league finals. The injury hampered her performance at the Central Coast Section semifinals, missing the cut for the high jump finals.
“I’m used to doing everything at a fast pace,” Foster said. “Not being able to go full speed was hard for me.”
It was a disappointing end. However, the three-sport athlete (volleyball, basketball and track) has plenty to look forward to as she takes the next leap.
Just like her counterparts, Foster mastered juggling athletics with school with friends.
“I dedicate most of my time to sports,” she said. “That’s pretty much my life right there. But I still have time for other things outside of sports that I prioritize.”
Following through with those priorities and demonstrating ability for stability in those areas provided Foster with a choice of where to attend college.
After a slight change of plans, Foster is set to attend Notre Dame de Namur in the fall with hoop dreams leading her to the campus in Belmont. And basketball is definitely where her heart is.
“When I got to high school, playing with older girls was a great challenge for me, and I knew that I didn’t want my basketball career to end in high school,” Foster recalled. “I wanted to go on to college. High school basketball for me was like college, and once I get to college it’s kind of like my pro.
“It’s my dream. I think I will adjust well.”
Like many childhood dreams, those aspirations stem from something, and for Foster, a family full of sports fiends played a part in molding her love of athletics.
“My dad is a big sports guy, my whole family is,” she said. “Growing up with my brothers, they are big sports guys and it was like, ‘well, if they can do it, I can do it.’ My dad just always gave that thought of you can do anything if you put your mind to it and work hard.”
Foster put her mind to playing three sports in high school, and was a noticeable figure in each, playing three years of varsity basketball and volleyball and hit her stride in track and field as a junior and senior.
“I had my mind set on doing three sports, but I was kind of hesitant about track,” she said. “I had club basketball so I took (track) off but realized I wanted to do it. So I came back sophomore year. Volleyball, I just kind of did it for fun.”
Her tenacity at the net, her aggressiveness on the hardwood, or her fluid jumps into the sand, Foster’s athleticism is apparent.
A smile forms when she reminisces about the people she has met and known.
“I really liked the school and the people I have met,” Foster said. “I really fit in well. I’m really going to miss the track team though. We all got so close and everyone is there for each other.”
While at NDNU, Foster will major in psychology and strives to one day become an FBI profiler.
“It’s about being an adult now,” Foster said. “I’m kind of nervous about it, but my parents have gotten me ready.
“And I have basketball.”
The Senior Male Athletes of the Year will be revealed in Tuesday’s Distapch.
