On Saturday, July 7, local youth athletes brought home the hardware at the Junior Olympic Skills Regional Competition held in West Sacramento. Amador County participants won gold medals in every event in which they competed. The Junior Olympic Skills Competition is an annual national event featuring four sports -- tennis sponsored by the US Tennis Association, basketball sponsored by Frosted Flakes, soccer sponsored by Band Aid and track & field sponsored by Embassy Suites. Thousands of local competitions take place throughout the Spring, and winners at those contests advance to one of 150 regional events held across the country.

In the Rapid Rally tennis portion of the competition, competitors hit against a wall as many times as possible in 30 seconds. Amador children took 5 gold medals and 1 silver medal. Sierra Madden won the girls 8-9 age group with a score of 17, her brother Erinn won the boys 12-13 age group with a score of 20. Lefty Justin Maciel took the gold in boys 10-11 with a score of 19. Sarah Daly, who went all the way to Nationals last year where she won a silver medal, showed her experience with a winning score of 21 in the girls 10-11 class. Her sister Meghan squeaked past newcomer Lindsey McGrath in the girls 12-13 age group -- the two had tied at the local competition with a score of 19, then they tied again with a score of 19 at the regional, leading to a playoff in which Meghan edged Lindsey by a score of 21-19.

Participants enjoyed a buffet breakfast courtesy of Embassy Suites, and the KMAX "Good Morning Sacramento" TV show did a live feed from the event during the opening. The top scorers from all regional competitions held nationwide are invited to compete in Nationals in Colorado in August. That four-day event, held at the National Olympic Training Center, includes a free all-expenses paid trip for the competitors and many fun activities and opportunities to meet Olympic athletes. Based on Amador's strong showing at the West Sacramento Regional competition, our athletes have their fingers crossed they'll get the good news phone call! Congratulations to all our outstanding young competitors!

Amador's local Rapid Rally competition was held in Jackson on May 19th, and the medal recipients were:

Boys 8-9: Giovanni Casillas (1st)

Girls 8-9: Sierra Madden (1st)

Boys 10-11: Justin Maciel (1st), Steven Casillas (2nd)

Girls 10-11: Sarah Daly (1st), Tory Spence (2nd), Kelsey McGrath (3rd)

Boys 12-13: Erinn Madden (1st)

Girls 12-13: Lindsey McGrath and Meghan Daly (1st - tie), Allison Bergson (2nd)