Morgan Hill – The stats continue piling up for Morgan Hill’s
Chelsea Laning as she reflects on her accomplishments and looks
toward her fourth and final year of collegiate water polo.
By Paul Doherty Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – The stats continue piling up for Morgan Hill’s Chelsea Laning as she reflects on her accomplishments and looks toward her fourth and final year of collegiate water polo.
In each of the last three years at California State University, Monterey Bay Laning has consecutively broke the women’s water polo scoring record, and been the linchpin of a young water polo program.
In 2005 she finished her freshman campaign with 118 goals, in her sophomore season she topped that with 120 goals, and as a junior in 2007 she blew the competition out of the water with a stunning 148 goals, leading all scorers in all divisions nationwide.
In plain terms, this means that Laning-Bailey scored the most goals in ALL of collegiate water polo.
She has been selected as an All-American for the third year in a row, and was also named 2007’s female athlete of the year at CSU, Monterey Bay.
“I think a lot of my improvements as a player I would attribute to my coach Gary Figueroa…he’s probably the best coach I’ve ever had,” Laning Said.
Figueroa is a member of the US Water Polo Hall of Fame, an eight time US Water polo all-american, and was twice named the National Player of the Year. He also played on the U.S. Olympic water polo teams in 1980 and 1984.
Posting a 4-9 mark against Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) foes and finishing the season at .500 with an overall 18-18 record, the Otters won more games in 2007 than the 2005 and 2006 seasons combined, and had the best record in all sports at CSUMB.
“Our team really came together this year,” Laning said. “There are a a lot of strong personalities on the team and at first it was difficult to play and come together, but after going 6-0 at a tournament in Southern California at the beginning of the season we started to play really well.”
The Otters would maintain their unity and go 2-1 in the WWPA Championships at the University of Santa Cruz in April, losing to California State East Bay in the first round and then defeating host U.C. Santa Cruz and Sonoma State, respectively.
“By the end of the season we were clicking and we really came together,” Laning said.
With time off school for the summer, Laning will see little time away from the pool.
She is back in town, and is a first-year lifeguard at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center.
Going into her fourth and final year of eligibility, the Kineseology major plans on beginning her off-season training earlier than ever so that she can be in the best possible shape for the 2008 season.
“I’ll be working really hard this summer so that I can go out with a bang next year,” Laning said. “It’s a bit sad to think that this is coming to an end, but it’s definitely not over…it may be my last year, but I’ll never stop playing.”
