By The UC Irvine women will begin play this winter with the addition of what many consider the best female player to ever come from the CIF-Central Section. Clovis West’s Mary Brooks earned the Fresno Bee’s player of the year award twice before spending the summer winning a gold medal with the US Women’s Youth Team at the FINA World Championships in Madrid. Her aim is to become the first woman from California’s Central Valley to make the US Olympic roster. En route to her success she’s left behind a nearly universally good impression and a reputation for imaginative belly flops. See for yourself in this long feature produced by KMPH News.
Note: Fresno’s Jamie Komer Hipp has already set the precedent for Central Valley residents on the US Women’s Senior National Team. Hipp was a goalkeeper on the 2008 US Olympic Team after graduating from Edison High School and UCLA.
