Paola Hernandez Nominated Athlete of the Year

13-year-old the fastest swimmer in town






PAOLA HERNANDEZ of the Tsunami Swim team has been nominated as Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.




We can’t write a lot about Paola. She has not been around very long. But the 13-year-old eighth-grader is the fastest female swimmer of any age in the Lompoc Valley. She has posted 1:01.77 in the 100 fly, 1:02.85 in the 100 back, 2:15.01 in the 200 IM, and 25.65 in the 50 free.



What else can we write? She never swam competitively until now with the Tsunami. Oh, her father Mario once played pro soccer for the Pachuca Tuzos of the Mexican Soccer League.




Paola joins Lompoc High softball pitcher Jeana Carrillo, San Diego State water polo standouts Becca Ur and Heather Fenske, and Chelsea Cassulo, Lompoc High's CIF shot putter on the Lompoc Locker Room ballot. All the nominees to date can be see in the right hand column below our sponsors. The winners, as selected by our Blue Ribbon Panel, will be announced beginning December 20.