TimesOC: Olympics water polo MVP Musselman honors 5 of her friends who have died too young
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Good morning, it’s Wednesday, Aug. 11. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you today’s TimesOC newsletter with the latest roundup of news and events.
The Tokyo Olympics, now behind us, left varying impressions on journalists covering the games and armchair athletes alike. Around the globe, people are savoring the performances of their favorite athletes on the world stage. In case you were not keeping track, the U.S. led the medal counts with 113 overall and, of those, 39 were solid gold.
Some of that glitter is reflecting especially brightly in O.C., where Team USA’s women’s water polo team, comprised of several homegrown standouts, won its third straight Olympic gold medal over the weekend.
My colleague Matt Szabo, who for several years has covered sports for the Daily Pilot, has reported on many of those women’s games since their high school water polo careers began to unfold.
Olympics MVP was Maddie Musselman, a Corona del Mar High School product playing alongside Aria Fischer, (Laguna Beach High), Alys Williams (Edison High), Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Harbor High), Corona del Mar girls’ water polo coach Melissa Seidemann, Makenzie Fischer (Laguna Beach High), Stephania Haralabidis (Corona del Mar) and Rachel Fattal (Los Alamitos High). Their team captain was Maggie Steffens and goalkeeper was Ashleigh Johnson.
Szabo was in Newport Beach Monday to document for the news outlet the memorable scene when Musselman, straight off the plane from Tokyo, was given a hero’s welcome when she arrived home. The MVP was gracious and humble throughout the joyful block party in her honor, not taking so much as a step inside her home until she was sure the fete was over and everyone had departed the scene.
Most touching, Szabo reports, was the tribute the 23-year-old Musselman paid to five young men her neighborhood has lost since she captured her first Olympics gold medal in Brazil, in 2016.
Musselman strode to a bench dedicated to the memory of Harrison Phillips, 22, who lived on her street and lost his life in a motorcycle accident in 2017. Also gone are Patrick Turner, who was just 16 when he took his own life in 2018, the same year that Danny Giger, 21, died in a skiing accident. Matt Olson, 19, died after he was hit by cars while walking on the 110 Freeway in 2019, the same year that Jack Elliott, 19, was found dead in a Texas lake. All had attended Corona del Mar High, Mussleman’s school, and all were family friends.
As Szabo picks up the story, Mussleman “dedicated the first game of the Tokyo Olympics to the five, who she said were gone far too soon. On Monday, she gave flowers to Giger’s mother, Lisa, and Phillips’ mother, Sheree, with more deliveries to come to the other three families.”
MVP accolades aside, Mussleman, in her most glorious moment, proves she is also a most valuable asset to her community.
MORE NEWS
— Longtime O.C. residents might recall the senseless late November 1980 murder of Judy Nesbitt of Irvine, who was killed inside her family’s 35-foot cabin cruiser after she was scheduled to meet a prospective buyer of the boat at the Marina Dunes Yacht Anchorage in Newport Beach. The mystery of who killed Nesbitt, long a cold case, has been resolved using DNA, it was announced this week.
— An Orange County man who went missing July 21 during a multiday hike in Sequoia National Forest was found dead over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
— As the more contagious Delta variant takes root in Orange County and residents 12 and older get vaccinated, pediatricians are reporting a noticeable increase in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 hospitalizations among young children, just weeks before the start of school, reports our colleague Sara Cardine.
— Last week, the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District reported that a batch of mosquitoes in Fullerton tested positive for West Nile virus, but no human cases of the virus have been reported here.
— An Anaheim police officer was treated early Monday for a potential exposure to fentanyl, authorities said.
According to the Anaheim Police Department, the officer was driving a suspect, who police said had drugs on him, to the station when he started feeling lightheaded and his feet and legs began to feel numb — symptoms consistent with fentanyl exposure.
SPORTS
— Although the Angels are having a mediocre season, oddsmakers say standout Shohei Ohtani could very well be the American League’s Most Valuable Player this year, writes our colleague Jack Harris, who follows the Halos.
— Nat Young of Santa Cruz, who surfed on the Championship Tour for five years from 2013-17, outlasted Josh Burke of Barbados in the final to take home the title in the World Surf League’s Qualifying Series 1,000 point event Jack’s Surfboards Pro, held over the weekend on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
LIFE & LEISURE
— One of a series of 100 “whaling walls” found around the globe that were created by Laguna Beach artist Robert Wyland has been an eye-catching work of art for those who pass by Wyland’s former studio space on Laguna Canyon Road for 30 years. The tile mural of a gray whale emerging from the water may or may not be in immediate peril, depending on whom you speak to. The owner of the property asked that it be removed to another location, but there is some concern it cannot be saved. Read reporter Andrew Turner’s look at the controversy.
— Although the dog days of summer are upon us, the time is right to plan future gardening endeavors. Activities tailored especially for those with green thumbs are taking place throughout the Southland in upcoming days, including some right here in Orange County. You’ll find the roundup here.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
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