Honors: Steen Newport-Mesa Female Athlete of the Year

Barry Faulkner

Newport Harbor High girls cross country and track and field coach

Eric Tweit isn’t prone to grand projections or lavishing praise.

But, when it comes to discussing recent graduate Amber Steen, whose

prep running career with the Sailors is virtually unparalleled, it

doesn’t take much to get him started.

“From day one, she had the talent,” Tweit recalled of the 2000-01

Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa District Female Athlete of the Year. “When she

came in, she was a soccer star. But once she found running and saw what

it took, she just took off.”

Steen’s procession through her competition produced nine Sea View

League track and field individual titles, three CIF Southern Section

Division II crowns and two CIF Masters Meet championships, spanning the

1,600 meters, the 3,200 and the 800.

In cross country, she was a two-time Sea View League and CIF Southern

Section Division II champion.

There were countless additional highlights, including posting the best

1,600 time of any prep girl in the nation (4:43.75) last spring, en route

to winning the Masters Meet. The mark also lowered the school record she

set previously at section finals, a performance that shaved 10 seconds

off the 16-year-old standard held by Buffy Rabbitt.

“I’ve always avoided the term world class,” Tweit said. “But it

wouldn’t surprise me if, as she continues (at the University of Arizona),

she can reach several classes higher.

“In the 30 years I’ve been coaching, she has the best focus of any

athlete I’ve had.”

Tweit said the ultracompetitive Steen possessed no fear as a running

rookie.

“She became a student of the sport and, around her sophomore year, I

thought she lost a little confidence. But her last two years, it was

really satisfying to watch her, not only her growth as an athlete, but as

a person.

Tweit said one aspect of Steen’s legacy as a Sailor is the good will

she carried with her in the running community.

“She was a very good ambassador for our school and our program,” Tweit

said. “We got a lot of comments from coaches at other schools about how

she conducted herself.”

Though a consummate good sport, Steen could be merciless when it came

to racing. The focus Tweit spoke of often allowed her to simply run away

from competitors, sometimes lapping slower runners in her longer races

and typically finishing with enough ease to immediately begin cheering

her teammates across the finish line.

Her monumental senior track season included victories in the 1,600 and

3,200 at the Orange County Championships. She then won the 800, 1,600 and

3,200 at Sea View League Finals, before winning the CIF Southern Section

Division II crowns in the 1,600 and 3,200. She won the 1,600 and was

second in the 3,200 at the Masters Meet (all Southern Section divisions),

then, despite being hampered by a strained foot that caused her to

scratch from the 3,200, finished third in the 1,600 at state finals.

She won the 1,600 all four years at the Orange County Championships,

as well as all four years at Sea View League Finals. She was section

Division II champion in the 1,600 as a junior and senior, after finishing

fourth as a freshman and second as a sophomore. She won the 1,600 at the

Masters Meet as a sophomore, was third as a junior and seventh as a

freshman. She was also third in the state in the 1,600 as a junior.

She won three straight league 3,200 titles, and was second her

sophomore and junior seasons at the CIF Southern Section Division II

finals, before earning the aforementioned crown as a senior.

At the Masters Meet, she was fourth in the 3,200 as a junior and fifth

as a sophomore. She was 15th in the 3,200 at state finals as a junior and

10th as a sophomore.

She also capped her junior year by placing fifth in the mile at the

prestigious Golden West Invitational.

In addition to her aforementioned cross country triumphs, she was

seventh in league and 10th at section finals as a sophomore. As a

freshman, she was third in league and seventh in the section in Division

II. She ran at CIF State Finals three times, with a top showing of fifth

as a senior.

She becomes the sixth Newport Harbor representative to be named the

district’s top female athlete in the 10 years the Daily Pilot has

bestowed the honor.

Newport-Mesa Athletes of the Year

2000-01 - Amber Steen, Newport Harbor

1999-2000 - Liz Morse, Corona del Mar

April Ross, Newport Harbor

1998-99 - Jamie DeNoewer, Costa Mesa

1997-98 - Julie Collett, Costa Mesa

1996-97 - M.E. Clayton, Newport Harbor

1995-96 - Katie Grogan, Costa Mesa

1994-95 - Melissa Schutz, Newport Harbor

1993-94 - Gina Heads, Newport Harbor

1992-93 - Olivia DiCamilli, Costa Mesa

1991-92 - Maureen McLaren, Newport Harbor