Aztecs headed to Olympics
Two Aztecs will represent their countries and compete in the 2012 Olympics in London.
Keshia Baker, a San Diego State graduate student currently earning a master’s degree in the joint public health and social work program, has been chosen to compete as part of the United States’ 4×400-meter relay team.
A six-time All-American who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2010, Baker finished sixth in the women’s 400 meter at last month’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
“With track, it starts over every year,” Baker said. “Just because you are in the lead one year, doesn’t mean you’ll maintain that lead. The next year a new person can come up. It depends on the day, on the person, on the event. I love all the aspects of competing in this field.”
Dorian Scott, a track and field assistant coach at SDSU, qualified for the Olympics after winning the shot put at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica.
Scott represented Jamaica in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, where he finished 15th overall with a throw of 65 feet, 5 inches. He is a two-time World Championship finalist and a NCAA All-American as well as a Pan American Games silver medalist. In addition, he placed sixth at the 2008 World Indoor Championships.
Scott just finished his first season as SDSU’s throws coach, playing a huge role in senior Whitney Ashley’s NCAA title in discus.
Former Aztec Strasburg makes first All-Star team
It was the first of what is sure to be many in the career of former Aztec Stephen Strasburg.
The former No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft made his first National League All-Star team this season after finishing the first half of the year with nine victories and 128 strikeouts, while leading the Washington Nationals to a surprising firstplace standing in the National League East.
Strasburg, who currently holds a 10-4 record with a 2.85 earned run average, pitched one inning in the All-Star Game and allowed only one hit.
The San Diego native is currently linked to a bit of controversy because Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said before the start of the season that he would shut down Strasburg after 160 innings, although the Nationals are currently in the middle of a playoff run.
“There is no magic number,” Rizzo said to ESPN Wednesday.
“It will be the eye test. (Manager) Davey (Johnson) won’t decide and ownership won’t decide. It will be the general manager, and that’s me.”
Strasburg underwent reconstructive elbow tendon surgery, most commonly known as Tommy John surgery, at the end of his 2010 rookie season.
Last season, he managed to return to pitch a combined 44 combined innings, including minor league rehabilitation outings. Strasburg has never pitched more than 123 innings in a season at any level.
–Compiled by Sports Editor Ryan Schuler
