Costa Mesa Honors Olympians

HONORING OLYMPIANS
Several hundred people gathered on the lawn of the Costa Mesa Civic Center Tuesday afternoon to honor Costa Mesa Olympians.  Misty May-Treanor, April Ross, Sharon Day and Jake Gibb were on hand, as were Assistant Olympic Gymnastics coaches Jenny Liang and Hao Quan Liang.  Olympian Kyla Ross was unavailable due to a prior commitment.

HATCH AND POLITICIANS
City Chief Executive Officer Tom Hatch was the master of ceremonies for this very special event.  He was joined on the stage by Costa Mesa council members Wendy Leece, Jim Righeimer and Steve Mensinger and, later, by Assemblyman Allan Mansoor.

CHEERS!
The vivacious young women of the Costa Mesa High School Cheer Squad were on hand to cheer every Olympian as they received their individual recognition.

MIXING IT UP
The Olympians mingled with the crowd before the ceremony and signed autographs for eager admirers.

INSPIRATIONAL
Young Abagail Garcia from Estancia High School sang the National Anthem.

PRIDE
Each Olympian spoke passionately about their lives in Costa Mesa and how proud they are to have attended school in our local schools.

SHARON
Day, a Costa Mesa High School product, spoke of her life growing up in Costa Mesa, the coaching she received and her pride in the city.

APRIL AND MISTY
Ross and May-Treanor, who both attended Newport Harbor High School but were residents of Costa Mesa, both expressed pride in being part of this community.  May-Treanor, a three-time Olympic Gold medalist, addressed the young people in the crowd and then de facto passed the torch to Ross, who won the Silver medal in London.

JAKE A PROUD COSTA MESAN NOW
Gibb, a Utah native, makes his home in Costa Mesa and hopes to raise his young son here.

THE LIANGS
Mr. and Mrs. Liang, who coached Kyla Ross and were coaches on the Olympic team, expressed pride in the City and gratitude to be a part of the Olympic movement.

KUDOS, COSTA MESA
Kudos to Public Affairs Manager Dan Joyce and the rest of the city staff for putting on yet another very inspirational event.  It's one more reason why Costa Mesa is a great place to live.

Five Olympians To Be Honored Tuesday

ATHLETES TO BE HONORED
In a press release the middle of last week the City of Costa Mesa announced that five United States Olympians who participated in the recent London Olympic Games will be honored in a special ceremony on the City Hall Lawn at 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 4, 2012.


LONDON OLYMPIANS WITH COSTA MESA TIES
Those Olympians are volleyballers Misty May-Treanor, April Ross and Jake Gibb, gymnast Kyla Ross and heptathlete Sharon Day.  The public is invited to attend this very special event, hosted by CEO Tom Hatch.  The press release text follows:
 

Five hometown Olympians to be honored Tuesday at City Hall

Posted Date: 8/29/2012

The City of Costa Mesa will honor five Olympic hometown heroes including three-time gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and “Fierce Five” gold-medal gymnast Kyla Ross in a City Hall ceremony on Tuesday at 5 p.m.  
 
April Ross (silver medalist in women’s beach volleyball), Jake Gibb (men’s beach volleyball) and heptathlete Sharon Day will be the three other London Olympians celebrated before Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The athletes will receive Costa Mesa street signs in their names, among other gifts, on an outdoor stage on the City Hall lawn. City Chief Executive Officer Tom Hatch will emcee the festivities. 


“Costa Mesa is proud to have had five of the world’s best athletes in the London Games,” Hatch said. “This is our way of celebrating their success and letting them know how much their hometown is behind them.”

The public is invited to the free event. Complimentary parking will be available across the street from the Civic Center at the Orange County Fair and Event Center's Lot B.

Misty May-Treanor and April Ross grew up in Costa Mesa and attended Newport Harbor High School. Sharon Day, also a Costa Mesa native, graduated from Costa Mesa High School. Jake Gibb resides in Costa Mesa, and Kyla Ross trains at the Gym-Max Academy of Gymnastics in Costa Mesa.
 

RUNNIN' AND JUMPIN'

ON THE BACK STRETCH
Here we are, half-way through the Costa Mesa City Council filing period, and so far only four candidates have pulled papers at City Hall. Four others have been issued an information packet - without the essential petition - but we don't know if those folks are serious or are just pedestrians passing through.

COZY FIELD SO FAR
To date we have four former or current council members theoretically planning to run, including three former or current mayors. As of this afternoon Linda Dixon, Katrina Foley, Eric Bever and Gary Monahan have all pulled the necessary paperwork, but none had yet returned them.

FILING DEADLINE IN TWO WEEKS
Unless one of the incumbents - Dixon, Foley or Bever - drops out, the filing deadline is August 8th, two weeks from today. The mind reels as I contemplate a campaign with only four candidates for the three seats available. Perhaps some of the names I mentioned earlier view this particular race too tough to tackle, but I hope we do see some new names on the ballot this year.

FIRST CANDIDATE FORUM SCHEDULED
I've been advised that the first candidate forum, hosted by Mesa Verde, Inc., will probably be held on August 20, 2008 at the Downtown Neighborhood Community Center, near the library. Festivities will commence at 6:30 with refreshments being served in a "meet and greet" atmosphere, with the formal program beginning at 7. As I've said before, this forum is usually the best organized and best attended. Candidates are fresh and most of the questions are new.

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SHARON DAY - OLYMPIAN!
As some may know, Costa Mesan Sharon Day - a student/athlete at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo - has made the United States Olympic Team in the high jump and will compete in Beijing when the Olympics begin on August 8, 2008. There is an effort in Costa Mesa to raise funds to help send her family - her parents, Eugene and Yolanda and sister, Jasmin - to China to watch Sharon compete. This is being facilitated by the Palm Harvest Church and the pertinent information may be found at it's website, www.palmharvest.org. As you will see when you visit the site, they are still well short of their goal, so I encourage any of you interested in participating to visit the website and click on Sharon's image in the upper right corner for details.

MORE LOCAL LINKS
Sharon was recruited to Cal Poly by my friend, Costa Mesan Sheldon Blockburger, a former standout at Newport Harbor and a world-class decathlete while at Louisiana State University and subsequently. As an Assistant Track Coach at Cal Poly, Sheldon saw Sharon's potential. In fact, when he left for a similar job at the University of Arizona in Tucson he recruited Sharon's sister, Jasmine, because she showed similar potential.

DIG DEEP - SEND THE DAY FAMILY TO CHINA
Please look deep into your hearts and support the Day family as they attempt to make it to China to cheer Costa Mesa's Sharon Day on to victory.