Six Great Athletes: NCAA

Six Great Athletes

Three boys and three girls — including four seniors who will take their talents to the NCAA Division I level next fall — were selected.

The boys include Tony Jameson, a four-time state wrestling champion; Dan McCarthy, who led Mooney to a pair of Division IV state championship games, and Sheldon Brogdon, a force on Warren Harding’s state-ranked basketball team.

The girls selected are Amy Scullion, a talented multi-sport athlete at Salem High; all-state soccer standout Deja Amato from Howland, and Canfield’s top-flight track & field athlete, Audra Frimpong.

VIDEOS:Be sure to click on the banner at the Vindy.com home page, which will have videos of our athletes of the year. You can watch them discuss their careers in their own words.

While there, cast your votes for the Valley’s top high school athletes of 2007-08. Don’t like our finalists? — there’s room for you to vote for a “write-in” candidate. Voting will continue for about two weeks.

Top Athletes Montage

Video

Sports Highlights

Video

Tony Jameson

Video

Sheldon Brogdan

Video

Danny McCarthy

Video

Deja Amato

Video

Audra Frimpong

Video

Here are the biographies of our “Great in ‘08” high school athletes:

Dan McCarthy, Cardinal Mooney football

Cardinal Mooney High senior Dan McCarthy was hands down one of the best high school football players in the state last year and guided the Cardinals to 28 straight victories before an injury sidelined him for the final three games of the Division IV playoffs.

McCarthy, who earned first team all-state and was a finalist for the Mr. Football Award, suffered a herniated disc in his neck in the regional semifinal victory over Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

He had to watch the Cardinals the rest of the way, including the state final loss to Coldwater, 28-27.

“It was very frustrating not to be out there with my teammates and having to just watch from the sidelines,” said McCarthy. “Although the season fell short for me, I was very proud of my teammates the way they performed in the playoffs and they deserved everything they earned.”

McCarthy, who will be moving on to the University of Notre Dame, had to have surgery on his disc and reports that everything is fine and he’s been cleared by the doctors to resume his football training.

“They cleared me to begin running and weight lifting immediately and by the time fall practice begins I’ll be ready to resume full workouts,” McCarthy said.

He’s leaving for Notre Dame this week to begin summer classes and to join the Irish in workouts.

Notre Dame has been part of his family for years, but McCarthy said he didn’t make the decision to go there until a year ago.

His brother, Kyle, is a redshirt junior with the Irish, and his older brother, Brian, and grandmother are Notre Dame graduates.

“It’s a dream come true for me,” he said. “I always wanted to play college football and now to be on the same team with my brother is so exciting.”

McCarthy said his career at Cardinal Mooney was one that he will always cherish.

“I started out as a freshman water boy watching my brother take the team to a state championship and as a sophomore we again reached the state title game, but lost and that gave us the incentive the next season to go undefeated and win the state title again,” he said.

“My senior year we made another great run and despite the injury it’s something that I’ll never forget.”

McCarthy said he learned how to deal with adversity and to never give up. “Through it all I learned to be thankful for the opportunity just to be out there.”

AMY SCULLION,

Salem High

Volleyball

For one of the Mahoning Valley’s most talented and versatile athletes, the offseason sometimes only comes when she closes her eyes to sleep.

Salem High’s Amy Scullion, who will be a junior this fall, is an ace volleyball player and leader on the Quakers’ basketball team.

“It was a pretty crazy spring for me,” Scullion said. “I was on a traveling volleyball team and a traveling basketball team.

“Once basketball season ends, traveling volleyball starts to pick up,” Scullion said. “Columbus and Indianapolis may be the farthest we will go.

“Somewhere in between those tournaments, I played a couple of basketball tournaments,” she said. “We went to Chicago — it was a lot of fun and a good opportunity.”

Last fall, Scullion’s Quakers advanced to state in volleyball after rallying to defeat Parma Padua in the regional final. A large contingent of Salem fans were watching that day at Stow High School.

“It’s probably one of the best feelings that I’ve ever had, just to have that community support,” Scullion said. “I was so impressed and surprised.”

In Dayton, Salem jumped ahead of Toledo Central Catholic, 2-0, before losing the state semifinal match.

“Dayton, ah, great time,” Scullion said. “I thought we were going to pull it out.

“Practice was kind of laid back. It was kind of sad because we knew it was our last practice ever.”

The volleyball squad included sister Katie, a senior, as well as Sarah Brobeck, Paige Kenreigh and Taylor Toothman.

“It was cool to share that experience with her,” she said of Katie. “It’s nice to have someone that you trust no matter what. We get into arguments but we always have each others’ backs on the court.

“It was a lot of fun and a great experience. I’m sad that we might not ever get a chance to play together again.”

Katie will attend Ohio State to study pharmaceutical sciences.

Her sister’s love for volleyball and basketball can be measured by their differences

“Volleyball is the ultimate team sport because you can’t pass and set and hit yourself,” Scullion said. “You have to rely on your teammates.

In basketball, I love the aggression, the head-on-head, hard core going at each other. They’re so different.

“In volleyball, you’re always on your side of the net,” she said. “Basketball is so in-your face.”

Deja Amato

Howland High

Soccer

Deja Amato started her soccer career as a 5-year-old in New Mexico on a team sponsored by Dairy Queen. She ended her high school career as a first team All-Ohioan at Howland High School.

Through it all, her reason for playing never changed.

“It’s something I really like to play,” she said. “I don’t want to say I’m not serious about soccer, but it’s more of a fun thing for me.

“I don’t want to go pro or anything.”

Amato, a 5-foot-7 defender, was a two-time district player of the year for the Tigers, helping them win three Metro Athletic Conference titles. She started her career as a forward, then switched to defender late in her sophomore year.

“We don’t get that much attention,” she said, “but it’s an important part.”

Amato was born in New Mexico — most of her family still lives in the area — and moved to Warren when she was 6. She attended Word of Life Christian Academy until eighth grade, when she enrolled at Howland. Amato has been an all-state selection the past two years (she won a district title her junior year) and was also a two-time NSCAA/adidas all-region selection. She was also a member of the Great Lakes Divisional Olympic Development Program (ODP) team in 2005 and spent four seasons as a member of the Ohio North ODP state team. Amato won two Midwest Regional championships and a pair of state cups in club competition.

But when asked to name her career highlight, those honors don’t come up.

“Being senior captain,” she said. “The seniors really get to organize and plan things. It was fun.”

After looking at several different colleges, including Loyola, DePaul and Virginia, Amato signed with the University of Cincinnati. She’s a good student — she carries a 3.4 grade point average — but her path to college hasn’t been that easy. She came down with mono her sophomore year and missed three months of school. She’s missed large chunks over the past two years too.

“It’s been really hard,” she said. “My grades went down, but I’m a lot better now.”

Although she’s undecided about her college major, she’s thinking about architecture.

“I like drawing and I’m good at math, so those things are kind of combined,” she said. “I might like it.”

Sheldon Brogdon

Warren Harding Basketball

The 2007-08 basketball season didn’t end the way Sheldon Brogdan and the Warren Harding High Raiders would have liked it to, but the 6-foot-2 guard has a lot of incentive for his senior year.

Brogdan and the Raiders lost to Lakewood St. Edward in the Division I regional championship game in March at Cleveland State University.

The Raiders lost 77-75 in overtime after a controversial call on the final shot of regulation was allowed, sending the contest to overtime.

“It wasn’t the ending that we would have wanted, but it was still a great season and now we have the incentive to come back next year and make things right,” Brogdan said.

The Raiders had a great season posting a 23-2 record with only one loss, to Mansfield, during the regular season.

Brogdan was something to watch on the court as he averaged 21 points a game, three assists and three rebounds, and was rewarded by being named to the All-Ohio Division I third team. He was also first-team All-Northeastern Ohio and also earned top honors on the All-Steel Valley Conference team.

Brogdan knows his role will be changing next season as he’s the main returning player.

“Last year it was mainly my shooting and getting the offense and defense together on the floor, but next year I’ll have to take over the leadership role on the team,” he said.

“We should be pretty good again next year, we might be lacking one big man, but we still should be OK,” Brogdan said.

Nextying in a new gymnasium as they move to the new Warren Harding High School and Brodgan is excited about the move.

“It’s going to be really great, but we’ll probably still miss the old gym.

Harding coach Steve Arnold said the Raiders had a definite home court advantage on the old floor.

“The small gym was always to our advantage, but the new one will be beautiful,” he said. “Right now we’ve working out at the Reserve Middle School gym and we probably won’t get into the new gym before August.

Arnold said that he’ll be counting on Brogdan to be the leader next season.

“I’m not at all concerned about him on the floor, but we need him to become a team leader both on an off the court and I’m sure that he’ll take to that role easily,” Arnold said.

Audra Frimpong Canfield High

Track and field

Audra Frimpong may be the epitome of track and field. Not only does she run, but she jumps, runs hurdles and takes part in relays too. And she does it all very well.

One thing she doesn’t do well, though, is accept people’s generalization of the sport she loves.

“I hate when people say that track is all just running,” Frimpong said with a scowl. “If you’re not fast, you can do field events like the shot put or discuss, or jump. If you have good endurance, you can be a distance runner. There is so much more to it than just running.”

Frimpong graduated from Canfield High School earlier this month. During her career as a Cardinal, Frimpong earned 12 Metro Athletic Conference titles. Some of the events that she holds the conference record for are the 100- and 200-meter dashes, 100 hurdles and the long jump. Out of all the events she’s participated in, the long jump is her favorite event.

One of the reasons the long jump is Frimpong’s favorite event may be because she won a state championship in it.

Frimpong won the Division I state title for the long jump in 2007. Her jump of 19 feet, 6 1/2 inches still ranks as her personal best. Frimpong said her state title was her favorite career moment.

“[A state championship] was within my reach, but I couldn’t have it until my last jump. I loved every second of it.”

The best thing about track, said Frimpong, is the camaraderie that is created between athletes.

“It’s fun. You get to know the people that you’re running against,” said Frimpong. “I used to play soccer, and I w season the Raiders will be plaould hate the other person when we were on the field. But when I’d run with that same person, we were fine. It’s a much more relaxed atmosphere.”

Frimpong said her favorite sport to play, outside of track, is basketball. Frimpong was born in Detroit and cheers for her hometown Pistons. She likes LeBron James, too.

When asked who the driving force was behind her success, Frimpong said, “I would have to say my parents. They sacrificed so much for me to be able to go where I wanted to. They would take off work just to take me to a meet. Their support has been unbelievable. They want me to succeed so much in life.”

Frimpong will attend the University of Alabama in the fall. She hopes to further her track career with the Crimson Tide. “They have an amazing coaching staff and program down there. I hope to improve on something that I love so much.”

TONY JAMESON

Austintown Fitch High

Wrestling

Tony Jameson made a bold prediction before high school. He told his mother he would win four state titles in wrestling. And he did just that.

Jameson started off by capturing a title in the 103-pound category as a freshman at Austintown Fitch. He went on to win a title in the 119-, 135- and 145-pound categories his sophomore, junior and senior years, respectively.

“Wrestling is all about what I do personally,” Jameson said. “I work not just to win, but to succeed.”

Jameson has had an interest in wrestling since the age of 4, when his dad took him to a meet. His father wrestled in high school, and his son quickly learned to love the sport.

“My dad has been my driving force,” Jameson said. “I can’t thank him enough.”

The most important thing Jameson has learned is that wrestling is all about self preparation and execution. “If a football team has a bad practice, three or four guys can accept the blame for it. But if I have a bad practice, it’s all on me. If I lose, I’m to blame. It means that I didn’t do my job.”

Jameson admits there is still a team aspect, but it doesn’t compare to self-satisfaction. “I don’t mind sharing the glory, but the feeling [of individual success] is unlike anything else.”

When asked what his favorite sport outside of wrestling was, Jameson responded, “Wrestling. I mean I’ll play football and stuff with my brothers, and I started playing other sports in high school. But I didn’t want to risk wrestling. I kind of had tunnel-vision when it came to wrestling.”

Football and wrestling are what Jameson and his six younger brothers do to pass the time. Jameson said he likes to think he’s a role model for his brothers as well as the younger wrestlers at Fitch. “For me it’s about making my teammates believe that Austintown Fitch wrestling is great.”

Jameson will attend Ohio State University in the fall. He plans to study business and wrestle for Buckeyes coach Tom Ryan.

The ultimate goal, Jameson said, is to win four national championships. “Realistically, I just want to do my best and get to the next level. A degree is more important, though, that’s why you go to school.”