With a father who served as an all-star manager and later president of Sweetwater Valley Little League and a mother who remains a softball legend at both Hilltop High School and Utah State University, it was destined perhaps that Hannah Flippen would be a great athlete.
In fact, those genes have taken her to the height of her career as a member of Team USA’s softball team at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Representing the USA is a dream come true,” she said after being named to the Team USA roster as one of three replacement players. “To represent my country and all the amazing softball players that came before me is a huge honor.”
The United States finished with the silver medal following Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to host Japan in the Olympic Games championship contest.
It was the first showing for softball at the Olympic level after the sport was dropped from both the 2012 and 2016 Games.
Flippen, who followed in the giant footsteps of her mother Mary Lou (Ramm) Flippen at USU, said the return of softball to the Olympic lineup can empower and inspire young female athletes into crafting their own Olympic dreams.
Ramm led the Utes to national championships in 1980 and 1981 while earning honors as the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the nation. The USU Hall of Fame inductee still holds school records for lowest career earned-run average (0.70), wins (78) and shutouts (44).
Daughter Hannah was twice named the Pac-12 softball player of the year and is now serving as an assistant coach with the Lady Utes.
Flippen, who got a jump start at both Sweetwater Valley Little League (under the direction of her father John) and with Bonita Valley Girls USA Softball, was a mainstay in Bonita Vista’s three consecutive trips to the San Diego Section Division II championship games from 2011-13, wining one CIF title.
Her senior year at BVHS, she hit .532 with 38 runs scored, 26 RBI, 11 doubles and three home runs. She had 19 stolen bases, a .979 fielding average and even pitched in one appearance. She quite deservedly earned accolades Second-Team All-State and First-Team All-San Diego Section, the 2013 Mesa League Player of the Year and team MVP.
Also a performer in volleyball (four league titles and one CIF runner-up finish) and basketball (all-league in 2011 and 2012), she earned the school’s 2013 Most Valuable Female Athlete award.
She definitely left her mark in softball.
The Lady Barons finished 23-5-1, 10-0 in league play, as the 2013 Division II runner-up team.
Her junior year at BVHS, the Lady Barons finished 25-3-1, 10-0 in league, as the Division II champion. That season Flippen led the team with a .470 hitting average with 37 runs scored and 14 RBI.
Bonita Vista (34-2, 9-1 in league) finished runner-up in the Division II finals in 2011 when Flippen was a sophomore (.432 hitting average with 47 runs scored and 20 RBI).
She finished her high school career with a .441 hitting average with 181 hits, 143 runs scored and 68 RBI.
She has also made her mark at the international level.
She won a gold medal at the 2017 Pan American Games while hitting .273 with one RBI, five runs scored and two doubles.
She won a silver medal at the 2017 World Cup of Softball and a bronze medal at the 2018 USA Softball International Cup by hitting .604 with a tournament-leading 20 RBI.
She participated in the 2016 World Cup of Softball with the Women’s Elite Team, hitting .500 with two home runs, four RBI and four runs scored.
Cuyamaca’s Nick Christie putting American race walking back in the spotlight
The Olympic race walk is scheduled to take place Aug. 5-6. Men will compete in grueling 20K and 50K distances while women will compete on a 20K course.
At one time, the Olympic Training Center-Chula Vista (now Chula Vista Elite Training Center) served as the hub for America’s race walk community and a pathway to the Olympic Summer Games.
Tim Seaman gained notoriety as a two-time Olympian (2000 Sydney Games, 2004 Athens Games) while residing in Chula Vista. He is possibly the greatest American race walker with 12 American records, 43 U.S. national championships and four national collegiate championships.
Seaman, who has served as cross country coach at Cuyamaca College since 2010, is now helping train future Olympians from the San Diego region.
As a coach, his athletes have recorded junior American records in the mile, 5K, 10K and 20K distances.
Former Grossmont High School and Cuyamaca College alumnus Nick Christie will represent the United States in the men’s 20K program on Aug. 5. He’ll be someone for locals to root for after winning the 20K distance at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials on June 27 in Springfield, Ore.
Christie, 29, led all American men in the Olympic Trials with a winning time of 1:30:48. The former Foothiller made the U.S. Olympic team based on his world ranking among the top 60 performers.
Christie competed primarily in pole vault and hurdles in high school and was initially a decathlete while at Cuyamaca College.
He was a participant at numerous offseason gatherings under the watchful eye of Lyle Barton, the Coyotes’ multi-event coach.
Seaman was instrumental in getting Christie to turn his attention to race walking.
“At the end of every cross country season, I ask everyone to try and do a few laps racewalking so that they can get an appreciation for the difficulty of this track and field event,” Seaman said.
“Nick was really good, but he needed work. Afterward we spoke and I told him that if he worked really hard, we could get him to the Olympic Trials the next year.
“Within one year, Nick was third at the Olympic Trials. Trevor Barron, who I also coached, was first. I was second and Nick was third. We swept the podium! What a day!”
Christie indeed proved to be a natural. He set the NAIA 3,000-meter record in 2013 while competing for Missouri Baptist University.
He has competed competitively for the past decade and was won 19 national championships ranging from one mile to 50K.
He has competed in the USATF outdoor championships, placing second in 2015 and third in 2014.
He has competed internationally in Russia, Mexico, China and Chile (Pan American Racewalking Cup in 2015). He competed at Olympic Stadium in London in 2018 where he set a personal best time of 11:33.42 for 3K.
“Nick trained under me for four more years and we just missed out on making the 2016 Olympic team,” Seaman said. “After that, Nick trained on his own and has been the virtual dominant force in the U.S. at almost every distance. He has great potential and I know that everyone at Cuyamaca will be rooting for him.”
Christie, a five-time NAIA All-American, captured his ninth U.S. title in the race walk at the 2019 USATF indoor championships. He set a personal best of 1:24:15 for 20K in 2019 in Spain and 4:09:32 for 50K in Santee in 2018.
Christie spent the last year in quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic but thankfully his sponsors stood by him to provide critical financial support.
He will be competing in Sapporo alongside girlfriend Robyn Stevens, who ranks as the top U.S. women’s racewalker at both 20K and 50K.
He also will have some inspiration on his side. His father passed away in April and will not be able to witness his son’s first Olympic moment.
“I have not dealt with his passing well at all,” Christie posted recently on Instagram. “He wanted to watch my 50K back in February and I told him no because spectators weren’t allowed. I didn’t know that would be the last race I’d ever be able to have him at. Making the team gives it all meaning.”
The women’s 20K racewalk and men’s 50K racewalk are both scheduled Aug. 6.
Christie finished first in the USATF men’s 50K race walk championships Feb. 28 in Santee in 4:10.53 after placing third the previous year in 4:12:11 also in Santee.
