Rio Mesa’s Burnham Wins National Honor as Female Athlete of the Year

Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa High has been named the female high school athlete of the year by the national magazine, Track and Field News.

Burnham scored 164 points in the balloting by track and field correspondents throughout the nation.

Hurdler Dawn Bowles of Neptune High in New Jersey had 157 points and discus thrower/shotputter Janet Hill of Washington High in Shreveport. La., had 134.

Burnham was ranked first in the nation in both the 100 (11.28 seconds) and 200 (23.45) meters, earning All-American honors in both events.

“I’m very surprised with the award,” Burnham said. “I feel good about it, but I was shocked when they called and told me I had won.”

As a junior, she won both those races at the California state championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk in June, leading the Spartans to a share of the team title with Bakersfield. She topped that performance with a national age-group record for 16-year-olds in the 100 with a 11.28 in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in July, then placed sixth in the 100 at the World Junior championships in Sudbury, Canada.

Burnham, who advanced to the semifinals of the Olympic Trials in the 100, moved to third on the all-time high school list with her 11.28 clocking. Only Chandra Cheeseborough of Ribault High in Jacksonville, Fla. (11.13) in 1976 and Wendy Vereen of Trenton Central High in Trenton, N. J. (11.17) in ’83 have run faster.

“What I accomplished last year really surprised me,” Burnham said. “I didn’t expect to run as fast as I did.”