Stallworth, Weddle, Inman take home top honors

Kofa swimmer Katelyn Weddle raced to the top of the state's medal stand this year, took on the best in the nation and earned a chance to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Yuma Catholic three-sport star Matt Inman had one of the best seasons for a quarterback in the state under the guidance of first-year coach Rhett Stallworth, and the Shamrocks went on to have a magical undefeated regular season and reached No. 1 in the state's 2A rankings.

In his first season at YC, Stallworth transformed the Shamrocks into an elite football team, leading them to 11 straight wins while playing the most difficult schedule in school history.

Weddle, Inman and Stallworth capped the year with one more honor: They were named the 2008 The Sun/Yuma Rotary Club's athletes and coach of the year Wednesday during the spring sports banquet at the Yuma Civic Center.

"It's nice to win an award like this. If you looked at the other coaches nominated you'd understand that they could be that guy too," Stallworth said of the other candidates - Kofa boy's basketball coach Kevin Williamson, San Luis baseball coach Cesar Castillo and Cibola wrestling coach Pepe Moreno. "It's definitely an honor. Sometimes it makes it nice after you've put all that time and effort into things."

Weddle blew away the competition at state in the 100-yard breaststroke, and took second in the 50 freestyle, breaking the school record in the process.

She also broke a 10-year meet record in the 100 breaststroke at the Brophy Invitational. Weddle will compete at the U.S. Olympic trials in July in the 100 breaststroke. She qualified a full second under the cut. Weddle took the honor over Kofa distance runner Stephanie Ledgerwood, YC runner Katelyn Williams and Yuma High three-sport athlete Priscilla Coronado.

"I'm really excited. It's a huge step," Weddle said of the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials. "Even if I don't make it this year I still have another chance my junior year of college. I'm definitely going to swim in college, and hopefully better my time in Yuma."

Inman led the state in total yards with 3,540 through the regular season and finished with a 136 QB rating. During basketball season he was second on the team with a 16.9 points-per-game average.

As a baseball player he was second on the team in most major offensive categories, including a .507 batting average, four homers and a .600 on-base percentage.

"I couldn't have dreamed of a better football season," said Inman, who beat out close friend Brian Badgley, Antelope's Madison Murdock and Cibola wrestler Gabriel Miranda. "It was a little frustrating in basketball because our team didn't do so well. It was the same way during baseball...This award means a lot but I would like to at least win a state championship."