Amanda Chambers cements her mark on the Aztecs and beyond – The Daily Aztec
Amanda Chambers didn’t know exactly where her water polo journey would take her when she arrived at San Diego State in 2021. But now, four seasons, three Golden Coast Conference All-Academic Team awards, and countless early morning practices later, she leaves the Aztecs with more than just stats and accolades—she leaves with […]
Amanda Chambers didn’t know exactly where her water polo journey would take her when she arrived at San Diego State in 2021. But now, four seasons, three Golden Coast Conference All-Academic Team awards, and countless early morning practices later, she leaves the Aztecs with more than just stats and accolades—she leaves with resilience, growth, and a legacy of leadership.
“I think what I’m most proud of is sticking with it when it got really difficult,” Chambers said. “I know coming from a player who didn’t get a lot of minutes their freshman or really sophomore year, having the ability to find enjoyment in different parts of being a part of a team and being in a collegiate environment, and using that to better myself as an athlete going into my upperclassmen years.”
That persistence paid off. Chambers appeared in 55 games during her junior and senior seasons, recording career highs in goals, assists, and steals. She finished her career totaling 42 goals, 12 being in 2025, 33 assists, and 75 points in her 98 games played.
The transition to SDSU from her home country of Canada wasn’t entirely foreign. She had already trained in San Diego and played in California tournaments before college.
“Luckily for me, I’d been to California quite a few times, just as close by, and I’ve done some training in San Diego,” she said. “So I know for me, I didn’t have that culture shock that I know a lot of international athletes get.”
Still, adapting to a new level of play came with its own challenges.
“It’s a lot more aggressive in Canada. For me, it was learning the reffing, being a lot softer, and having to let go of a lot of those aggressive tendencies so that I’d stop getting so many kick-outs.”
Off the pool deck, Chambers found her rhythm on campus in quiet corners of the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.
“My favorite spot to study was always the second or third floor student union. I’ve spent a lot of time here over my last four years,” she said.
Her favorite off-campus escape? The Pacific Beach boardwalk and Torrey Pines trails, where she and teammate Rose Kanemy spent countless afternoons walking and exploring.
One thing she missed from home?
“I’m from Vancouver Island, and it’s not a city, and I miss the lack of traffic and the two-lane highways. One thing I will miss about San Diego, however, is how many new things there are to do, places to eat at.”
As a psychology major, Chambers found herself constantly connecting the dots between her academic and athletic lives.
San Diego State attacker Amanda Chambers attempts to lob a pass over an opposing defender during a game at the Aztec Aquaplex on March 10, 2024. (Sam Nichols)
“With my major, I have flip-flopped a lot with what I want to do with it. I wanted to go and do my master’s in Ph.D in clinical psychology for a long time, and I was originally going to apply that to sports psychology, and then I recently decided that I want to be in more of an applied environment, so I’ve decided to go back and get my teaching degree so I can be a school psychologist.”
Her time as a student-athlete shaped that decision.
“I think that playing sports here has really helped with that, because I’ve decided that, along with being a counselor, I want to teach physical education as well.”
The academic recognition she’s received over her career isn’t lost on her.
“I didn’t know about the all-academic awards until I think last year, that was awesome. I got to see three years of them. They are important to me. My academics have always been really important. It’s nice to have that acknowledgement.”
Balancing athletics and academics wasn’t easy, but it helped her develop structure.
“I take my school really seriously. And I think having athletics has actually helped me balance it, because the more I have to do I find, the easier I find organizing everything.”
“Our practices are always in the beginning of the day, so I think it’s created a good habit of my day starting as soon as I wake up. So I think it’s made me less lazy.”
Looking ahead, Chambers is excited for what’s next—and to discover who she is beyond water polo.
“I am excited to figure out who I am without water polo,” she said. I think it’ll be really interesting to focus on building a career instead of just building my athletic capacity.”
She doesn’t rule out returning to the sport someday: “We have a little league on Vancouver Island. It’s not much. So I could see myself eventually, maybe playing for a Master’s team in Canada, but if so, that would be in a while.”
Chambers also takes pride in the cultural growth of the SDSU program.
“I would say since I first got here, the culture is a lot more optimistic,” she said. “Especially with a very sudden change in like coaching staff… every single year, I’ve seen people buy into the culture more and work harder as a collective.”
San Diego State attacker Amanda Chambers attempts to thread the ball through two opposing defenders during a game at the Aztec Aquaplex on March 8, 2024. (Sam Nichols)
She credits head coach Dana Ochsner for guiding that evolution: “Dana has done a great job building that culture, and I’ve felt supported by her.”
When asked to pinpoint a turning point in her career, Chambers didn’t hesitate.
“My junior year, I really felt the shift then, where I felt like a more pivotal member of the team, and I started trusting myself more… that was around February of junior year, when we went to New York.”
Finishing her collegiate career alongside fellow senior and roommate Rose Kanemy has made the experience all the more meaningful.
“We’ve been talking a lot about it. We’re roommates. We’re very close… It’s been really special for us to form that relationship.”
Their bond extends beyond the pool.
“We get breakfast a lot together, we go on walks, we kind of spend all our time together. So that’s going to be a big transition for us going back to not having conjoined lives.”
Chambers hopes she and her class leave behind more than numbers.
“One of the things that we’re really hoping that both of us, specifically, but also our class and seniors, are remembered for is the community and culture that we have tried to develop on the team.”
That culture shift, she said, was intentional.
“When we came in, there was still a lot of separation between each class. It was the freshmen who had to do all the dirty work and stuff like that. And after our freshman year, we decided that that’s not how we could get teams to function.”
“Now this year, I mean, I don’t think that you could look at our team and tell us for the under and upper classmen for that class, and that’s something that we’re really proud of.”
Amanda Chambers arrived in San Diego as a quiet, gritty attacker from Vancouver Island. She leaves it a leader, a mentor, and an advocate for balance, ready to shape young minds and perhaps, one day, return to the pool. But this time, by her own design.
Iran beat New Zealand at AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup
The national Iranian team, who had defeated Indonesia 3-2 in their opening match, are scheduled to meet the Philippines on Monday. Iran are drawn in Pool B, alongside the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Indonesia, and New Zealand. Pool A features Vietnam, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, and India. The tournament will feature a round-robin preliminary stage […]
The national Iranian team, who had defeated Indonesia 3-2 in their opening match, are scheduled to meet the Philippines on Monday.
Iran are drawn in Pool B, alongside the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
Pool A features Vietnam, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, and India.
The tournament will feature a round-robin preliminary stage from June 7–12, with a rest day scheduled for Tuesday. The top two teams from each pool after the preliminaries will advance to the cross semifinals on June 13.
The winners of the semifinals will meet in the final showdown on June 14, while classification matches will determine final standings. Notably, the fifth-ranked team in Pool A will play the sixth-ranked team in Pool B for 10th–11th place, while the third- and fourth-placed teams from both pools will compete for their respective rankings.
The Nations Cup is being held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from June 7 to June 14.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The start gun goes off on Wednesday, June 11 in Eugene, OR at the NCAA track and field championships. The Florida State track and field team is sending 11 individual athletes, their men’s and women’s four by 100 meter relay teams, and their women’s four by 400 meter relay team. The […]
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The start gun goes off on Wednesday, June 11 in Eugene, OR at the NCAA track and field championships. The Florida State track and field team is sending 11 individual athletes, their men’s and women’s four by 100 meter relay teams, and their women’s four by 400 meter relay team.
The group includes multi-sports athlete and Tallahassee native Micahi Danzy, who will look to cap off his stellar freshman season with national hardware.
Junior Shenese Walker is another runner to watch. Both Walker and Danzy set records at the ACC Championships this year.
Seminoles head coach Matt Kane spoke on his team’s success this year.
“They’ve made a lot of changes and they’ve been hungry to be good and they’ve been working really hard. It’s exciting to see them reap some of the benefits of that hard work,” said Kane. “A lot of times, I can see things that they don’t necessarily know are going to happen. But they’ve been putting in the work. It doesn’t surprise me because I get to see them all the time, but I think it’s probably surprised a few people here over the last couple weeks.”
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North Branch’s Barkowska to run for Saint Clair County Community College
North Branch senior Bryce Barkowska signed his National Letter of Intent Tuesday to attend Saint Clair County Community College to run track. He’s the son of Bill and Karen Barkowska. Barkowska, whose brother attends Saginaw Valley State University, is a multi-sport athlete at North Branch running cross-country and track and playing on the boys’ basketball […]
North Branch senior Bryce Barkowska signed his National Letter of Intent Tuesday to attend Saint Clair County Community College to run track. He’s the son of Bill and Karen Barkowska. Barkowska, whose brother attends Saginaw Valley State University, is a multi-sport athlete at North Branch running cross-country and track and playing on the boys’ basketball and boys’ soccer teams. In […]
Clarke County girls win first state track & field title since 2009 | Winchester Star
For the first time since 2009, Clarke County High School stands atop the state in girls’ track & field. The Eagles’ won the meet-concluding 4×400-meter relay to surge past Lee and win the Class 2 state meet with 64 points to Lee’s 56.5 on Saturday, the second of two days of action at James Madison […]
For the first time since 2009, Clarke County High School stands atop the state in girls’ track & field.
The Eagles’ won the meet-concluding 4×400-meter relay to surge past Lee and win the Class 2 state meet with 64 points to Lee’s 56.5 on Saturday, the second of two days of action at James Madison Universiy in Harrisonburg. There were 36 scoring teams in the meet.
The team of senior Reagan Myer, freshman Kendall Harman, sophomore Grace Gerenski and senior Teya Starley won the 4×400 by 2.86 seconds in 4:11.94. Starley also won an individual state championship in the 800 by 0.09 in 2:18.57 and scored 20.5 points.
“I can’t say enough about the girls on that team,” said Clarke County coach Andre Kidrick, who is in his 18th and final season coaching the team. “The girls we had this year, led by our seniors, Teya, ‘Megatron’ (Myer), Abby [Cochran], Molly [Husted]. I can’t say enough about the mentality and the mental toughness that this team has constantly put on display. … They had a great day. PR’s all over the place.
“It is an honor and a pleasure to have coached them, and they are all big dogs. I can’t say enough about this girls’ team. Everyone of them needs a hug, needs to be lifted up. I’m just so proud.”
Starley couldn’t have more pleased.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “I’m so happy for my team. I’m really impressed with how much work that we put in this year.”
In the boys’ meet, Clarke County placed fifth with 37 points. Floyd County won with 76 and Bruton was second with 66. Senior Jackson Ellis highlighted Clarke County’s performance by winning the 800 by 0.24 in a school-record 1:54.89.
It meant a lot to Starley that the 4×400 team could put the Eagles over the top. Clarke County trailed by 2.5 points heading into the 4×800. The second-seeded Eagles led from start to finish, with Starley running a 1:02.06 anchor leg.
“It was so much fun,” Starley said. “I knew we could do it. Of course we always have doubt creep in a little before, but I think that we all stayed positive enough. And we just trusted each other to run what we knew we could.
“Once I saw Reagan take off and she was crossing the line in first after the first lap, I was like ‘OK we’ve got it.’ And I got more confident as it went on. I was really happy and proud of my teammates.”
Kidrick had no doubt the group would perform well.
“Teya [before the race] was telling her mother ‘Hey, I’m going to do what I got to do for this girls’ team. We are going to win it,” Kidrick recalled. “I went up to the [4×4 team] and I usually have some saying, some motivational speech, and I looked at them and I said ‘Hey, I got big dogs in this group. I ain’t really got to say nothing. Go out and take your title. Go out and take it.’ And they did.”
A big reason why the Eagles were in position to win the title was because of Myer, who wasn’t projected to score points in either the 200 or triple jump but scored a total of nine by taking fourth in the 200 (26.41) and fifth in the triple jump (34-2.75).
The 200 preliminaries were canceled on Friday because of the stormy weather, so the event was in run in two heats on Saturday. Myer was seeded ninth and ran in the slower heat. She improved on her seed time by 0.63. In the triple jump, Myer was seeded 16th and with a mark of 31-7 and improved by 2 feet, 7.75 inches.
Myer also anchored the 4×100 team of Harman, Gerenski and freshman Kenedy Money, which took second in a school-record 51.30.
“Reagan Myer is such a special person,” Kidrick said. “You don’t [improve as much as she did in one meet]. She did it because she wanted it in her heart. She went after it.”
Naturally, the Eagles couldn’t have won without Starley’s individual efforts, either. Starley was the second seed for both the 800 and 1,600. She won the 800 in 2:18.57 to beat her seed time of 2:20.20, and she ran 5:19.33 to take second in the 1,600.
Starley was passed by Floyd County’s Reagan Lynch for a few seconds with about 100 meters left in the 800. But Starley regrouped for the win.
“It feels great,” Starley said. “I was hoping that I would get some kind of win today.
“To be honest, I was a little tired going into it [after running the 1,600 earlier]. I was a little bit worried, but I was like ‘it’s my last real individual race. So I just need to put it all out there.’ And once I hit the second lap, I was like ‘I’m just going to go’ and so I went as fast as I could.”
Kidrick said it was awesome to see Starley perform and win.
“She worked like a dog all year,” Kidrick said. “Leadership, lead by example, taking young people under her wing, showing them how it’s done. She wanted that one and she went and got it. She ran hard. She did a great job.”
In the 1,600, Starley finished 18.76 seconds behind Elizabeth Trant of Poquoson and 1.04 seconds ahead of Annika Beegle of Floyd County.
“That was nice,” Starley said. “I was definitely not really warmed up enough. We got stuck in traffic coming to the state meet and I got here right before I had to go warm up. So I was a little tired, especially because I slept in the car, but I think it was a good race.”
The Clarke County girls were also led by its 4×800 team (Abigail Cochran, Emma Husted, Molly Husted, Mia Timberlake), second in 10:29.25; Molly Husted (3,200, third, 11:53.72); and Gerenski (fourth in 400, 1:01.68).
In addition to winning the 800, Ellis helped the boys’ 4×800 team break the school record it set earlier this year by taking second on Friday in 8:16.65 after coming in with a seed time of 8:23.63. The team also featured his brother sophomore brother Brody as well as seniors James Casey and Aidan Kreeb.
The Eagles were also led by sophomore Isaac Nei (second in long jump, 22-3.35, fourth in 100, 11.03); Landon Horton (sixth in 1,600, 4:36.18); and Elijah Abdulbarr (sixth in 110 hurdles, 15.58 after running 15.34 in prelims).
Kidrick will be director of operations for Clarke County Public Schools next year. He appreciated the athletes he coached this year.
“This group of seniors, boys and girls, hands down the best group I’ve ever coached,” Kidrick said. “They take care of each other. It’s everything you want in a team. These guys and girls, I’m so proud. I am so honored.”
For more coverage of the Class 2 state meet, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.
San Francisco Giants Trade Minor League Reliever to New York Mets
The San Francisco Giants dealt minor league reliever Justin Garza to the New York Mets for cash late Saturday, per MLB.com. The deal comes with no ramifications for the Giants’ 40-man roster, as they received no player in return and Garza has been in the minor leagues since he signed with San Francisco at the […]
The San Francisco Giants dealt minor league reliever Justin Garza to the New York Mets for cash late Saturday, per MLB.com.
The deal comes with no ramifications for the Giants’ 40-man roster, as they received no player in return and Garza has been in the minor leagues since he signed with San Francisco at the start of the 2024 season.
He spent most of the 2024 season with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, where he finished 5-2 with a 3.60 ERA in 39 appearances. He had two holds and four saves in four chances. He also struck out 63 and walked 20 in 55 innings.
This season his play took a step back. In 19 appearances for the River Cats, he went 1-2 with a 6.11 ERA. He struck out 20 and walked six in 17.2 innings.
Now he’ll try to return to the Majors for the first time since 2023, when he spent some time with the Boston Red Sox.
San Francisco has one of the best bullpens in baseball, led by a resurgent Camilo Doval and set-up man Randy Rodriguez. Barring injury, there wasn’t much opportunity for Garza to ascend to the Giants’ Major League roster.
Garza, a right-hander, has made 38 Major League appearances, including 21 in his rookie year with the Cleveland Guardians in 2021. That season he went 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA. He struck out 29 and walked 18 in 28.2 innings. The Guardians selected him in the eighth round of the 2015 MLB draft out of Cal State Fullerton.
He ended up with the Red Sox in 2023, where he went 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in 17 appearances, including one start. He struck out 17 and walked 12 in 18.1 innings.
CSU Pueblo’s Katherine Higgins earns RMAC track and field award | Colorado Sunshine | Sports Coverage
Where good news shines Colorado State University Pueblo senior Katherine Higgins this week was named the RMAC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Academic Athlete of the Year. Higgins, a Mead product, owns a 4.00 grade-point average while pursuing her master’s degree in education. She previously earned her bachelor’s degree in middle school mathematics with a […]
Colorado State University Pueblo senior Katherine Higgins this week was named the RMAC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Academic Athlete of the Year.
Higgins, a Mead product, owns a 4.00 grade-point average while pursuing her master’s degree in education. She previously earned her bachelor’s degree in middle school mathematics with a 4.00 GPA. Higgins was the NCAA’s Elite 90 award recipient at the DII championships. The Elite 90 is awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships.
Higgins was also the national champion and the RMAC champion in the shot put. Higgins was recently named the South Central Region Field Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
(“Colorado Sunshine” celebrates the good news in sports. Suggestions are encouraged through sports editor Paul Klee at paul.klee@gazette.com.)
