NOLAN SHOWCASE BEGINS THURSDAY

Nolan Catholic High School and Southlake Carroll play host to one of the nation’s most competitive tournament which once again includes only the best teams, not only in the area, but in the nation. Each year we increase the field of teams and this year is the biggest event yet—with 32 total teams from Texas, California, and Florida. Four teams in this years showcase have been ranked #1 in the nation in the last several years, while 11 of this years 32 Invitational teams have gained national respect already this year in the National Rankings: #1 McKinney Boyd, #2Coppell, #4 Ursuline, #5 San Clemente, #10 Plano West, #13 Clear Lake, #18 Seven Lakes, #31 Southlake Carroll, #35 Nolan Catholic, and #40 St. Thomas Aquinas. We always look forward to the level of play in each event.

The top players in the country have participated in the event over the past 8 years: US National Team Player and Olympic Gold Medalist, Amy Rodriguez (Santa Margarita) and US U-21 National Team Player and UNC’s Jessica Maxwell (Colleyville Heritage). UNC’s Courtney Jones (Monte Vista), the University of Florida’s Jazmyne Avant (Coppell), BYU’s Lauren Anderson (Monte Vista), TCU’s Alex Mechalske (Nolan), Texas’ Kendall Frizzell (Tyler Lee) and University of Kentucky’s Laura Burton (Amador Valley) participated in 08, as well as Notre Dame recruit Jazmine Hall (Marcus). US under-16 National Pool Player, Whitney Jaynes (Plano West) and Lexi Harris (Plano West) were also in attendance. Jaynes and Harris were both headed to New Zealand with the National Team following the event. Other notable showcase participants were University of Texas standouts Caitlin Kennedy (Colleyville Heritage) and Kendall Campisi (Ursuline), as well as LSU’s Michelle Makasini (Colleyville Heritage), Texas A&M’s Becky Olson (Nolan) University of Virginia’s Caitlin Miskel (St. Thomas Aquinas), Stanford standout Kiki Bosio (Santa Margarita), USC National Champion JJ Johnson (Santa Margarita), TCU’s Jackie Torda (Nolan), 2009 & 2010 NCAA D1 College Cup Finalist Alina Garcia-Mendez (Ursuline) from Stanford, and 2010 NCAA D1 National Champion, Courtney Barg (Plano West) from Notre Dame.