Monday, June 14, 2010

Incoming ND Athlete -- Named to Team USA

You can bet Muffet McGraw's smiling this morning. One of her prized incoming recruits, was just named by USA Basketball to the 12 member U18 National Team. Kayla McBride, out of Erie, PA is the fifth ND Women's Basketball Player to earn this honor in the last seven years. Kayla was selected to this team after six days of tryouts at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. She'll remain out there for the next two weeks, with her new teammates, as they prepare for the qualifying round of the FIBA U19 World Championships. The Americans must finish among the top four teams in the eight team qualifying round to earn the trip to Chile for the World Championship. The Team USA honor caps off a great high school career for McBride which earned her McDonald's All American, USA Today All American, Parade All American, ESPN RISE All American and Pennsylvania's Gatorade Player of the Year honors. She led her team to "back to back" Pennsylvania State Championships earning Kayla recognition as one of the top-25 players in America. I'm sure Muffet can't wait to have the 5'-11" McGraw join Skylar Diggs, in the Irish backcourt, for the next three seasons -- it's going to be fun!