Girls athlete of the week
// The Post-Gazette’s top female performer from the past seven days
The past week: Nixon brought home three medals at the 48th annual Baldwin Invitational on Friday, including a gold medal in the shot put with a throw of 35 feet. She also placed fifth in the discus (90-4) and sixth in the javelin (89-11). Check this out: Nixon, a senior who will play basketball at Case Western Reserve in the fall, was also a standout forward for Blackhawk’s WPIAL Class 4A champion basketball team. She averaged 8.6 points per game and made 48 3pointers for the Cougars, who went undefeated in the regular season and finished 26-1. What made you decide to get into track and field last year? I thought I could be pretty good at it, since it’s a strengthbased sport for throwing, and I wanted to try something new. Basketball is very intense and it’s a lot of fun, but it’s just a different way to compete. What are your goals for the rest of the season? Any marks you’d like to hit? I’d like to get another PR in shot put, maybe try to hit 100 feet in the discus. But I’m probably going to start only focusing on shot put here going into WPIALs. That’s the event I think I have a chance to do something in. What would someone find you doing when you’re not playing basketball or working out for track? Probably just hanging out with my friends. I love to be outside. Just being outdoors, hanging with my friends. I also play the guitar. I’m not very good at it, so maybe that. How long have you been playing the guitar? Two years, I want to say. It’s nothing pretty, but I can play a couple songs.
Do you have a favorite song to play? Not really. I guess I play ‘Stairway to Heaven’ [by Led Zeppelin].
What’s something someone would be surprised to know about you? I don’t want to do it as my full-time job, but I did just get certified by the PIAA, so I’m a PIAA-certified referee now. I just thought [officiating] basketball might be more fun than working at a grocery store.
How has that experience been for you so far? It’s a big adjustment from playing. I feel bad any time I yell at a ref. I never really was a loudmouth, so I never really did. But now I feel bad that I’m the one getting yelled at. It definitely makes you see the game differently. I enjoy it, especially getting to see the younger girls, because you get to see the up-and-coming players in the area. And it’s good exercise. I like it. It definitely puts a new spin on basketball games that I never had before. It’s a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.