MELISSA SCHUTZ

Richard Dunn

In an era considered one of the finest for female athletes in

Newport-Mesa District history, Melissa Schutz of Newport Harbor High

was in a class by herself.

Schutz, who earned what is believed to be an unprecedented 12

varsity letters for the Sailors as a three-sport star from 1991

through ‘95, followed the footsteps of her former high school mentor,

Maureen McLaren (Class of ‘92), who was a senior competing in

volleyball, basketball and swimming when Schutz was an impressionable

freshman.

“I figured (McLaren) is doing this stuff, so I should try it,

too,” said Schutz, who also excelled in volleyball, basketball and

swimming, and landed a volleyball scholarship to the University of

Colorado, where she fell in love with Boulder and the surrounding

area but missed her family and the beach and returned to Newport

Beach after graduating from Colorado in 1999.

A 6-foot middle blocker and a three-time All-CIF Southern Section

choice, Schutz helped Coach Dan Glenn’s Sailors win CIF and State

Division I girls volleyball titles in the fall of ‘94, as well as a

mythical national championship. That season, Schutz collected a

team-high 101 blocks, while adding 317 kills, 130 digs and 20 service

aces.

Schutz, the Sea View League and Daily Pilot District Female

Athlete of the Year, was part of Newport Harbor’s star-studded

graduating Class of ’95 with fellow standout athletes Misty May, Tina

Bowman, Cara Heads and Mandy Clayton -- all Daily Pilot Sports Hall

of Famers.

“It was always volleyball,” Schutz said of her three-sport

preference. “I really liked the program and the people who were

involved in it. It was kind of a relief from club volleyball, because

club volleyball is so intense. (Competing in basketball and swimming

as well) was a nice way to branch out, and that’s how it started. It

came natural in swimming, and basketball was just fun, especially

playing for (former coach) Shannon Jakosky, and with Genevieve Evarts

and the Heads sisters (Gina and Cara) and the Claytons. All those

were great groups of people.”

Schutz lists her favorite athletic memories as beating Corona del

Mar in volleyball and later winning the 1994 state title; capturing

the ’95 Sea View League 50-yard freestyle championship in a

meet-record 24.12, upsetting heavily favored Wendy O’Brien of Irvine

in the process; and playing hoops at the Arrowhead Pond her junior

year, when Jakosky’s Sailors set a school record with 24 wins and

reached the CIF Division III-AA and Division III Southern California

Regional championship games (losing to Brea Olinda both times).

Schutz, who didn’t start playing volleyball until the seventh

grade, was nudged into the game by a neighbor who was a volleyball

coach. “At that point, I was into riding horses,” Schutz said. “I

never wanted to stop doing that, but volleyball kind of got in the

way of horses. I had a horse for about a year. My dad was very glad I

gave that up, because (horses) cost too much money. Volleyball, in

the end, made me money.”

At Colorado, Schutz was reunited with longtime club volleyball

teammate Kelly Campbell, who played for the rival Sea Kings in high

school.

Schutz, who recovered nicely from a knee injury, helped Colorado

reach the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 1997, her junior year.

“She was a great middle blocker at Colorado,” Campbell said of

Schutz. “She had a knee injury, but worked real hard to get it to

heal and she came back from that, then she continued to improve ...

that kind of middle blocker, with that kind of work ethic, is what a

setter wants.”

In basketball, Schutz was a three-year starter at center and

averaged 8.2 points per game her senior year as the Sailors finished

22-8. She was a second-team all-league selection.

In swimming, she was a four-time CIF qualifier as a freestyle

sprinter, but no event was more exciting than the ’95 league finals,

in which she edged O’Brien. “That was totally one of the best

feelings of my life,” said Schutz, the latest honoree in the Daily

Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.

An English major, Schutz, 26, taught at Newport Harbor last year

and is currently enrolled in a six-year political science masters and

Ph.D. program at UCLA. Her goal is to be a college professor.

Schutz no longer plays volleyball, but stays in shape by training

for and running in marathons.