Aliso Viejo's Aliso Niguel High School Honors Olympians Past and Present

ALISO VIEJO, CA — Capistrano Unified School District recently discussed seven Olympians from district high schools in a local article entitled "CUSD Olympic History."

These seven Olympic athletes include:

• Aliso Niguel’s Kyla Ross, Gymnastics in London, 2012
• Capistrano Valley’s Don August
• San Clemente’s Kristin Caverly, Jim Doehring, Sue Enquist, Gabe Gardner, David Higgins, Jeremy Laster, and Brian Thornton.

Kyla Ross not only went to London with Women's Gymnastics in 2012, where she and her teammates brought home the gold, she also won ESPN's Girl's Athlete of the Year that same year.

Gabe Gardner participated on the men’s indoor volleyball team. He also competed in volleyball in Athens in 2004 and again in Beijing in 2008, where he won a gold medal.

"Four years later, San Clemente’s Brian Thornton was on the men’s Olympic volleyball squad," the Capo Unified School District stated. "A member of University of California, Irvine’s 2007 NCAA Championship team, Thornton was a setter for the U.S. Olympic team in London in 2012. "

David Higgins is the Capistrano athlete most recently on the roster. Higgins competed on the U. S. Olympic shooting team in Rio at the 2016 Olympic Games in the category of 50 meter prone rifle.

"A recent graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Higgins had the honor of being the first Air Force cadet to ever qualify for the Olympics," the article said. "President Obama spoke at the Air Force Academy commencement ceremonies and personally wished David Higgins good luck."

Congratulations to the Capistrano Unified School District Olympic athletes, past and present.

Team USA.org Photo