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Hughey participates in field hockey Junior Olympics

Fallbrook High School junior Lauren Hughey spent part of the summer in Iowa City, IA, for field hockey’s Junior Olympics.

Hughey spent July 30 through August 2 playing in the eight-team tournament held at the University of Iowa. The teams were named after their colors and Hughey’s team was known as the Grape.

Hughey scored one goal for the Grape, who finished second in the four-team pool and fifth overall among the eight teams. The Grape played each of the other three teams in their pool and three crossover matches.

“It was a great setting for her,” said Fallbrook field hockey coach Kathy Waite.

When Hughey was selected to play in the Junior Olympics, she became the first Fallbrook High School field hockey player in history to earn an invitation to the tournament.

“That was really neat,” said Waite, who has coached Fallbrook High School’s varsity team since 1982 and who coached the Warrior junior varsity squad in 1981.

Hughey’s road to Iowa City began with the regional Futures tournament May 16-17 at the University of California’s Berkeley campus.

The regional tournament produced the selections for the National Futures Tournament, which took place June 23-27 at the Olympic Training Center in Virginia Beach, VA.

Hughey was one of 16 players selected for California’s regional under-16 team which traveled to Virginia Beach.

The Junior Olympic squads, whose players were assigned to the eight teams randomly, were selected during the National Futures Tournament.

Hughey, a center-forward, had also participated in the 2008 regional Futures tournament but was not selected for that year’s National Futures Tournament.

She was born in Fallbrook and attended Maie Ellis Elementary School and La Paloma Elementary School before spending two years at Potter Junior High School. She began her field hockey career as a seventh-grader at Potter. She also played youth soccer prior to her Fallbrook High School athletic career.

Hughey spent the 2007 CIF field hockey season on Fallbrook’s junior varsity team and was the Warriors’ leading scorer as a freshman despite an anterior cruciate ligament injury which forced her to miss half of the season. The injury also prevented her from playing any other CIF sports in ninth grade.

She did return to the field hockey squad when the off-season Guac Girls club participated in the Cal Cup tournament during Memorial Day Weekend in May 2008 and scored a goal for the Guac Girls.

Hughey recovered from her injury and became one of Fallbrook’s varsity starters as a sophomore. Her play earned second-team Avocado League honors for 2008.

This February, Hughey traveled to Orlando for field hockey’s Disney Showcase and scored one goal. She spent the spring CIF season on Fallbrook’s track and field team.

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