Michelle Amete-Saleaumua has won more All American awards than any other Mesa Community College athlete, scoring 10 Track & Field awards in hammer, discus, weight, and shot put. She broke the MCC school indoor weight throw mark and established a new junior college national record in the hammer throw with a toss of 189 feet. In 2005, she scored 25 of her team’s 47 points in three events at the NJCAA Championships.

At Queen Creek High School, Michelle was the Arizona state high school champion in the shot put and discus. She enrolled at MCC to be coached by Selmer Olson, who produced national weight champions and All Americans for more than three decades. Michelle says her high school coaches helped build basic strength, but it was at MCC that she learned the techniques and best training practices that took her performance to the next level -- increasing her distances in all three of her events. Called by coach Selmer “one of the best female athletes ever to attend MCC,” Michelle competed in the 2005 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships held in Canada.

She says she loved how the small-town feel and great support from all the MCC coaches made the high school to college transition smooth. She also found something very special in the weight rooms at MCC – her husband David, a football player. Her major in sociology piqued an interest in health care, and she became a pediatric medical assistant until her son and later twins were born. Family took precedence over athletics, but Michelle said her 10-year-old is playing flag football, with throwing training anticipated in the future.

For a link to the full video of the ceremony, please visit MCC Hall of Fame 2022.