North Texas Olympians to Watch

More than a dozen North Texans will be representing Team USA at the 2012 London Olympic Summer Games.

From boxing and swimming to wrestling and track and field, these are the athletes to watch.

Air Rifle

Sarah Scherer calls Fort Worth home, and she attends Texas Christian University, where she competes in air rifle and has won several championships. Scherer is majoring in pre-med. This is her first Olympics. Scherer’s brother, Stephen, was a 2008 rifle Olympian. Like her brother, she will compete in the 10 meter air rifle.

Basketball

Tamika Catchings played basketball while she attended Duncanville High School. While she was a Duncanville Pantherette, the team won the Texas 5A championship in 1997, finishing 40-0. Catchings currently plays for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. She was named Most Valuable Player in the WNBA in 2001 and is the president of the WNBA Players Association. London is Tamika’s third trip to the Olympics; she helped Team USA win gold in Athens and Beijing.

Deron Williams calls The Colony home when he’s not playing point guard for the New Jersey Nets. He played basketball at The Colony High School. He’s been named an NBA All-Star in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He helped Team USA win gold at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Boxing

Errol Spence was born in Dallas and calls DeSoto home. He trains at the Maple Avenue Boxing Club. He started boxing at age 15 and, by age 19, he was a 3-time USA Boxing National Champion in 2011, 2010 and 2009. He won the U.S. Olympic Teams Trials. He is currently rated the No. 1 amateur boxer in the welterweight division.

Gymnastics

Flower Mound's Steven Legendre attended Spring Creek Academy in Plano. When he’s not competing for the University of Oklahoma Sooners men’s gymnastics, he’s working out at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano. He was named to the U.S. National Team after he was named the Nissen Emery Award winner, the award that goes to the NCAA’s most outstanding male gymnast. Legendre was named one of three alternates. He'll go to London to be on hand to compete if one of the five team members gets hurt.

Swimming

Raised in Granbury, Dana Vollmer swam for Fort Worth Area Swim Team (FAST). She will be competing in her second Olympics. She helped Team USA win gold in Athens in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay and break the previous world record. She won two gold medals and one silver medal at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. Vollmer won gold in the 100-meter butterfly and set a new world record Sunday. She'll also compete in the 4x100-meter medley relay.

Synchronized Swimming

Mary Killman calls McKinney home when she’s not in Santa Clara, Calif. She has been involved in synchronized swimming, competing solo, duet and team for nine years. She was affiliated with the Pirouettes of Texas and is the youngest member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. Killman competes in duet with Maria Koroleva.

Track and Field

High jumper Brigetta Barrett grew up in New York but she moved to Texas during her junior year of high school to live with family and get a jump on success. She found it at Duncanville High School, where she became a two-time Texas State Meet champion and set the school record of 6-1. Barrett graduated from Duncanville in 2009 and earned a scholarship to the University of Arizona.

Laura Bennett took up triathlon full-time after attending Southern Methodist University. Bennett has been named USA Triathlete of the Year in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010. Bennett is married to Greg Bennett, a triathlete who finished fourth in Athens while competing for Australia. The couple hopes to compete together for Team USA in London. Bennett is a 1997 graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she received a bachelor's degree in finance. This will be her second trip to the Olympics.

Dennis Bowsher is a 2001 graduate of W.T. White High School in Dallas. He got into the modern pentathlon after seeing a recruitment flier at a high school swim meet. This will be his first Olympics; Bowsher barely missed going to Beijing.

Shot putter Michelle Carter attended Red Oak High School and lives in Ovilla. She follows in her father's footsteps -- Michael Carter is a former Olympian and NFL star. Both Michelle and her father hold the current national high school record in the shot put. Michelle set the record in 2003 while winning the Texas state championship. Her father has held the record since 1979. London is Michelle’s second Olympics.

Marquise Goodwin from Rowlett is a sprinter and long jumper for the University of Texas track team. He first started his track career at Rowlett High School, where he broke the national high school record for long jump at the U.S. Championships. He won the long jump at the U.S. track and field nationals with his personal best of 27 feet, 4 inches. He'll go for gold in long jump in London

Sprinter Darvis “Doc” Patton was born in Dallas, lives in Grand Prairie and trains in Arlington. Patton attended Lake Highlands High School in Richardson and Texas Christian University. In 2000, he became the first TCU athlete to win an indoor conference long jump title and the first Horned Frog to win a conference long jump crown since 1970. He was ranked No. 1 in the United States in 2002. This is his third trip to the Olympics. He won silver medal in the 4x100-meter replay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Patton was named to the 4x100-meter relay pool in London.

Jason Richardson grew up in Cedar Hill and specializes in 110-meter hurdles. By the time he graduated from Cedar hill High School, he had run the third fastest 400 meter hurdles for a high school athlete. He became the first person ever to win a hurdles double with gold medals in the 100 meter and 400 meter hurdles at the 2003 World Youth Championships, and he was named Youth Athlete of the Year from USA Track and Field. Richardson won gold at the 2011 World Championships. This will be his first Olympics.

Middle distance runner Khadevis Robinson, known by his nickname "KD," was born in Dallas but grew up in Fort Worth and went to Texas Christian University, where he earned his undergraduate degree and was an eight-time USA national champion. Robinson competed in Athens in 2004 but just missed making the team for Beijing in 2008. Robinson will compete in 800 meter race.

While sprinter Wallace Spearmon Jr. hails from Chicago, he calls Dallas home and trains with Darvis Patton under top sprint coach Monte Stratton at the University of Texas at Arlington. Spearmon holds the American indoor 200-meter record. In London, he’ll try to make up for a lane violation that lost him a medal in the 2008 Olympic Games 200m final in Beijing.

Jeremy Wariner graduated from Arlington's Lamar High School before attending Baylor University. Wariner, who specializes in the 400 meters, made a big splash in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, when he won two gold medals. He returned to the Olympics to take home a gold and silver in Beijing. He’s recovering from arthroscopic surgery to his left knee after tearing cartilage. Wariner was named to the 4x400-meter relay pool. He's known for his trademark sunglasses -- even at night.

Discus thrower Jason Young was born in Dallas and graduated from W.W. Samuell High School in 1999. He attended Texas Tech University, where he holds the school record in the outdoor season discus. While at Samuell High School, he finished second in discus at the Texas State Meet and Golden West Invitational and he won the 1999 USA Junior Olympics in discus. This is his first trip to the Olympics.

Wrestling

Tervel Dlagnev is a graduate of Arlington High School, and his mother calls Benbrook home. Dlagnev’s family moved to North Texas from Bulgaria when he was 4 years old. He only wrestled in high school for two years, when he finished third and fourth at the Texas state championships. He competes in the 120 kg freestyle.