NOTES AND QUOTES for a Thursday in the Napa Valley:

After being out of the pool for the past two and a half years due to a back injury sustained while swimming in college, Heather Szmidt, a former Vintage High School star and a 2008 UC San Diego graduate, has hit the water again.

Beginning a slow but steady reintroduction to the sport starting this past February, Szmidt has built up her strength and stamina to the point where she was able to compete again.

Szmidt swam in the Pacific Masters Short Course Championships, which were held in Pleasanton last month, placing first in the 50 breaststroke, second in the 500 free and 50 butterfly, and fifth in the 100 free.

After meeting the qualifying standards, Szmidt attended the U.S. Masters Nationals in Fresno last weekend. High-caliber swimmers from all over the country were entered. Szmidt medaled in all of her events, placing second in the 50 fly, third in both the 200 free and 50 breast, fourth in both the 500 free and 100 fly, and sixth in the 100 individual medley.

Even with just three months of strictly freestyle and backstroke training, Szmidt had a strong showing among the nation’s top masters swimmers. Although she is not sure that she will compete in the summer’s long course season, Szmidt is hoping to be able to travel to Puerto Rico next spring for the 2010 Masters Nationals meet and to Sweden for the 2010 FINA World Swimming Championships.

Szmidt swam and played water polo for Vintage from 1999-2003. She was named as Vintage’s outstanding female senior athlete of the year for the 2002-03 school year.

Szmidt turned in a record-setting season of swimming in 2004 at Merced College, which took fifth place at the California Community College Championships. She set three individual school records and swam on five relay teams that broke school records. She won two Bay Valley Conference titles and was an eight-time All-American. Szmidt was also named as the Merced College Female MVP.

She also had success in 2005 for Santa Rosa Junior College by achieving five individual and four relay All-American times at the state meet. She was the Bay Valley Conference champion in the 100 butterfly and placed second in both the 50 fly and 50 breaststroke. Szmidt was awarded the women’s team MVP and excellence in swimming awards from SRJC. She was also presented with National Academic All-American and all-Conference awards.

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KVON-1440 AM will air “The Best of the SportsVine” Saturday. The hour-long encore show, which starts at 9 a.m., features Kyle Rasmusen and Michael Jankiewicz of the Napa Valley Baseball Club.

The non-profit NVBC, formerly Napa Select Baseball, is an organization that fields American Legion teams and younger age-group teams that use Cleve Borman Field at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville.

Napa Valley Joe DiMaggio League teams also play at Borman.

Saturday’s show is the last “SportsVine” of the spring.

 It will return in the fall, around the time that the school year starts, according to Terry Simpkins, one of the program’s hosts.

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Redwood Middle School has 193 students — a combination of sixth, seventh and eighth graders — signed up for the school’s triathlon today. Students swim, bike and run on the Redwood campus.

It consists of a 200-yard swim in the Redwood pool, a seven-mile bike ride, and a 1.2-mile run.

The triathlon for sixth-grade students is from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. The seventh and eighth graders compete from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.

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Lauren Matheson, a midielder/forward who had nine goals and 15 assists for Mission Viejo High School, has been named as the 2008-09 Gatorade California Girls Soccer Player of the Year. The award was announced by Gatorade and ESPN RISE.

Matheson, who has signed a national letter-of-intent to play soccer on a scholarship at Santa Clara University, led Mission Viejo to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division I tournament. She is the ninth-ranked player in the Class of 2009 by TopDrawerSoccer.com and the No. 15 senior as rated by ESPN RISE. She is also a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation under-20 Women’s National team pool.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.