Turlock girl wins 2nd in Punt, Pass & Kick with Kap's support

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Turlock’s Mya Sanchez set a personal best to secure a second place finish at the National Championships of the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick competition Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The 11-year-old totaled 254 feet, 8 inches from the combined lengths of one pass, one punt and one kick. That’s 28 feet longer than her previous best which she set on the field at Levi’s Stadium on November 29. 

Mya has competed at the local, sectional and Team Championship levels of the NFL’s skills competition ever since the second grade. She has won the Team Championship for her age group every year since she started. But this is the first time she has reached the national finals. The Team Championships take place at all 32 NFL stadiums. Mya finished among the top four in the 10-11-year-old girls division from all of those events to qualify. 

Mya represented the 49ers in Indianapolis and competed against the Team Championship winners representing the Bears, Titans and Broncos. Her trip to Lucas Oil Stadium came with the support of another Turlock resident. Colin Kaepernick not only shared his congratulations on Twitter, the 49ers quarterback picked up the travel costs the NFL did not cover so the sixth grader’s family could travel to Indianapolis with her.

[RELATED: Harbaugh, Kaepernick reestablish connection after Michigan win]

Mya brought the families together long before she kicked her first punt or threw her first pass. Kaepernick’s mother, Teresa, was the nurse on duty at the hospital where Mya was born. Her father, Phil Sanchez, was in his first few weeks as a counselor at John H. Pitman High School, where Colin played quarterback. It was September. The big game against Turlock High School was approaching. The families struck up a conversation about Colin’s young football career. Now, they do the same about Mya’s.

Mya representing the @49ers with a great punt! @nflplay60 #NFLPPK

A video posted by NFL FLAG (@nflflag) on Jan 2, 2016 at 2:41pm PST

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