Maxine McCormick, a modest and poised 15-year-old prodigy, has already learned to take her best lessons from her worst experience – losing.

McCormick, a sophomore at Cleveland High School, holds the probable distinction of being the youngest world champion ever recorded in any sport.

Competing in a traditional, albeit little-known, adult sport against both men and women in 2016 in Estonia, 12-year-old McCormick (who was then just five feet tall and 100 pounds) won the gold medal in the International Casting Sports Federation’s fly-casting trout accuracy event and took a bronze in the two-handed salmon distance event.

At the next world championship in 2018, on Britain’s coast, she not only defended her gold, but also overwhelmed her competition in the same distance event with a monster 189-foot cast, winning a second gold.

While fly casting only attracts several hundred die-hard competitors worldwide, there’s no questioning McCormick’s athleticism and dominance.

Perhaps only a fly-angler can appreciate her 2018 performance was across a white-capped body of water at ocean’s edge in 20 mile-per-hour winds, gusting to 50; her hand-eye coordination, muscle tone, wrist and arm movements and fluid form were every bit as critical as those of a professional golfer, pitcher, gymnast or track star.

“Pound for pound, Maxine's the best fly-caster on planet earth,” said her coach, Chris Korich, who lives in California. “And she doesn't like to lose.”

Maxine McCormick of Portland won gold medals last year in international fly-casting championship under the tutelage of the U.S. Casting Team coach, Chris Korich. Photo by Donna O'Sullivan.

Korich, himself a champion caster and coach of the U.S. Casting Team, researched male and female gold-medal winners. The previous youngest he could find throughout history of all sports was Marjorie Gestring, who won Olympic gold for the United States in a diving event in 1936 at the age of 13.

McCormick, who takes the accolades in stride, acknowledges her good fortune and learns from her few shortcomings.

“Whenever I lose, I think about what I could have done better and try not to let that happen again,” she said. “And I practice more.”

She’s been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and local Portland television and radio and will soon star in a fly-fishing film documentary.

McCormick is also a headliner and banquet speaker at next week’s NW Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, March 8-9 at the Linn County Fairgrounds. The expo is the largest of its kind in the United States, with vendors from as far away as Delaware, New York and Michigan joining others from the western states.

Sherry Steele of Sisters, who’s organizing the Expo for Fly Fishers International, said McCormick’s presence is an important message.

“Having Maxine join this event is a key to having young women and families bring their children,” Steele said. “They’ve got to take care of our land and our water.”

McCormick was raised in San Francisco before moving to Portland two years ago with her father, Glenn McCormick, a high school PE teacher for Portland Public Schools, and mother, Simone McCormick, a lawyer and her brother, Tobias, 7, who’s also begun casting and fishing.

At the age of 9, McCormick’s father introduced her to his passion for fly fishing and began taking her to the casting pools in Golden Gate Park. There, she caught the attention of a U.S. Casting Team member who immediately called Korich to come see a youngster who “had something different.”

Maxine McCormick of Portland casts in a stiff breeze at the 2018 world championships held in Britain as her coach, Chris Korich, watches. Photo by Mattias P. Rosell.

Korich agreed and began working with both McCormicks. Glenn McCormick has also been competing with – and against – his daughter both nationally and internationally. Maxine McCormick doesn’t like losing to either of them, either.

Casting narrow loops, gripping the rod, muscle coordination, even designing and customizing rod handles fit the youngster were all in Korich’s repertoire.

“I’ve learned a lot from being around Chris,” McCormick said. “Dad really liked it (fly fishing) but I was frustrated. I learned to cast and then I liked fishing.

Father and daughter often fish together, but only fly fish and only catch and release.

In California, they fished on the famed McCloud River, but since moving to Portland, Central Oregon and the Deschutes River have their attention.

McCormick said sometimes, “if the hole is on the other side of the river, I’ll try to cast far, but mending (rolling the line against the current to slow the fly down) is hard for me.”

Casting and fly fishing aren’t McCormick’s only interest, although she’s begun practicing for the next World Championships in Sweden in 2020.

A straight-A student, and now 5-foot, 7-inches tall, McCormick said she’ll compete on Cleveland’s track team in the 800 and 1600 meter events.

She also enjoys “the wheel” (pottery) and, like most teenagers, hangs out with friends.

The future may see her as a pediatrician, after school – probably in California.

While the move to Portland was good for the family and McCormick, “I don't like the rain very much,” she said.

Korich, a 59-year-old equipment consultant in the fishing and skiing industries with two daughters of his own, is understandably one of Maxine McCormick’s most vocal cheerleaders – and Portland’s.

The West Coast of the United States has some of the world’s best fly casters and practice venues, Korich said, adding that Portland has a “golden opportunity” become a world-casting youth and adult learning center by paying more attention to development of Westmoreland Park’s Casting Pond, drained and dry for much of the year.

“It has world-championship potential,” he said. “And parents are begging for a place like Westmoreland for their kids to learn fun, healthy outdoor activities instead of being stuck indoors on their technology. It would be an economic draw, too. You’ve got the space and equipment storage; parents could bring their kids there every day.”

“Maxine is motivating so many people to take up fly fishing. “She’s like having 'Shirley Temple with a fly rod promoting your sport!”

— Bill Monroe for The Oregonian/OregonLive