Foothills Sentry - July 2022

Page 15 Foothills Sentry July 2022 End-of-year athletic awards announced By Cliff Robbins The OC Athletic directors hon- ored Athletes of the Year and Stu- dent-Athletes of Character May 23 at Servite High School. Multi-sport athletes honored were: from Foothill High School, Austin Overn (football, baseball, and track) Crestview League; from Orange High School, Chris- topher Quiroga (football, bas- ketball, and golf), Orange Coast League; from Canyon High, Emma Hadley (cross country and track and field), Crestview League; and from Tustin, Audrey Barcenas (cross country and track and field), Empire League. Student-Athletes of Character awardees were: Jessica Hassel- beck (golf) and Alex Singelyn (volleyball), Canyon; Jackson Keays (football and basketball) and Ella Keefe (volleyball), El Modena; Jack Grieder (football) and Keira McNamee (girls bas- ketball), Foothill; Dillon Menge (cross country and baseball) and Winston Amarra (volleyball, girls basketball and track and field); Orange High; Osten Achmad (basketball) and Tamiyah Boykin (volleyball and girls basketball), Tustin High; Nathan Kornely (football) and Sydney Somern- dike (softball), Villa Park. CIF-SS honors Foothill girls with the Commissioner’s Cup The CIF-SS announced the top 2021-22 girls and boys ath- letic programs. It marks the 29th year the CIF-SS honored schools with the Commissioner’s Cup. The Foothill High girls took top honors, with a total of 15 points. Foothill won championship titles in cheer, lacrosse, and runner-up in tennis and semifinalist in wa- ter polo. It was the first year the Foothill girls have won the title. ElMo and Villa Park honor 2022 athletes honors ElMo held its end of the year All-Sports Banquet May 19, hon- oring the athletes of the year, most valuable player in each sport and inducted four El Modena alums into the 2022 Hall of Fame. Inducted into the Hall of Fame was multi-sport athlete Nor- relle Dickson Gregory. Gregory played softball, varsity basket- ball and ran cross country, 1999 to 2003, accumulating a plethora of honors in every sport, includ- ing three-time Basketball Athlete of the Year, Century League Soft- ball MVP, Softball Jr. Olympic Gold Medalist, CIF Cross Coun- try State Championship, before matriculating to the University of Oklahoma to play softball. She continued to excel in her sport, was named Big 12 Player of the Year and led the USA World Team to first place and a gold medal in the 2006 USA World Games in Taiwan. Bob Ruddy, known as “The Voice” of ElMo, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ruddy graduated from El Modena in 1978 and has been the sports an- nouncer since 1996. Two brothers, Stephen Valen, ’81, and Victor Valen, ’84, were also inducted. Steve ran cross country in 78, 79, 80 and track and field in 79, 80, 81. The nu- merous honors Valen received included Century League Runner of the Year and Century League Champion. He continues to hold the school record for the 3200 meter, at 8:55.73. At UC, Berke- ley, Steve took the 1983 3000m Steeplechase School Record, and Emma Hadley, Canyon HS Team Bohannon wins Pro Anglers Marlin Tournament Dan Bohannon from Orange celebrated winning the Pro An- glers Annual Marlin Tournament, held June 2-6 at the Palmas De Cortez resort in Baja. It was the 50th anniversary of the oldest active tournament. A total of 45 anglers made the trip from all over the United States. Fishing in three-member teams, Bohannon’s team included Dale Walton from Arizona and Garff Hathcock from Seal Beach, an El Modena grad. Team Keeler, Greg and Brother Roy (Foothill High grads) and Dave Snider from Tustin took second place. Bohannon said “with live bait scarce we went to the Balyhoo’s and were able to put a single mar- lin onboard day one. Day two was productive with five yellow fin tuna coming over the rail plus one marlin.” Team Bohannon topped it off with a single strike on the third and final day to cap- ture the tournament. Total marlin count for the 15 teams were 28 marlin, 45 yellow fin tuna and 6 dorado. Crestview League honors athletes of note Elena Torres (12) was instru- mental in Foothill High's winning back-to-back girls lacrosse titles, and was named CIF-SS Player of the Year in Division 1 as well as Player of the Year in the Crest- view League. Head Coach Cristina Johnson was named Coach of the Year. All CIF-SS Division 1 selec- tions were, from Foothill High School: Elena Torres, Ali Shimi- buku (11), Zoey Stephens (11), and Mia Marchetti (11). Division 2 selections were from Canyon: Sheridan Koenig (12) and Jenna Bradford (12). Crestview League First Team All-League were: Mikayla Yang, Ali Shimabuku, Mia Marchetti and Maya Weaver, all from Foot- hill. Second Team All-League were, from Foothill, Taylor Puma, TatumWalshe and Brynn Perkins. Defensive Player of the Year was Zoey Stephens. Team awards were given to Ally Gal- lagher (Golden Heart), Elena Torres (Warrior), Alexa Lemerise (Most Improved), Taylor Puma (Coach’s Award) and Mia Mar- chetti (Knight of the Year). Crestview league champs Foothill lacrosse boys were Crestview League champions and runners-up in the CIF-SS Division finals. Drew Tyson was named Player of the Year, and Luke Fox was recognized as Of- fensive Player of the Year. First team Crestview League selec- tions were Casey Copeland, Jack- son Hines, Easton Jellerson and Roman Marchetti. Second Team selections were Zach Harden, Adam Oman and Bode Jellerson. The 2021-22 Boys Lacrosse All-CIF Southern Section selec- tions in Division 1 were, from Foothill High, Easton Jellerson (12 LSM), Jackson Hines (11 Att), Luke Fox (11 Att) and Ro- man Marchetti (12 Def). In Division 3, from Canyon High School, were James Tran (12 Att) and Andrew Schuerger (11 Mid). is member of the California Top Ten All-Time 3000m Steeple- chase. Victor Valen, ‘84, earned nu- merous awards for cross country 81, 82, 83, and track and field in 82, 83, 84. He was the ElMo Team MVP, Mt. SAC 4x1500m Cham- pion, Century League Cham- pion mile run, Bruce J holds the ElMo 1600m record at 4:09.34. At Baylor University, he set top indoor marks 4:05.83, 1500m and outdoor, 3:44.73, ranked #4 All- Time in 1988. Voted the Female Athlete of the Year was Mary Koutures, a multi- sport athlete excelling in water polo and girls lacrosse. Male Ath- lete of the Year honors went to Dylan Conner, also a multi-sport athlete in football and track and field. Athlete of the Year honors went to: David Vasquez, football; Ryan Osso, baseball; Giuliana Reyes, softball; Emmet Humenik, boys basketball; Katherine Perez, girls basketball; Mason Marklevits, boys water polo; Mary Koutures, girls water polo; Madeline Nguy- en, girls tennis; Arvin Tamayosa, boys tennis; Matthew Lyon, boys cross country; Wendy Mendoza, girls cross country; Alex Luna, boys track and field; MaryJo Dunham, girls track and field; Jillian Jaime, girls soccer; Hud- son Lambert, boys soccer; Rafael Barcenas, boys wrestling; Dulce Paredes, girls wrestling; Laurel Manion, girls golf; Alex Mas- caro, boys golf; Jackson Bates, boys volleyball; Ella Keefe, girls volleyball; Richard Wharton, boys swim; Madeline Conklin, girls swim; Alyssa Navarro, girls lacrosse; Antonio Carrera, boys lacrosse; and Amanda Salazar, cheer. 2022 All-CIF Southern Section Baseball and Softball Selected by CIF-SS Baseball Coaches’ Association to the Di- vision 1 team was Aiden Taurek (12, FHS), Casey Borba (11, ORL), Mikey Romero (12, ORL), Gavin Grahovac (11, VP), and Zack Brown (11, VP). Selected to the Division 4 team was Bryant Smaaladen (12, ELM) and Aaron Ceniceros (12, ELM). Selected to the Division 5 team was David Celoski (12, ORG), Abel Castrejon (12, TUS) and Riley Kelly (12, TUS). Villa Park (6-3, 29-5) took second in the Crestview League and placed seven players on the All-Crestview League Baseball Team. Selected were A.J. Kro- del, Co-Pitcher of the Year, Gavin Grahovac, Offensive Player of the Year. Named to the first team was Zach Brown and Geoff McArthur. Named to the second team was Britton Beeson and Jack Burke. El Modena (6-3, 22-9) captured the North Hills League baseball title and placed seven players on the All-North Hills League Base- ball team. Aaron Ceniceros was named the Most Valuable Player. Selected to the first team was Nick Santivanez (10), Spencer Jacobs (12), and Jackson Licata (12). Named to the second team was Ryan Osso (12) and Cameron Langseth (12). Selected by the CIF-SS Soft- ball Coaches Association in Di- vision 1 were: Villa Park pitcher Sydney Somerndike (12) from Villa Park as Player of the Year. Named to the Division 1 team from Orange Lutheran was Kiana Estrada (12). Named to the Di- vision 3 team was pitcher Kylee Magee, Player of the Year, from Canyon High. NFCA 2021 CCCAA softball awards NFCA All-Region and All- American athletes were nominat- ed by their NFCA-member head coach, voted for by the coaches in their region or division, and ulti- mately selected by the full mem- bership to receive this accolade. These honorees are in the top 1% of student-athletes competing during 2021. All special awards are also selected and voted on by the All-American committee members or by the entire divi- sion. Santiago Canyon College’s Sabrina Rivera took home mul- tiple plaudits, earning Diamond Sports/NFCA Catcher of the Year and New Balance/NFCA Golden Shoe Award honors, plus All- American honors. Rivera batted .371 with 33 hits, nine doubles, 11 RBI and 16 runs scored. She threw out four runners attempting to steal and committed just one miscue in 110 chances, for a .991 field percentage. Rivera led the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) with 17 stolen bases in 18 at- tempts, including four against Golden West College on May 21. Orange Empire Conference post-season awards After winning their first OEC Championship since 2001, the Santa Ana Dons took home the Coaching Staff of the Year award while former ElMo athlete Emily Rosas was unanimously voted as Pitcher of the Year. The SCC Hawks (18-6, 33-14) finished in third place in the con- ference. Five players made it on to All-OEC teams. Alyssa Yslas earned a share of the honor for Co-Defensive Player of the Year as she anchored the SCC defense. Named to the First Team All- Orange Empire Conference: Em- ily Rosas from Santa Ana Col- lege; Alyssa Yslas, Samantha Vil- lanueva and Riley Piattoni from SCC. Named to the Second Team All-Orange Empire Conference from SCC were Liliana Navarro and Stella Turner (Foothill). The Orange Empire Conference sent four teams to the CCCAA SoCal Regionals on May 6-7. Santiago Canyon advanced in the playoffs with two wins over Col- lege of the Canyons and a big win over number two seed Cerritos 8-0, and 4-3. SCC was eliminated after a 11-10 first round loss fol- lowed by a 11-7 loss to Sierra College. Alyssa Yslas went 3-4 at the plate with three RBIs. Stella Turner (Foothill) took the loss and went 27-11 for the season. Bob Ruddy, ElMo Hall of Fame