Male Athlete of the Week: Thayer White
San Marcos golf coach David Siordia finally met his match.
Siordia, speaking at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon, said he never once had a player on his team beat him on the golf course in his seven years at the helm.
Then along came Thayer White.
“And I’m pretty unhappy that Thayer White is that kid who can beat me,” Siordia said, tongue firmly in cheek. “He averaged 73 in league and 75 in all other matches. He medaled eight of 11 times this year, which is pretty unheard of.”
White shot back-to-back rounds of 1-under par 70 to win the Channel League Individual Golf Championship.
Jason Donnelly, who was an assistant volleyball coach at San Marcos a few years back, remembered trying unsuccesfully to get White to play volleyball.
“So maybe his utlimate goal was to beat you on the golf course,” he joked to Siordia. “I don’t think there’s any turning back.”
Looking at White, Donnelly added, “You’re still a good kid. You haven’t changed much except you’re taller than you were in the fifth grade.”
Siordia noted that what makes White’s accomplishment extra special is the fact he doesn’t play or practice as much because he plays on the varsity basketball team.
“He’s a multisport athlete. He came off the basketball court to the golf course,” Siordia said. “He doesn’t practice or play for about four months of the year and he had a great year.”
White was recognzed as the male Athlete of the Week.
Female Athlete of the Week: Dos Pueblos' Emily Rose Williams
The female award winner was Dos Pueblos swimmer Emily Rose Williams. The Texas-bound Williams won the 50 and 100 freestyle races in CIF automatic qualifying times and swam on victorious 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams at the Channel League finals.
The Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for Cate School went to water polo player-swimmer Kate Montgomery.
She was the captain for both teams and earned All-Frontier League first team honors in both sports. She was the MVP in water polo.
Montgomery, who carries a 4.37 grade-point average and plans to attend New York University, said she carries the drive she has in the classroom to athletics.
“I find it really easy to take the motivation I have in school and put that into the pool, and come out and be really active after a whole day in classes,” she said. “I love the competition and motivation that I take from my classes and take into the pool.”
“She exemplifies all we want in our student athletes,” said Cate water polo coach Nathan Aldridge.
Other highlights:
Santa Barbara baseball assistant George Rempe said the Channel League champions will go two weeks without playing a game before their CIF playoff opener.
“We’re going to practice for two weeks without an opponent to keep us sharp,” he said.
The Dons (11-1, 20-6) won their 10th league title in 13 years and are going to the playoffs for the 13th straight season.
San Marcos’ baseball team struggled this season, but coach Tony Vanetti said he’s proud of the character of his players
“The most important thing is the quality of the kids that you coach,” Vanetti said. “The fact they stick together as a team, the fact they do everthing together as a team, that’s really rewarding.”
He added: “We graduate three seniors, so we’re a young team lookng forward to 2012.”
SBCC baseball coach Ryan Thompson said one look from Robert Vickers after he rapped a single to start Saturday’s regional playoff win over Riverside convinced him his Vaqueros were going to win the three-game series after losing the opener.
They swept two games on Saturday and became the first SBCC team to advance to the community college Super Regionals. They play Orange Coast on Saturday.
“We were able to do something that had never been done at our college,” Thompson said. “One of our players (Vickers) looked at me Saturday morning after that debacle of game on Friday and asked, ‘Are you all right?’
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Thompson responded. “That same guy led off the game with a ball down the line for a basehit. He looked at me, and I knew from that moment on that this group had figured things out on its own.”
Bishop Diego volleyball coach Jason Donnelly said his team played its best volleyball of the year in the fifth-set at Nordhoff and won the match to secure third place in the Tri-Valley League and an automatic playoff berth.
Because of the past playoff successes of Oaks Christian and Oak Park, the TVL is in Division 2 for boys volleyball.
“That doesn’t frighten us at all,” Donnelly said. “We feel we’re pretty competitive.”
The Cardinals play their first-round match at Irvine at 7:30 p.m.
Dos Pueblos assistant Chris Jones said the Charges travel to San Clemente on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. playoff opener in Division 1
Jones noted the Channel League this season “was probably the toughest ever in terms of competition. The difference between first and fourth place was four points.”
Bishop Diego Athletic Director Dan Peeters recognized the talents of Nicole Poindexter, who not only is standout track athlete but she plays the saxophone.
“She hopes to take her act to Cerritos,” said Peeters, referring to the site of the CIF Divisional track and field championships.
Dos Pueblos girls swim coach Leslie Wiggins Roth is taking nine athletes to the CIF Prelims on Wednesday. The Chargers finished fourth in CIF last season.
“We hope to be as competitive this season,” she said.
Roth spoke for DP boys coach Chris Parrish, who was headed to Angels Stadium, where the CIF was honoring the Athletic Academic Champions on Tuesday night. She said team member Josh Pighetti was a big reason the Chargers won the academic award and is a key to the team’s success in CIF.
“Their best chance of qualifying rests with Josh. He has a lot of swimming to do this week,” she said.
Pat Cooney, the Carpinteria athletic director, said golf coach Steve Benson was pleasantly surprised the team won the league title.
“This year’s team was a surprise, in that it exeeded expecations most of the time,” Cooney reported. “The league title was nowhere in (Benson’s) thoughts at the start of the year. Winning league was a bonus this year, not the goal.”
Next Monday’s press luncheon will be the final one of the 2010-11 school year.
