Recipients of the Club West High School and Junior High School Athlete of the Year Awards: From left, Bryan Hernandez (Dos Pueblos), Natalie Klapp (Goleta Valley), Jack Randmaa (La Colina), Hannah McDaniel (San Marcos, Cal Poly), Kaylin Koopmans (San Marcos), and Elysia Hodges (San Marcos, Westmont). Not pictured: Marie Brashears (San Marcos, UC Irvine).
The San Marcos High girls 4×400 relay team, which rewrote the school record book several times last spring and capped the track and field season by winning a bronze medal at the CIF State Meet, was honored as the High School Female Athletes of the Year by the Club West Track Club.
Bryan Fernandez of Dos Pueblos was named the High School Male Athlete of the Year.
The Club West Junior High Athletes of the Year were Natalie Klapp of Goleta Valley and Jack Randmaa of La Colina.
The San Marcos relay quartet of Marie Brashears, Kaylin Koopmans, Hannah McDaniel and Elysia Hodges ran 3:46.89 at the State Meet in Clovis. The time bested their previous mark of 3:47.2 and ranked them the 11th fastest prep girls 4×400 relay team in the nation.
At the start of postseason competition, the San Marcos relay team lowered its times from 3:53.78 at the CIF Division 3 Prelims to 3:47.2 at the Southern Section Masters Meet, to the 3:47.2 at the State Finals.
The team also set the Santa Barbara Easter Relays meet record at 3:55.03 and won titles at the Oakland Invitational Relays, Santa Barbara County Championship and Channel League Finals.
Brashears is now competing at UC Irvine, McDaniel at Cal Poly and Hodges at Westmont College. Koopmans is in her senior year at San Marcos.
Fernandez enjoyed a solid year in track and cross country for Dos Pueblos. He set county meet records in the frosh/soph 1600 (4:30.16) and 3200 (9:56.66). He finished third in the 1500 meters at the prestigious Run for the Dream State High School Indoor Championships last February.
In cross country this fall, he went undefeated in three Channel League meets, took first place in the 24-team Great Cow Run in Cerritos, ran away from the field at the County Championships and qualified for the CIF-SS Finals.
Klapp set a county record in the 7th-8th grade girls 100 meters (12.37). At the Tournament of Champions track meet, she won the 100, high jump and shot put, and was on Goleta Valley’s winning 4×100 relay team. She also won four events at the Club West All-County Meet (100, 200, long jump and 4×100 relay).
La Colina’s Randmaa was the Junior High School Cross Country Champion. He ran at the Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational and finished fifth out of 559 runners.
Randmaa got hooked on running as a 5th grader Kellogg School when he won the 1500 at the Club West All-County Championships. He is a member of the club’s Run for Life program.
Jack Randmaa attends Goleta Valley Junior High School, and Natalie Klapp attends Dos Pueblos High School.