Stamatia Scarvelis holds her High School Athlete of the Year trophy with (L to R) Mom, coach Rob Thayer and brother Steven Scarvelis. (Randy Weiss Photos)
At their December luncheon this week, Club West of Santa Barbara, a 40-year locally-based track and field/running non-profit organization, honored four young athletes for their 2012 accomplishments.
Junior High School Athlete of the Year Josh McGregor, 12 years old, finished 4th in the 19-and-Under Division at this year’s Santa Barbara Half-Marathon
In the junior high school division, the female Youth Athlete of the Year was Ruth Hunter, an eighth grader at Santa Barbara Junior High School.
Hunter, 13, set PRs in the 400 (65 seconds), 800 (2:27) and 1500-meter (5:09) events, plus another in the 5K (20:06). She never missed a Nite Moves race this summer and was undefeated in cross-country this season, culminating with winning the JHS Championship last month.
Joshua McGregor was named male Youth Athlete of the Year.
A seventh grader at Santa Barbara Junior High School — he finished second in last month?s JHS cross country championship in the 2-mile race. He?s competed in over 50 sanctioned road races since 2007 and set a new PR (19:07) in the 5K.
In his first Santa Barbara Half-Marathon this year, McGregor, only 12, finished fourth in the ?19 & Under? group with a time of 1:30:23 (sub 7-minute miles).
Meanwhile, the honorees in the high school division were:
Female Athlete of the Year, Stamatia Scarvelis, is a Dos Pueblos junior who follows brothers Nick and Steven as Charger ?powerhouses?.
Like Nick, she won the State Championship in the shot put (47? 3?) — winning it on her last throw in competition — and is currently ranked as No. 2 in the country going into next track season.
She is also a force in the discus and a runner on the girls? 4 X 100 relay team.
Her 2013 goals include repeating as State Champ in the shot put and also the discus and qualifying for the Junior Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
?She?s an incredible athlete who is really committed ?. and we are all incredibly proud of her efforts,? Coach Leslie Wiggins-Roth told Presidio Sports earlier this year.
Dos Pueblos senior Max Davis received male Athlete of the Year honors.
His nomination highlighted his great fortitude in successfully overcoming a previously undiagnosed iron deficiency that zapped his energies but not his heart or commitment to the sport or his teammates during the 2012 track season.
Davis was named co-captain of the Chargers successful cross country team and finished in eighth place in CIF Southern Section, and, most recently, 12th in the State Finals.
?And with a 4.2 GPA, he will major in engineering next year and any college who gets him — he will make their program stronger,? says Coach Len Miller.
?All these kids are awesome,? said Kevin Young, Club West coach and McConnell?s Ice Cream Endurance Events race director who presented Hunter and McGregor with their awards.
Westmont Coach Russ Smelley presented the award to Scarvelis while Davis was unable to attend the ceremony.
