Phil Womble Award recipient Chloe King of Cate School.
Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon, the last of the 2012-13 school year, was about turning a new page at the last weekly gathering hosted by SBART President Rich Hanna, who will step down after a two-year term following next week’s Hall of Fame Banquet.
Hanna hands the presidential duties and a $10,000 check from Union Bank to President-elect Laurie Leighty, one of many SBART board members in the audience. The check, delivered by Randy Weiss, maintains the luncheon sponsorship long-held by Santa Barbara Bank & Trust that helps pay for the athletes’ lunches.
There were many thanks for Hanna, who has handled a pile of Round Table responsibilities – including hosting luncheons every Monday – on a completely volunteer basis.
Carpinteria High School’s Athletic Director Pat Cooney likened him to New York Yankee great Joe DiMaggio.
Santa Barbara High hitting coach George Rempe explained to everyone what Cooney meant.
“There was once a meaningless game for the Yankees, and (DiMaggio) ran out everything, he’d bust his hump everytime. And someone asked, ‘why do you do this? It’s a meaningless game.’ And he said, ‘Well somebody might be coming to the ball park for the first time and I want them to get their money’s worth.’
“That’s what he was talking about Rich and I want you to understand that because it’s true.”
Awards included the final set of Athletes of the Week, a Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award, and a Coach of the Year recognition.
San Marcos volleyball player Baker Johnson and Dos Pueblos track & field athlete Stamatia Scarvelis were named the year’s last pair of Athletes of the Week.
Male Athlete of the Week Baker Johnson
Scarvelis recorded a personal best in the shot put at Saturday’s CIF Division 2 Preliminary Meet at Moorpark High School. The distance of 50 feet, 4 1/2 inches is the farthest throw in California this season and earned Scarvelis the top seed in this weekend’s CIF-ss Track & Field Championships.
Scarvelis also placed second in the discus at Prelims with a throw of 156’9 1/2″.
Johnson led the Royals to three CIF wins last week and a berth in the Division 2 semifinals. Johnson totaled 56 kills in the three matches, including a 23-kill performance in Saturday’s sweep of Oaks Christian. Johnson committed just one error with a hitting percentage of .692 in the quarterfinal match.
With Womble himself in attendance, Cate School’s Chloe King was given the?Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award?to student-athletes who demonstrate the highest standards of ethics and sportsmanship. Each school selects a junior on an annual basis.
King is a three-sport athlete at Cate, participating in cross country, water polo and swimming. Outside of athletics, King has earned her pilots license, plays the violin, and has been named to be the editor in chief of the school newspaper for her senior year.
“The Womble Award is a fitting tribute to Chloe because of her academic passion in government affairs and equality,” said award presenter Bob Archer.
Cate Athletic Director Wade Ransom commended King.
“The three-sport athlete is a dying breed and I think in terms of the Womble award, it’s totally fitting (to recognize King) because here’s a kid that puts the needs of our school and our athletic program ahead of possibly specializing and doing her own thing and concentrating on one area,” Ransom said. “We’re really lucky because she gets to have an impact on all three seasons, on all three teams that she’s on.?Her passion for government and politics is also fitting for this award because making sure that everyone has an equal voice in our community is one of her top priorities.”
Cate School’s boys lacrosse coach Andrew MacDonnell got the nod as the Rams’ Coach of the Year. MacDonnell played collegiately at University of Denver and has been successful at keeping the Rams competitive against much-larger schools as the sport explodes in popularity across Southern California. Cate has had a lacrosse program for 45 years.
Female Athlete of the Week Stamatia Scarvelis
The coaches reports included teams that were competing in the postseason and some that had already seen their season come to a close.
The baseball and softball teams continuing into the postseason were just learning their playoff paths today, some while at the luncheon.
Dos Pueblos’ baseball team clinched its second consecutive Channel League title last week and head coach Nick Katzenstein brought four big pieces of the league championship.
Ben York, Gabe Speier, Dyan Rohde and Nolan Soto are all senior captains. The Chargers have twenty wins this season and host their playoff opener on Friday.
First-year coach Katzenstein impressed Rempe and the Dons, who finished in second place. The Dons and Chargers have held the Channel League championship for the past six years.
“They have that kind of team and that kind of character that I think they will do well in the playoffs,” Rempe said.
With Rempe were Dons players Skyler Sabado, Ian True and Gabe Grandcolas. Santa Barbara hosts a wild-card game on Tuesday.
Other playoff-bound high school baseball teams include Bishop Diego, Carpinteria and Cate.
Junior first baseman Cole Atelian and Bishop Diego host Godinez on Tuesday while Nick Walker, Jonah Spach and Carpinteria host St. Anthony on Friday.
While Dos Pueblos and Bishop Diego are the only local schools that qualified for CIF in softball, Santa Barbara High, San Marcos and Carpinteria each reported on successful seasons.
Nine softball players were introduced by their respective coaches. Several – Chloe Madill, Kristen Berlo, Catalina Maldonado – will be playing in college next season.
Track & Field is also in championship season. UCSB just returned from the Big West Championships and the high school teams competed in CIF Prelims on Saturday.
Carpinteria High is one of four schools in the Southern Section to host a CIF Prelims meet.
“It’s really a nice tribute to Carpinteria High School that the CIF keeps allowing the Division 4 meet to be held at Carpinteria High,” Latham said.
The Warriors advanced to CIF Finals in five events. Latham brought athletes Gabi Montes de Oca, Ian Craddock and Jonathan Esqueda.
San Marcos has three athletes – Caroline Vance, Charlotte Garratt and Michael Orrosco Moore – advancing to Saturday’s Southern Section championship meet.
Dos Pueblos boys tennis coach Liz Frech had a final report on the Chargers’ season, which ended last week in CIF with a loss to Westlake. Players Joshua Wang and Patrick Corpuz, both underclassmen, were called crouching tiger and hidden dragon by Frech to explain their playing styles.
