The Gary Blades Memorial Trophy was a featured guest at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon, taking a seat up front next to SBART President Rich Hanna.
It left in the hands of Shawn Ramos, Santa Barbara High’s quarterback who has started in three Big Games.
“Shawn just played an amazing game,” said Dons head coach Doug Caines.
Ramos was 11-for-16 and threw a pair of second half touchdowns in the Dons’ win. The Dons led 14-7 at halftime but scored the first 21 points of the second half to put the game out of reach.
“Shawn took control of his huddle and got these guys on the right page,” Caines explained. “He’s an amazing young leader and it was exciting to watch him lead his football team.”
Find our report from The Big Game HERE.
The Athletes of the Week were announced, with Bryan Fernandez and Kelsie Bryant also taking home some hardware. Fernandez, a cross country runner from Dos Pueblos, won his race at the weekend’s Mt. SAC Invitational while Kelsie Bryant won the Individual Frontier League Tennis Title in singles. Bryant has gone 53-0 in sets so far this season for the 19-0 Carpinteria Warriors.
A Scholar-Athlete of the Year award was given to Cate School’s Alexis Hill. The senior from Washington State plays lacrosse and squash while posting a 4.21 GPA despite a rigorous course load. Hill, who wants to attend Dartmouth, was an All-American Honarable Mention last season for lacrosse.
On top of the awards, there was both an introduction and a farewell at Monday’s luncheon.
Santa Barbara News-Press prep editor Dennis Bateman has taken a new job with the Sherriff’s Department and will no longer be covering local sports as he has for the past six years. Bateman was recognized for his work in the sports community.
“(Dennis) had a passion for the teams he covered,” said longtime News-Press reporter Mark Patton.
UCSB men’s tennis coach Marty Davis introduced new Gauchos women’s assistant Carling Seguso, who won a national title last season as a player at UCLA.
“I wanted to adequately express our enthusiasm for bringing this really talented tennis player and coach to the Santa Barbara athletic community and the tennis community,” Davis said.
Seguso’s father was a No. 1-ranked doubles player in the world and her mother a top-10 singles player.
“She’s obviously been around world-class tennis for most of her life,” Davis said.
Davis’ team, meanwhile, just had its best ever performance at the ITA Regional, led by Mbonisi Ndimande, who currently holds an ATP World Ranking.
In other tennis news, Steve Geremia reported that his Dons girls team just won its 34th straight Channel League title and will be competing for individual league titles this week. Bishop Diego head coach Suzanne Petrie brought players Esmeralda Mamahua, Julissa Zarate and Meredith Amspoker, all of whom did well at the Frontier League Tournament last week.
Four of the volleyball players in the Ranchero Room will be playing in this weekend’s Tournament of Champions. While the Dons, represented by Caroline Anderson and Dane Miller, and the Royals, represented by Jordan Corry and Claire Holehouse, are both in the hunt for the Channel League championship, the quality of teams coming to town this weekend has both local squads amongst the tournament’s lowest seeds.
It’s a testament to the tournament’s reputation. Torrey Pines, Marymount and Archbishop Mitty are some of the favorites coming in.
In total, nineteen coaches, athletic directors and sports information directors gave reports.
STUDENT-ATHLETES PRESENT
–Kelsie Bryant, Carpinteria Tennis
–Kassandra Ni, Carpinteria Tennis
–Tess Pitzer, Carpinteria Tennis
–Maddie Brooks, Carpinteria Volleyball
–Kylie Augerot, Carpinteria Volleyball
–Shawn Ramos, Santa Barbara High Football
–Polo Torres, Santa Barbara High Football
–Jordan Pena, Santa Barbara High Football
–Julio Martinez, San Marcos football
–Austin Pugh, San Marcos football
–Priscila Garcia, UCSB Women’s Tennis
–Cody Niessen, Providence Hall Volleyball
–Maddie Niessen, Providence Hall Volleyball
–Jose Gamez, SBCC Football
–Jarred Evans, SBCC Football
–Chris Wilkinson, Cate Football
–Jordan Corry, San Marcos Volleyball
–Claire Holehouse, San Marcos volleyball
–Jorge Arroyo, Carpinteria Football
–Gregorio Elizarras, Carpinteria Football
–Josie McCoy, Bishop Diego Volleyball
–Hanna Brand, Bishop Diego Volleyball
–BJ Murillo, Bishop Diego Football
–Adrian Solis, Bishop Diego Football
–Esmeralda Mamahua, Bishop Diego Tennis
–Julissa Zarate, Bishop Diego Tennis
–Meredith Amspoker Bishop Diego Tennis
–Hannah White, Laguna Blanca Volleyball
–Caroline Anderson,Santa Barbara High Volleyball
–Dane Miller, Santa Barbara High Volleyball
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