Westmont men’s basketball coach John Moore likes to work the room at the weekly Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheons after patiently listening to all the other’s coaches reports and award presentations before him.
On Monday Moore came last, starting with the day’s best one-liner after getting perfectly set up by UCSB women’s basketball assistant Heather Zurich.
Talking about Gauchos head coach Carlene Mitchell, Zurich mentioned keeping 11 women happy.
“Let me be clear, it’s tough to keep one woman happy,” quipped Moore as he approached the podium.
He then congratulated Phil Womble Award recipient Duncan Gordon, Carpinteria High School Coach of the Year Henry Gonzalez, and co-Sports Person of the Month Kyle and Jeff Petersilia. Moore even got in a zinger at Carpinteria boys basketball coach Johnny Ward.
There was a running theme of community in his address, underlined by his acknowledgment of the passing of Kirsten Moore’s husband in May.
Kirsten Moore was at the luncheon for the first time this winter to report on her 7-0 Warriors. With her was baby daughter Alexis Renee.
John Moore was still in the Thanksgiving mood and thanked the athletic community, especially the Westmont family, for their support of Kirsten Moore.
“What we’ve done to come around Kirsten is a real tribute to who we are as a community and who we’re supposed to be as a community,” Moore said.
On the court, Moore’s men’s team is also off to a terrific start with a 6-1 record and a No. 8 national NAIA ranking.
“This is a great time to come watch the Warriors play. Both the men and women are going to be very good this year,” Moore said.
UCSB volleyball player Leah Sully and Dos Pueblos cross country runner Max Davis were named Athletes of the Week.
Davis placed 12th in the Division 2 race at Saturday’s CIF State Championships in Fresno. The senior helped lead Dos Pueblos to a fourth-place finish, the best in school history. Davis was timed at 15:39 on the 3.1 mile course.
Sully finished her season on a high note, collecting 25 kills and 19 digs in UCSB’s five-set victory over UC Irvine in the season finale. Sully closed out the year with seven-straight double-doubles and 15 in her last 16 matches. Sully’s 558 kills for the season are the fifth most in UCSB history.
With high school basketball starting competition this week, both of Carpinteria and Santa Barbara High’s teams were represented.
Each has their first games this week.
“It’s really hard to talk about a team or a season when you’ve haven’t played a game,” said Santa Barbara boys head coach David Bregante.
Carpinteria girls coach Dan Mercer gave a taste of what was going to be his season-opening pre-game speech about the importance of Title-IX’s legacy.
Must have been good as the Warriors began their season later that night with a 49-21 victory.
Dons girls coach Andrew Butcher was another basketball coach making his first luncheon appearance of the 2012-13 season, bringing with him his trademark sweater and witty humor.
After introducing players Ivette Gil, Desirea Coleman and Melissa Lemus, Butcher reported that recent alum Tess Emerson is seeing increased playing time at Pepperdine this year and was just named to the Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team.
“We don’t have games yet in high school so we’ll live off the laurels of our past players,” Butcher said.
STUDENT-ATHLETES PRESENT
Daniel, Westmont Basketball
Nate Marsen, Westmont Basketball
Ivette Gil, Santa Barbara High Basketball
Melissa Lemus, Santa Barbara High Basketball
Desirea Coleman, Santa Barbara High Basketball
Kristina Burch, Carpinteria Basketball
Hannah Galsterer, Carpinteria Basketball
Kevin Crocker, Carpinteria Basketball
Duncan Gordon, Carpinteria Basketball
Kyle Millhollin, Carpinteria Basketball
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