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Taylor Brooks Was a Scoring Machine for SBCC Women’s Water Polo

 April 27, 2020
SBCC water polo’s Taylor Brooks led the state in scoring and set a school record with 134 goals.

Taylor Brooks burst on the scene in her debut season with the SBCC women’s water polo team.

The sophomore from Honolulu poured in a state community college-best 134 goals in 35 games and led the Vaqueros to a 30-5 record, a sixth straight Western State Conference championship and third-place finish in the Southern California Regional.

The Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table is honoring Brooks as its College Women’s Water Polo Player of the Year for the fall season. 

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Brooks and the other fall and winter sports season athletes of the year in college and high school sports are being presented their awards in a virtual format via the Round Table’s social media platforms of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and on the Noozhawk.com Sports Page. There are no awards for spring sports because their seasons were cut short by the pandemic.

Tuesday’s Award: College Men’s Cross Country

Brooks’ goal total shattered the SBCC season record of 123 set by Emma Fraser in 2018.

Brooks had a seven-goal game against the Philippines National Team, falling one shy of equaling the single-game record set by Fraser and Rocio Fesembeck.

“Taylor is an amazing athlete,” said SBCC coach Chuckie Roth. “In my 20 years as a coach, I have only coached a few like Taylor. They came in with amazing talent, however what was impressive is how Taylor became a student of the game. Taylor learned so much in one season and improved tremendously.”

Brooks also led SBCC in steals (71) and drawn ejections (67).

“I think Taylor loves to compete and has a very high level of drive and resiliency,” Roth said. “In the water. Taylor is perhaps the most versatile player to ever play at SBCC. “The speed, shooting and defending ability really separates Taylor as an elite player who could easily play at any Division 1 school in the country.

“Taylor’s improvement in four months was really amazing. I am glad our paths crossed and I’m lucky to have coached Taylor.”

— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.