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Erin Otsuki Honored as Carpinteria’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year

 March 20, 2023

For Carpinteria High and its girls aquatics program, Erin Otsuki’s arrival last year was better late than never.

Erin Otsuki carries a 3.93 GPA, plays water polo and swims for Carpinteria High.

Otsuki entered Carpinteria in her junior year after being home schooled. She soon became a force on the water polo and swim teams, and excelled in the classroom. Her GPA is 3.93.

Otsuki was honored Monday by the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table as Carpinteria’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

In her first year at public school, Otsuki was honored as a California Scholarship Federation member and received an award for science. Her class load includes Advanced Placement Statistics, Macro Economics and Government, as well as Art, English and Human Anatomy.

She is interested in learning more about how the human body works, and plans to major in kinesiology or biology in college. She eventually would like to enter the nursing field.

In athletics, Otsuki took to the aquatic sports right away. She started competitive swimming three years ago and has played water polo for only two years. She is currently the swim team captain after serving as captain of the water polo team in the winter.

In her short span of competing, she swam on a school-record 200 medley relay, went undefeated in all her individual races last season and competed at the CIF swim finals. She was named the team’s MVP.

In water polo, she was the starting goalie on two league championship teams. She was named the team’s most improved player after her first season playing the sport.

“She was the backbone of our defense, and for a non-ball-oriented person she did really well, ” said Carpinteria coach and her father Jon Otsuki. “Her background was fully in dance and she was 100% invested in dance as much as I tried to get her out there and play basketball with her four younger brothers.”

Erin plans to continue her competitive aquatics career at SBCC. 

“Hopefully, after attending SBCC I’ll be able to transfer to a four-year Division 1 or Division 2 school and continue my athletic and academic career.”

Outside of athletics and schoolwork, Erin is a leader with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Carpinteria. She also volunteers as a safety aide for the community’s Junior Lifeguards program and serves as a lifeguard at the Carpinteria Community Pool.