Isabella Urlando tore it up in the swimming pool for SBCC in a championship meet and Brendan Cekada was a force at the plate for the San Marcos baseball team in big wins over rival Santa Barbara High.
Their performances earned them Athlete of the Week honors at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
Urlando led SBCC to the Western State Conference title with some record-setting wins. She won the 100 backstroke in a state-best time of 54.91, which broke the WSC record by more than three seconds. In the 200 backstroke, she swam state-best of 2:02.47 and beat the previous conference record from 2016 by over 10 seconds. She also won the 100 butterfly in a record 55.34, the No. 2 time in the state.
Urlando was the only female competitor at the championships to win three events. She also swam on four SBCC relay teams that finished second, helping the Vaqueros win the team title.
Cekada had clutch hits in San Marcos’ two wins over Santa Barbara that helped the Royals win their third straight Channel League title.
In the first game of the series, he doubled in the 11th inning and scored the game-winning run in a 6-5 thriller at Santa Barbara. In the second game at home, he had two hits, including a two-run single, in a 7-1 victory.
The male honorable mention choices for this week’s award went to Caden Hodina (San Marcos baseball), Eoghan Gloster (Dos Pueblos track & field) and Tyson Deveze (Laguna Blanca volleyball).
The other female candidates considered for the award include Tessa Johansen (Bishop Diego softball), Chloe Hoffman and Lucy Speier (Dos Pueblos beach volleyball), Avery Ball (Dos Pueblos lacrosse) and Avala Elwood/Jane Krautmannn (Providence beach volleyball).
The Athlete of the Week award winners are selected by the local sports media. Coaches are encouraged to nominate deserving athletes. Nominations should be sent to sports@noozhawk.com by Sunday at 12 p.m.
The award is sponsored by the law firm of Maho-Prentice.
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