The Santa Barbara High cross country team was honored for their CIF-SS and State titles, Chris Evans won Special Olympics Athlete of the Month and winter teams gave updates coming out of Thanksgiving break at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon.
The luncheon was at Harry’s Plaza Cafe and Noozhawk was this week’s guest host.
Santa Barbara High Cross Country
Over the Thanksgiving break for schools, the Dons were on the course making school history. As a result, the entire team was in attendance at Monday’s luncheon.
After winning the CIF-SS Division 2 title on Saturday, Nov. 18, Santa Barbara High turned around and captured the program’s first-ever state title on Saturday, Nov. 25.
They were led by Andreas Dybdahl, who won the individual CIF-SS title and came in second place in the state meet. Behind Dybdahl, the entire Dons squad turned in personal-best performances to win the state finals.
“It’s an incredible group of young men who believed in the process and believed in the journey,” Santa Barbara High Olivia Perdices said. “It was a really special day with a really special group of boys.
“They’re going to leave everything out there for themselves and for each other and this year we came out on top and it was just amazing.”
Chris Evans Wins Special Olympics Athlete of the Month
This month’s Special Olympics Athlete of the Month is a committed athlete, as he has been a part of the organization for over 34 years.
Evans has played softball, golf and tennis over the years, with a total of 23 years on the tennis courts.
Liz Frech, Evans’ tennis coach, spoke on the award and how deserving Evans is of it due to his attitude off the court and his success on the court.
“Chris is a coach’s dream because he exemplifies humility, patience, adapts to new shots and solves his own problems,” Frech said. “He is a very generous and compassionate person and makes friends wherever he goes.”
Along with collecting plenty of gold medals, Evans, who specializes in singles play, was named the team’s Most Improved Player thanks to his improvement on volleys.
Evans thanked his coaches, his parents and his teammates for helping him earn the award.
Winter Sports’ Time to Shine
With the door shut on 2023 fall sports, it is now time for the winter sports teams to step into the spotlight.
While the local girls and boys basketball seasons have been underway for two weeks, boys/girls soccer along with girls water polo will have their seasons begin this week.
The opening two weeks will mostly consist of non-league competition, local rivalry matchups will reignite as the calendar turns to December.
Student-athletes in attendance, by order of presentation:
Santa Barbara High Cross Country: Full Team
Carpinteria Girls Soccer: Natalie Gonzalez, Isela Zamora
Carpinteria Girls Water Polo: Hazel Dugre
Dos Pueblos Girls Soccer: Kacey Hurley, Ryan Calkins
San Marcos Girls Soccer: Leilani Venegas, Malia Venegas
Bishop Diego Girls Basketball: Jaymi Coronado, Jiali Coronado
San Marcos Boys Soccer: Steven Bradley
Santa Barbara High Boys Soccer: Elijah Myers, Ben Hashim
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