SBART Luncheon: Charlotte Cooney Named Carpinteria High’s Phil Womble Award Winner

Carpinteria High’s Charlotte Cooney was presented with the Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award and winter high school sports squads provided their playoff updates at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.

Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara High girls lacrosse also made an appearance at the luncheon, marking the beginning of the spring sports season in the next two weeks.

Charlotte Cooney Accepts Phil Womble Award

Cooney has shined for the Warriors on the tennis court, basketball court and baseball field, and her commitment to Carpinteria High was rewarded with the Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award.

As it states on the SBART website, “This award acknowledges student-athletes who value and incorporate into their daily lives, the following qualities: accountability, respect of teammates, opponents, and officials, honesty, positive attitude, reliability, loyalty, sportsmanship, others above self, and team above personal interest.”

Cooney has been a standout tennis player for the Warriors, earning Citrus Coast League Doubles MVP in all three of her first three seasons with the team.

“Charlotte is the ultimate team player,” Carpinteria girls tennis coach Sara Scott said. “She is a team leader. She never allowed her doubles partner to get down on herself, coming together between points for a high five.

“It’s been my honor coaching Charlotte. She’s a true leader and captain in sports and we are so proud of her. She deserves this honor.”

Meanwhile, she has also earned All-Citrus Coast League honors in girls basketball while serving as a team captain for the past two seasons.

“Charlotte is the consummate student-athlete,” Carpinteria girls basketball coach Henry Gonzales said. “She has earned the respect of her teammates through her competitive commitment and leadership within the Warrior Basketball program.

“She is willing to keep herself accountable first and foremost but will also positively help her teammates to be accountable as well. Though she has a high level competitive spirit, she shows good sportsmanship in every way.”

Cooney also gets it done in the classroom, currently boasting an impressive 4.67 GPA. She has made the Carpinteria High Dean’s List in each of her semesters and has earned seven Citrus Coast League All-Academic honors.

Cooney is the fifth of eight Phil Womble Ethics in Sports award winners for this school year, joining Dos Pueblos’ Anastasia Brunner, Cate’s Josh Butler, Laguna Blanca’s Carter Plowman and Providence’s Amber Petraitis Regan. The award is sponsored by Dave Pintard of the Pintard Group.

“Womble loved how sport could change lives and it certainly has changed mine,” Cooney said. “I’d like to thank my family for being there today… they’re always showing up for everything I do.

“Thank you to Coach Henry (Gonzales), Charles (Bryant) and Sara (Scott) for pushing me to be the best athlete and person I can be.”

Winter Playoff Season is Here

Many Santa Barbara area teams enjoyed successful regular seasons this winter, and as a result, the CIF-SS basketball, soccer and girls water polo brackets are full of local squads.

Nine local basketball teams and seven local soccer teams will begin their playoff runs this week while San Marcos and Dos Pueblos continue their title runs in the Open Division and Div. 1, respectively.

The boys basketball postseason will begin on Wednesday, headlined by a local clash between Carpinteria High and Bishop Diego in the Brick House at 7 p.m. in the CIF-SS Div. 4A bracket.

“It’s fun to have a local matchup in CIF, these kids don’t quite understand that used to be between Bishop and Carp so this is really cool for the community as a whole,” Bishop Diego associate director of athletics MeLinda Matsumoto said.

Dos Pueblos will host the only other boys basketball playoff game in town, welcoming Aliso Niguel to Sovine Gym on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a CIF-SS Div. 2A matchup.

The girls soccer playoffs kick off on Wednesday as well as both San Marcos and Carpinteria High will host first-round games at 5 p.m. The Royals take on Garden Grove in Div. 4 while the Warriors host St. Monica Prep in Div. 6.

As for boys soccer, Cate and San Marcos drew first-round home games in Div. 1 and Div. 3, respectively. The Rams match up with El Toro on Thursday at 5 p.m. and the Royals will face off against Anaheim on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

The lone playoff girls water polo game in town this week will be on Wednesday when Dos Pueblos will host JSerra in the Div. 1 quarterfinals at 5 p.m. at Elings Aquatic Center.

“That is going to be a real challenge for us,” Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish said of the upcoming matchup. “They are built very similar to us where they’ve got some senior leadership, are really good on the defensive and have no real big standout players so we’ve got to guard everyone in the pool.”