SBART Luncheon: Santa Barbara’s Nicole Buist, Westmont’s Sage Kramer Honored

A pair of individual awards were handed out and several local spring sports teams provided updates as their seasons wind down at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.

Santa Barbara High honored its Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award winner while Westmont College celebrated its Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Nicole Buist Named SBHS Phil Womble Award Winner

Buist’s commitment to Santa Barbara High tennis and track & field on and off the court earned her the school’s 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.”

“We had a good group of juniors this year at Santa Barbara High, but Nicole really stood out when we had four coaches nominate her… she only plays two sports,” Santa Barbara High athletic director Todd Heil said. “We had other coaches that aren’t even Nicole’s coach nominate her for this award, so that speaks volumes.”

Buist played a key role in Santa Barbara High girls tennis winning a CIF title last fall, claiming the Channel League MVP and winning the Channel League Doubles title alongside her sister, Caitlyn

“She wants to win every point, but she’s really good about toeing that line with ethics and sportsmanship in talking to herself, calming herself, centring herself, but then also being respectful to her opponent,” Heil said of Buist.

“It’s a fine line, and you don’t see a lot of high school kids that are able to do that: take a pause and take a break.”

Meanwhile, she has accumulated a whopping 453 community service hours while volunteering with Santa Barbara Special Olympics and Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons. She is also a member of the National Charity League.

Buist is the last 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, Providence’s Amber Petraitis Regan, Carpinteria’s Charlotte Cooney, San Marcos’ Bethany King and Bishop Diego’s Sam Crawford.

“My whole team and my community is always just so supportive, so I feel like it’s a lot easier to go out there and support them when they’re always supporting me,” Buist said.

“Here today is Miss Liz, she’s my Phil Womble. She’s always showing up for me. (Thank you to) my family: my mom, who’s always there and my dad, who’s always pushing me to be my best. My sister’s my built-in track partner and tennis player, and she’s always truly inspiring me.”

The award is sponsored by Dave Pintard of the Pintard Group.

Sage Kramer Named Westmont Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Kramer enjoyed another strong season for the Warrior Women’s Basketball team this year, putting up plenty of numbers as a member of the starting five.

She was named to the All-PacWest First Team after averaging 17.1 points per game and shooting 46.5% from the field throughout conference play, leading the team to a 13-7 record against PacWest foes.

“I am super grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to coach Sage Kramer for the last three years and I get her for another year,” Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore said. “She came in and was able to contribute right away as a freshman, but over the last two years has really just stepped up because of her willingness to pursue excellence in everything that she does.”

Kramer has been equally impressive off the court, if not more so. In her six semesters at Westmont, she has not received a grade lower than an A in any of her classes.

“Westmont is an extremely challenging academic institution,” Moore said. “It’s really, really hard to get straight As at Westmont… [Kramer] has never got anything but A’s, and that’s just unbelievable and is also a testimony to just that work ethic that we’ve also seen on the court, just that commitment to excellence.”

Westmont Women’s Basketball head coach Kristen Moore (left) and Westmont Sports Information Director Ron Smith accepted the award on behalf of Sage Kramer. (SBART / Courtesy Photo)

Kramer was unable to attend Monday’s luncheon as school ended for the summer last week, but Westmont Sports Information Director Ron Smith provided a written comment from Kramer.

“Thank you for selecting me for this prestigious award,” Kramer wrote. “I am deeply humbled and honored to be recognized among so many other very worthy student athletes. I just want to thank God for connecting me with Coach Moore and this amazing community. I know that I wouldn’t be at Westmont without Him making a way and without the effort from Coach Moore.

“I’m thankful for her and the immense amount of work that she does for the Westmont Women’s Basketball program and the opportunity that I have to be a part of it. It is such a blessing to get to play basketball and to go to school at Westmont, and I know that it shaped my life for the better.

“The Santa Barbara community is like nothing I’ve ever experienced and I’m grateful for it. Thank you to the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table organization for this recognition and for the efforts that you make to acknowledge student athletes.”

Kramer is the 10th of 11 Scholar-Athletes of the Year for the 2024-25 school year, joining Carpinteria’s Keyla Manriquez, Providence’s Sarah Monroy, Laguna Blanca’s Chloe Gidney, Santa Barbara’s Gwen Chenoweth, San Marcos’ Andres Villa, Bishop Diego’s Sophia Regan, Cate’s Daisy Gemberling, Dos Pueblos’ Pessia Fygenson and SBCC’s Selma Jensen.

The award is sponsored by Marc Gamberdella of the Gamberdella-Spruill Group of Merrill Lynch.

More Playoff Action Ahead

Most of the local spring sports squads are in the thick of their CIF-SS playoff races, with boys volleyball, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse entering the quarterfinal round.

Meanwhile, all six boys tennis teams will begin their playoff journeys this Wednesday. Here is the full list of playoff action this week.

Tuesday, May 6