The Bishop Diego duo of Tua Rojas and Sophie Otte opened their senior seasons with a bang, earning the first Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Athlete of the Week honors for the 2025-26 school year.
The pairing was honored at the first SBART Press Luncheon of the year on Monday at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
Rojas, the Cardinals’ starting quarterback, had a big night last Friday to lead his team to a thrilling 42-40 season-opening win over Lancaster.
The senior completed 15-of-21 passes for 258 yards, threw for three touchdowns and rushed one in himself to pull out the victory in the high-scoring affair.
Meanwhile, Otte began last week with a pair of strong performances in non-league matches. She tallied 11 kills and five aces in a four-set win over Santa Paula, and followed that up with 16 kills, three blocks and three digs in a 3-1 victory over Santa Barbara High.
Over the weekend, Otte filled up the stat sheet at the annual Cardinal Classic to help power her team to a second-place finish in the Silver Division.
The boys honorable mentions were Oscar Mauia (Bishop Football), Cole Dominguez (SM Football), Aaron Baizan (SB Football), Lucas Neushul (DP Water Polo) and Oliver Kelly (SB Water Polo).
The girls honorable mentions were Laila Hernandez (SB Flag Football), Elina Stump (SB Flag Football), Victoria Aldana (SM Flag Football), Kacey Hurley (DP Flag Football) and Brooklyn Hedricks (DP Flag Football).
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 Saturday afternoon, if possible.
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