Local newsmakers in the world of sports
Redondo Union High School seniors Ryan Spiwak and Tiffany Morales were awarded the Team to Win Scholar Athlete Award of Excellence by the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation. Photo courtesy of Sylvia Morales
Student-athletes honored
The Team to Win program and the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation recently announced recipients of the 2011-12 Scholar Athlete Award of Excellence which is given to one male and one female student athlete from 22 local high schools for scholarly, community and athletic achievement.
Redondo Union seniors Tiffany Morales and Ryan Spiwak joined Mira Costa’s Kelli Sugimoto and Elias Rivas as award recipients.
Morales was a four-year starter Redondo’s varsity volleyball team and was selected as the Bay League’s Most Outstanding Player and earned First Team All-CIF Division 1AA honors in the fall. She received a full athletic scholarship to the University of Michigan.
Spiwak was a two-way starter for the Sea Hawks as a running back and an All-CIF Northern Division linebacker. He was named the Bay League Defensive Player of the Year.
The Loyola Marymount-bound Kelli Sugimoto was a standout distance runner during her prep career competing on the Mustang’s cross country and track teams. She captured the 3,200 race at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays this year.
A linebacker on Mira Costa’s football squad, Rivas was also the Dick Frey Memorial Award Scholarship winner presented by the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation. Rivas has a 3.97 GPA and will attend Harvard in the fall.
Other local winners included El Segundo’s Hayden Green and Fahmie Leo, North Torrance’s Sandi Isozaki and Kalani Maglinti, South Torrance’s Grace David and Vincent Rios, Lawndale’s Alyssa Burton and Jason Lopez and Leuzinger’s Maciel Gonzalez and Donnell Drain.
Up-and-coming Mustang
Mira Costa freshman Skylar Caputo was recently named to the USA Volleyball Youth Training Team. Caputo played on the Mustang’s junior varsity team last season and is a member in the Club Troy program
“It is a huge honor and she is in a very select group,” Mira Costa varsity head coach Lisa Arce-Zimmerman said.
Rolling to the podium
Members of the South Bay Wheelmen bicycle racing club showed their mettle at recent races in the Los Angeles area. At the Bike Bakersfield Criterium, Julie Riccardi placed 3rd in the Women’s Category 1-3 race. Showing that age is no barrier to riding fast, Tom Herman placed 2nd and Mike Fleming placed 3rd in the men’s 60+ race at the Barry Wolfe Grand Prix in Westlake Village. The South Bay Wheelmen has weekly rides for competitive and non-competitive cyclists that start at the Catalina Coffee Company in Redondo Beach. For more information on the Wheelmen and a schedule of rides, visit www.southbaywheelmen.org.
Volleyball stars honored
The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) recently announced its 2012 Boys’ High School Senior All-America Teams that included First Team selections Michael Mullahey (Loyola), of Manhattan Beach, who is a member of the Southern California Volleyball Club in Redondo Beach and Parker Boehle (Loyola), a member of MB Surf Volleyball Club in Manhattan Beach. Both players were named to the All-CIF Southern Section Division 1 team with Mullahey being named Player of the Year. Mullahey will be attending USC in the fall while Boehle is going to UC Santa Barbara.
Riding a wave of success
Dayton Silva, a resident ofManhattan Beach and Mira Costa High School graduate won the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) college men’s national championship short board final at Salt Creek Beach near Dana Point. Silva rides for the Mira Costa Community College surf team which won the team title competing against teams from 17 colleges and universities from both coasts. Silva got the highest single wave score, a 9.3 out of a possible 10, in his final heat.
South Bay project honors coach
The Saint Sebastian Sports Project recently presented Loyola High School Varsity Basketball Coach Jamal Adams its “Arrow Award” for his outstanding achievement as a coach and mentor to young student-athletes in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The Saint Sebastian Sports Project is a South Bay based non-profit organization that helps to develop team sports programs in under-served Catholic schools throughout Los Angeles. The organization presently supplies twenty diocesan schools with equipment, team fees, and qualified coaches for CYO soccer, basketball, football, and volleyball programs. For more information, visit www.saintsebastian.org.