2012 Roadrunner Athlete of the Year Candidates

By: Dan Kidder

Any competitive athlete will tell you that the reason they compete is not for the statistics, not for the accolades, and not to get their name in the record books.

They just want to help their team win.

Perhaps that’s what makes elite athletes so special—that the drive and determination to reach the pinnacle of one’s sport seems counter-suited to the selflessness and sacrifice it takes to truly be part of a team. And yet, these athletes embody the true team-first spirit that elevates the gifted athlete from the me-first mire of the spoiled diva to the postered pedestal of the hero adorning a child’s bedroom wall.

Valley Center’s athletes have gained renown across the county, the state, and even the nation. In competition, the Jaguars have earned the reputation for outstanding team play, for leadership, and for perseverance.

This year’s crop of Jaguar athletes was no exception, and in some ways, proved these accolades true with an even more emphatic fashion than in the past.

So it is with no further ado and in the order of sports season that we present to you the nominees for 2012 Roadrunner Athlete of the Year.

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Michael McInerny

Football

McInerny made an immediate impact as a wide receiver in his junior year, but probably not the one he expected.

He missed the team’s season opener at San Pasqual, which the Jaguars lost, 28–7. The next week, in the desert at Imperial, he made five receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown, and the Jags never looked back. Valley Center went on to win all 12 of the remaining games on the schedule, including the CIF Division IV title game against Santana, in which he grabbed six passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.

McInerny was instrumental in each win as he hauled in 59 passes for 1,255 yards and nine touchdowns on the season, by far the leading receiver in the North County. And to top it all off, he was also the team’s kicker, which made all those extra points after a long touchdown just a little bit more exciting.

Mitchell Rush

Water Polo, Basketball, Volleyball

Rush performed well in each of the three sports he played, but especially so in water polo and volleyball. The six-foot-five, 185 pound junior stood head and shoulders above the rest of the Jaguars in both sports, as he led both teams in most, if not all, of the key statistical categories.

In water polo, Rush was named the team’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) and earned All Valley League first team honors. He scored 65 goals and had 28 assists, with 27 steals, 18 exclusions earned, two penalty shots earned and one block. His coach, Kyle Kline, noted the winning combination of Rush’s great attitude and fantastic work ethic that drove him throughout the season.

In volleyball, Rush racked up 289 kills, 53 aces, 37 blocks, 79 digs and one assist playing the role of intimidator on the court. It didn’t take long into the season for opposing teams to learn to fear his spike, and when the Jaguars were in a tight spot, Rush was usually the man to deliver with a big play.

Lauren Gilster

Volleyball, Basketball, Track & Field

One of Valley Center’s “Twin Towers” on the basketball court, the six-foot-two Gilster was just as impressive crashing the net in volleyball or hurling the shot put or discus for the track and field team in the spring. I was even tempted to include her performance in the Powderpuff football game because of a couple of outstanding receptions she made from the tight end spot, a position rarely used in the Powderpuff game but seemed perfectly suited to her Antonio Gates-ian set of physical skills.

Gilster’s unique combination of size and skill made her a blocking dynamo in volleyball, the focal point of the inside game in basketball, and a record-setting hurler in track. Her cool, calm demeanor belied a fierce competitiveness that came out in the form of sheer domination when she “flipped the switch” that all great athletes have.

She totaled 194 kills, 27 aces, 71 blocks, 41 digs and seven assists for a Lady Jaguar volleyball team that made it to the CIF Division III semifinals.

In basketball, she averaged 14.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game on a team loaded with star-quality players. And for the track team, Gilster was the Valley League champion and the third place CIF finisher in both the shot put and discus. She set new school records in both events and this season was named the Valley League Field Athlete of the Year for the second time.

Remy Littrell

Tennis

Littrell comes from a tennis family—her father, Mark, is the tennis pro at Pala Mesa Tennis Club and her sister Mardi played at VCHS before she went on to play at Palomar College.

But the younger Littrell sister made a name for herself this season with a very impressive 37–8 match record, beating the number one varsity singles players from much larger high schools such as Vista, Ranch Buena Vista and San Pasqual High School.

She also reached the finals in the Valley League Tournament, where she was named to the All Valley League singles team, and advanced to play in the CIF Singles Tournament.

The VCHS varsity tennis coach, Chip Cullison, was so impressed with her outstanding season that he compiled her stats and sent me text message after text message to make sure I found a spot for her story in the paper (which I did in the February 1 edition). Persistence pays off, and in the end, Littrell’s stats speak for themselves.

Miriam Zabinsky

Volleyball, Basketball, Track & Field

Sporting one of the best nicknames I’ve heard thrown around the VCHS campus (they call her “Mir-Cat”) and a fierce determination, Zabinsky was very good in volleyball and track, but was beyond exceptional on the basketball court.

In her fourth year on the varsity team, she scored her 1,000th point for the Lady Jaguars in January and finished the year with an average of 14.6 points, 2.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. Zabinsky drew comparisons with Magic Johnson for her ability to play any position on the court and do so exceedingly well.

More often than not, she was leading the Lady Jags on the fast break, which they ran with pinpoint precision to the shock and dismay of many an opponent. And as the old saying goes that big players make big plays when the team needs them most, Zabinsky consistently displayed that sense of when the team needed her to step up. Watching from the stands, I got to the point where I could see the look on her face when she decided that enough was enough, and she was going to take the ball to the hoop no matter what was in front of her. And there weren’t very many opponents who could do anything about it when she made that decision.

Manny Boyle

Wrestling

Boyle’s domination this season can’t be summed up in a list of his accomplishments.

That list is pretty amazing, though, as he won match after match on his way to the league title, the CIF title and a spot in the state meet at 126 pounds.

The thing about the diminutive senior is that he never looked like the domination he was inflicting on his opponents was all that difficult.

I think the kids call it “swag” these days, which I imagine is a shortened version of “swagger,” which is impossible to get unless you straight up earn it. When you think of the great athletes who let their performance do the talking, you know what “swag” is, and Boyle has it by the bucketful.

I especially enjoyed the Jaguars’ dual meet against Temecula Valley, in which Boyle slung his opponent up on his shoulders and stood there in the middle of the mat, taking in the proceedings like a man on a stroll through the park—while holding another person on his shoulders.

James Siva

Basketball

While the fall season seemed to be dominated by the giants of VCHS sports, the winter season was the time for the little guys to shine.

They don’t come much more overlooked than Siva, a five-foot-five senior who I inadvertently left out of the team’s winter sports preview in our quarterly magazine—a fact that James kindly brought to my attention via Facebook, which allowed me to include his name in the preview that ran in the newspaper.

Maybe the accidental snub lit a fire under Siva (I like to think so; it makes it seem like I helped), or, more likely, the fire he already had from his junior season carried over into a phenomenal senior year.

Siva was named team captain and wore the title with pride, leading the Jaguars with 16 points per game, three assists per game and two drawn charges per game. The Jags won the league title with 22 wins, a new school record for the boys basketball program.

Siva’s leadership and toughness characterized the Jaguars this season. Despite the fact that he was usually the shortest guy on the court, he never backed down from a challenge and his defensive assignment was often the other team’s best player. Siva’s creativity with the ball on offense helped his teammates exploit the weaknesses of the opposing defense, a creativity that stood out all the more considering that the team lacked a true center.

I may have left him off of the pre-season list, but after watching him play this season, I won’t make the mistake of leaving him off of this one.

Maddy Daugherty

Water Polo

When I interviewed Daugherty earlier this year, it didn’t take long to figure out that she’s the type of person who puts one hundred percent of herself into anything she does.

It’s not at all surprising, then, to find out that she led the Lady Jaguars’ water polo team—a team that featured a deep pool of talent and earned the No. 5 seed in the CIF Division III playoffs, no less—in every statistical category but one.

In her team’s 25 games this season, Daugherty scored 116 goals (that’s an average of more than 4.6 goals per game, by the way) and added 47 assists, 90 steals, eight blocks, 44 penalty shots earned, 37 exclusions earned and four sprints won. She was the team’s MVP, the Valley League Player of the Year and she earned honorable mention for the All-CIF Division III team.

Hannah Sanders

Soccer

The more I watch soccer, the more I’ve begun to see how important it is to have a player that can control the tempo of the game

The great midfield players in the world—Landon Donovan, Xavi, Wesley Sneijder, and the like—have the ability to impose a pace of their choosing on the players around them. With a heart-stopping hesitation move or a whoops-where’d-he-go first step past a defender, they can change the game dramatically.

Sanders plays the game at her speed, not anyone else’s. She seldom loses the ball, and much more often takes it away from an unwitting attacker, having picked up 87 steals this season. She dictates the flow of the game like a maestro conducting a symphony.

And she’s not bad on the finish, either, scoring eight goals on the year and adding 16 assists for a total of 28 points this season.

Joseph Mozon

Soccer

If the smooth midfield play of Hannah Sanders were to be compared to a symphony orchestra, the electrifying play of Joe Monzon would probably sound a little bit like punk rock.

Monzon attacked defenses with a speed and quickness that often surprised and baffled the opposition. His first step was lightning fast, and his creativity opened space time after time in situations that looked to be headed nowhere.

His efforts helped the Jaguars to an unprecedented level of success this season, as they won nine games and earned their first ever home playoff game as the No. 4 seed in the CIF Division IV playoffs. Monzon scored eight goals and added two assists and 37 steals in an outstanding junior season.

Sidney Reilly

Volleyball, Basketball, Track & Field

If you've lived in Valley Center for any amount of time, you probably know a Reilly when you see one. For one thing, if you see them around town, it’s a pretty good chance that they’re either coming from or headed to some kind of athletic event or practice. And if they’re coming from one, there’s a really good chance that their team just won.

Sidney is no different, and in some ways, she might even be the best of the bunch.

She showed her versatility throughout the year, working as both a blocker and an inside hitter for the volleyball team, then filling the indistinct role of a shooting guard/small forward for the basketball team with quickness and agility that often left her defender flat-footed.

But she saved the best performance for last, breaking record after record on the track and racking up the accolades along the way.

Reilly won four (four!) individual league championships this season, taking the title in the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, the long jump and as part of the 400 relay team. It’s hard enough to win one event, but to win the title in such different events would be like trying to build a house, a helicopter and an air conditioner with the same tools and materials.

She then went on to the CIF meet, where she finished second in both the hurdles races, third in the long jump and fifth in the 400 relay.

Along the way, Reilly set new school records in the two hurdles races and was named the Valley League Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.

And to top it all off, she quarterbacked the class of 2012 to a convincing win in the annual Powderpuff football game, rushing for the game-winning touchdown and adding a quarterback sack on defense.

Even coming from a family full of athletes, it’s hard to imagine that any other Reilly has accomplished so much in so many different sports.

Ronnie Bourguignon

Track & Field

It probably takes more time to type his last name that it does for him to run 100 meters, but that might even be true if his last name was “Smith.”

Bourguignon (that took 17 seconds!) led a Valley Center track team that broke record after record throughout the season, and set a new standard for future Jaguar sprinters.

Like Reilly, Bourguignon won four league titles this season, as he took both the 100 and the 200 and was part of winning teams in the 400 relay and 1,600 relay.

He then went on to win the CIF Division II crown in the 100 and finished second in the 200, which qualified him for both events in the state meet, making him the first Valley Center athlete to qualify for two events at state.

He set new school records in the 100, 200 and 1,600 relay and was named the Valley League Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.

It’s a good thing I took the time to learn how to spell his last name, because his performance this season ensured that it’s going to be a name we’ll remember for a long, long time.

MaKayla Markey

Swimming

Valley Center athletes enjoyed an unprecedented level of success this season, but none more so than Markey.

The junior swimmer didn’t just set a new record to cap off her phenomenal season—she broke six levels of records in a single swim.

At the CIF Division II finals in May, Markey won the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.3 seconds, just seven tenths of a second off of the national high school record for the event. With the blistering swim, Markey earned an All-American qualification and set a new CIF San Diego Section record for all divisions. The record also stands as the new mark for Division II, for the CIF championship meet, for Valley Center High School, and it beat Markey’s previous best time by more than a full second.

Her win in the 100 freestyle in 50.79 seconds was also good for an All-American qualifying time.

Markey consistently improved on her personal best times throughout the season leading up to the record-obliterating performance.

And considering that she’s only been swimming competitively for two years, I don’t think we can put the record books away just yet.

Paul Calac

Golf

Sometimes it can be a difficult task to get a high school kid to sit still and pay attention. I’m more than ten years removed from high school and I still have trouble hey look this pen is weird I should buy a boat!

OK, where was I? Oh right, focus. So much of what we can measure about the success of an athlete comes from their physical abilities that we can often overlook the mental aspects of competition.

It’s impossible to do so when talking about Calac, a gifted athlete who pushed his game to the absolute pinnacle with extraordinary work ethic and focus.

Ron Darland, the VCHS varsity golf coach, called Calac “The best golfer I’ve ever coached by far.” Darland spoke at length about Calac’s intensity, attention to detail, and ability to harness his skills in pressure-packed situations.

Calac won the Valley League Tournament for the second consecutive year and went on to finish in the top ten in the CIF tournament. He even made it into the field in the regional tournament in Pasadena, where he shot four-under par over the first four holes, then got into some trouble before bouncing back to finish three-under over the final three holes.

“He’s going to be the standard by which all other Valley Center golfers will be judged,” Darland said.

Alex Scoles

Softball

If you follow the NFL, you may have noticed that the so-called “Dream Team” of the Philadelphia Eagles turned out to be more like a nightmare. The Eagles signed a bunch of big name free agents and boasted a star-studded lineup, then went a mediocre 8–8 and missed the playoffs.

Ask any fan and they’ll tell you what the team was missing—character. Specifically, the kinds of players who exude selflessness, never give up, foster team chemistry and find ways to make everyone around them better.

That’s exactly what Scoles brought to the Lady Jaguars this season. She was the leadoff hitter and set the tone with her ability to do whatever she needed to do to get on base. On defense, she played all over the field—second base, centerfield, pitcher, third base—and kept making plays. In the dugout, she kept her teammates focused on the task at hand. She hustled on every ground ball, never gave up on a play, and looked like she was having a great time all the while.

And in the end, her stats were pretty good, too. She batted .445 with 49 hits, including five doubles, four triples and a home run, with 50 runs scored and 14 RBIs.

John Watkins

Football, Baseball

A thoughtful, quiet young man, Watkins projects a steady, calming vibe wherever he goes.

He was the backup quarterback and one of a talented group of wide receivers for the football team, where he played well when called upon.

But his most significant impact came on the baseball diamond, where he emerged as the Jaguars’ top pitcher. His focus and tenacity on the mound earned him a 6–2 record in his eight starts, and in his two relief appearances, he managed to pick up a save. He pitched three complete games, one of which was a shutout, and posted a solid 2.23 earned run average in 53.1 innings pitched. He allowed a total of 53 hits and only 15 walks, while striking out 25 batters.

He never put up flashy numbers, but his consistency kept the Jaguars in every game on their way through to the fourth round of the CIF Division IV playoffs. The steady calm he exuded helped him get out of tough jam after tough jam, and he earned the reputation for shutting down a rally before it could really take off.

Honorable Mention

JD Frankovich (football), Martin Cunningham (football), Laura Glennie (volleyball), Dan Henderson (cross-country/baseball), Kaylee Hudson (cross-country/track), Kaley Prudham (golf/soccer), Liz Loera (field hockey/soccer), Luke Marshall (water polo/swimming), Kevin Noguez (soccer), Jose “Nacho” Pais (soccer), Vinessa Perryman (basketball/track), Elsie Emanuel (water polo), Emma Sloman (softball), Savanna Fiehler (lacrosse), Garrett Fiehler (football/lacrosse), Marc Outwater (lacrosse), Ryan Stribley (tennis).

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There are your nominees for the 2012 Roadrunner Athlete of the Year, and if I may say so, it’s going to be a difficult job coming up with a winner out of so many deserving candidates.

If you would like to support one of these athletes, or if you have an athlete that you felt was undeservingly left off of this list, please write to me at sports@valleycenter.com this week to share your thoughts.