Record-Bee to honor top athletes, coaches
No shortage of talent among boys, girls finalists
TheLakeCounty Record-Bee will announce its Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year winners later this month based on results of the 2019-20 high school sports season.
Criteria for selecting the award, which began following the 1987-88 sports season, was modified this year to account for the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out all but the first few weeks of the spring sports season.
To be eligible for the award in 2019-20, athletes need to compete in just one varsity sport (down from two in past years), be juniors or seniors, and be in good academic standing at their respective schools. Only CIFsponsored sports count.
All-League awards as well as input from coaches and sports officials are the primary factors in picking the Athlete of the Year winners. Nominees for both the boys and girls awards are reduced to a final five during the course of the sports season.
Coach of the Year nominees need only coach one sport.
The Record-Bee chooses the winners for all awards.
Athlete of the Year finalists for the 2019-20 sports season are, among the girls, graduated senior Allison Bryant (volleyball, basketball) of Kelseyville, graduated senior Shaelyn McIntire (volleyball, basketball) of Clear Lake, incoming senior Sophie Kucer (soccer, basketball) of Middletown, graduated senior Abbey Brown (volleyball, basketball) of Middletown, and incoming senior Brianna Alves (soccer, basketball) of Middletown.
Finalists among the boys are Lower Lake incoming senior Vann Wilkins, Middletown graduated senior Jared Pyzer, Clear Lake graduated senior Darius Ford, Clear Lake graduated senior Jaron Mertle, and Clear Lake graduated senior Travis Howe.
Last year’s Athlete of the Years winners were Upper Lake seniors Adriana Lopez and Junior Fernandez. Coaches of the Year were Don Cobb (Middletown) in girls sports and Scott De Leon (Clear Lake) and Bill Foltmer (Middletown) in boys sports.
Five athletes have won the award in consecutive years — Kyle Ellis (Kelseyville) among the boys and Shannon Melville (Upper Lake), Brittany Rumfelt (Clear Lake), Kelsey Welton (Middletown) and Ashlyn Welton (Middletown) among the girls.
Of the 66 athletes to receive the award, Kelseyville leads the pack with 21 award followed by Clear Lake with 19, Middletown with 12, Upper Lake with 10 and Lower Lake with four.