When everybody was looking for the Santa Ynez Valley Unified High School baseball program to continue dominating the Los Padres League (LPL) this spring, Cabrillo High School shortstop Dylan Maiden and his teammates had other plans. The Conquistadores dethroned the Pirates in the LPL this season, winning their first outright league title in more than […]
PETER JOHNSON
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Alexandra Stewart
Righetti High School senior Alexandra Stewart simply couldn’t envision her soccer career coming to an end after graduation. So, she decided to extend it another four years. Stewart, a standout center midfielder for Righetti, signed a letter of intent on May 12 to play soccer for Cal Lutheran University next fall. Stewart said the decision […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Cultivating inclusion: Lompoc and Cabrillo high schools pilot unified basketball teams welcoming disabled students
Lompoc High School special education teacher Marjorie Ledgerwood immediately felt the impact and recognized the possibilities. Ledgerwood was in the San Francisco Bay Area, immersing herself in the “unified” sports programs at Freedom High School. Unified athletics are school sports teams that are inclusive to students with intellectual disabilities. The idea is to create teams […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Keith Moles
Even though he was just crowned Most Valuable Player of the PAC 8 for 2016, Righetti High School junior Keith Moles insists he hasn’t played his best golf yet this spring. “I feel like I’m really close to getting really low numbers in these next couple tournaments,” he told the Sun. What score constitutes a […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Small town heroes: Three Orcutt Academy standout athletes commit to college sports programs
It’s that time of year, when our favorite local prep stars are announcing where they’ll take their talents in the fall. While the city of Santa Maria breeds college-level athletes left and right, neighboring Orcutt is a smaller community with a still-developing high school sports culture. Joining the Los Padres League in 2014, Orcutt Academy […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Blake Lockhart
Great athletes can often point to moments in their careers when, in retrospect, a particular choice that they made decisively altered their paths. Blake Lockhart, a senior at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, can say he’s already had two of those moments in his budding volleyball career. The first occurred while he was a […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Jon Johnson
It’s entirely possible that a Nipomo High School boys’ tennis team would not exist if not for Titan senior and No. 1 singles player Jon Johnson. Johnson vouched for a team when it didn’t exist during his freshman and sophomore years. He rallied his friends and collected signatures from interested students. “When I was going […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Maxine Lopez
Ernie Garcia, head softball coach at Pioneer Valley High School, said that there’s one player on his team who, after every game, without fail, garners unsolicited praise from attendees. “Anybody who comes to watch our games always comments on our second baseman,” Garcia said. “They don’t even know who she is, but they notice her. […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Ready for championships: Chock-full of talent, St. Joseph’s track and field team is peaking at the right time
Track and field is a sport of inches and milliseconds. Just ask St. Joseph High School senior shot putter Kaitlyn Jarret, who slings a 9-pound iron ball (called the “shot”) 37 feet—a distance good for first place at the Russell Cup on April 16 and second place at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational on April 8. […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Jacob Tonascia
Baseball can be a frustrating game. Getting a hit in 30 percent of your opportunities is considered success. Anything worse than that can feel unbearable. Even though Jacob Tonascia, Allan Hancock College’s slugging first baseman, went hitless in the three games prior to blasting a grand slam and knocking in five runs against L.A. Pierce […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
One last hurrah: Santa Maria athletes unite at Kiwanis Club Basketball Spectacular to benefit youth
Kiwanis Club of Santa Maria Valley hosted the 26th annual Central Coast Basketball Spectacular on April 9 at Nipomo High School, and the event was, once again, a big hit. The bona fide all-star game brought together the top high school seniors—boys and girls— from teams all over Northern Santa Barbara County, and squared them […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Jessi Van der Laan
St. Joseph High School senior swimmer Jessi Van der Laan probably wouldn’t be where she is now—competing for a spot in the state swim meet and receiving attention from multiple college coaches—if it weren’t for one fateful day during her childhood while living in Canada. “My dad is in the military so we moved to […]
