Athlete of the Week Articles

St. Joseph High School girls’ soccer forward Corby Burress got off to just about as great a start as she could hope for to her 2017-18 season. The junior standout found the net twice in the Knights’ opening game, a 3-0 route of Cabrillo High School on Nov. 28. In addition to securing the first […]

After the snap, Santa Maria High School wide receiver John Ramos took off downfield, and his quarterback, Blake Truhitte, threw him a bomb. Ramos had a step on the Montebello Schurr cornerback, and both players leapt for the football. It ricocheted off their hands and seemed destined to hit the ground. But Ramos stayed with […]

Of all the sports to choose from as a kid, Nipomo High School junior Devin Diaz said he was always drawn to running. His father is a former professional baseball player for the Milwaukee Brewers and his mother is an avid runner; Diaz gravitated toward his mom’s pastime. But he inherited both his parents’ competitive […]

Last year, as a sophomore on the Santa Ynez High School varsity volleyball team, Gillian Wilks admits she “barely said anything” all season. At the time she was more comfortable letting the juniors and seniors on the team lead the way. “I observed how the seniors would play, and what I could do to make […]

Allan Hancock College’s star running back, Ryheem Skinner, hails from the tiny town of Clinton, North Carolina, a rural community of 8,000 residents. He came a long way to lead his California junior college football team to its best season in nearly 20 years. The freshman ran for 144 yards and three touchdowns in a […]

Injuries could have derailed Vanessa Gomez’s softball career several times. But she wouldn’t let them. First it was a broken ankle when she was 11. Then it was a bone spur that required surgery at 13. Last spring, it was a torn ACL and another surgery. Each time misfortune struck, Gomez stayed patient, rehabbed, and […]

The junior and sophomore, respectively, are the Spartans’ (14-3) two top singles players, and, on Oct. 19, they helped inch the team a step closer to a Los Padres League championship, edging out second place Cabrillo High School, 71-65. While Orcutt head coach Art Lopez called Vise, “pretty much the best player in the league,” […]

When Santa Maria High School senior Cesar Ayuso started running cross country for the first time his sophomore year, neither he nor his Saints teammates knew what winning meant or felt like. But over the past three years, Ayuso has witnessed himself and his team grow from the ground up. With unwavering hard work and […]

For Dino Maldonado, transferring from Ernest Righetti High School to St. Joseph High School two years ago and joining the Knights football team was like getting adopted into a new family. Maldonado rose to a top position in that family quickly—becoming the Knights’ starting quarterback as a junior and filling the big shoes of outgoing […]

Righetti High School golfer Sarah Fouratt is off to a great start in accomplishing her senior season goal of winning the coveted PAC-8 league title. The Warriors took home first place honors in the PAC-8 “mini tournament” at the Santa Maria Country Club on Sept. 28, and Fouratt shot the lowest score out of all […]

Tracy Ward was 8 years old when she got her first pony for Christmas. She’s been on horseback ever since. Now an instructor at Eagle Flight Farm in Los Olivos, Ward owns five horses and told the Sun that she rides daily. “It’s pretty much a full-time job,” she said. “If I’m not riding, I’m […]

It’s safe to say that running is not everyone’s idea of fun, nor is it something a lot of people do voluntarily because they enjoy it. But St. Joseph High School’s freshman cross country runner, Katie Magni, truly enjoys running and competing in races. “In my opinion, it just feels good to run,” Magni said. […]