Through all three sports seasons
– fall, winter and spring – the senior athletes at Gilroy High
School excelled on various playing surfaces.
Through all three sports seasons – fall, winter and spring – the senior athletes at Gilroy High School excelled on various playing surfaces.
In Chelsea Hill’s case, the water, too. But I will get to that later.
It’s a unique situation to be involved with a diverse spectrum of teenage personalities as they strive to meet and exceed their potential.
Prep sports can be mentally draining just as much as physically taxing. Outside pressures and distractions inundate these students at a feverish rate. For these players to be able to balance school, sports social lives is an accomplishment in and of itself – without forgetting to mention, a high percentage of these athletes jump from sport to sport, smoothly making the transition and contributing in each.
Every one of these graduating senior student-athletes deserve kudos for their commitment to their team(s) and to the classroom. Because if you don’t make the grades, you don’t get to play.
I find it challenging to single out just a couple of these outstanding individuals. So I won’t. There’s just simply too many to choose from, and I won’t get to all of them in this space. But it has been enjoyable thinking back to all the highlights provided by this batch of senior athletes over the last year.
Good luck to you all in your new ventures.
Unstoppable: No best-of list for GHS this year would be complete without, or should start with someone other than, Dani Hemeon, who is headed to the University of Iowa on scholarship to play field hockey.
The multi-sport star capped an astonishing four-year career in three sports – field hockey, basketball and softball – helping to lead those teams deep into the playoffs and twice into championship contests (field hockey and softball) this season.
Hemeon was awarded Athlete of the Year at GHS’s annual Senior Awards Banquet – and deservedly so. Her impact on the field, on campus and in the community has been unwavering. Her credentials list is a mile long and include Mount Hamilton Division Most Valuable Player, CCS First-Team and Team MVP, this year alone. Hemeon’s field hockey prowess reaches beyond Gilroy, and before making her way to Iowa in the fall, Hemeon will set up shop in Virginia Beach as a participant in the USA Junior High Performance Women’s National Championships.
Always enthusiastic: Katelyn Nebesnick played a majority of the field hockey season on a bum knee, had surgery, and still came back to play the final two games with the GHS soccer team. Nebesnick, too, has a collegiate career ahead of her, signing with Cal State Stanislaus. Nebesnick received GHS’s Paul Thompson Inspirational Athlete.
Clutch city: The aforementioned Chelsea Hill carried two teams on her shoulders during her senior campaign – and did it with undeniable joy and passion.
Hill was almost impossible to stop as hole set for the Tri-County Athletic League champion GHS water polo team. Able to take control of a game at the beckon of head coach Sean LaGuardia, scoring sprees of three-plus goals at a time were not just common but expected. Hill was just as effective on the hardwood, serving as catalyst for Tim Jones and the Mustangs basketball team – another league title winner. Hill’s mere presence alone shifted opponents’ game plan’s. Hill will suit up for Biola University next season and was awarded the Sal Tomasello Sportsmanship Award.
Off they go: It happened to be a phenomenal nine months for the female competitors at GHS, and in addition to Hemeon, Nebesnick and Hill, seven other athletes (Aubrey Young – Saint Louis, Emily Costa – UC Davis, Stephanie Rodriguez – William Jessup, Melanie Morelos – University of Hawaii at Hilo, Lindsay Holt – Chapman, Jasmine Yanez – College of San Mateo and Sarah Lorraine Lira – St. Mary’s) signed letters of intent toward four-year universities over the course of the school year.
One of a kind: Yanez, in some ways, is the pioneer for female wrestling at GHS. A sport dominated by the Mustangs over the last decade, Yanez’s carried her weight for four seasons. Yanez received the Distinguished Athlete award.
Quiet confidence: Dietrich Baumgartner’s soaring approach as he glided to the net looked in slow motion. The force behind his right-handed swing and subsequent booming sound his hand created as he spiked the volleyball was worthy of replay. The high of the moment was similar to a build up of a note he and his choir mates delivered each time they sang the National Anthem prior to GHS basketball games. It must’ve felt to his opponents like those gym-shaking hits were on repeat, and most of the time, they were, say between 20 and 30 times per match. Baumgartner was the glue in Gilroy’s run to its first volleyball league championship in school history this season. That’s definitely something to sing about. Baumgartner was presented the Distinguished Athlete award.
Dedicated leader: One of the more consistent cross country runners to come out of GHS, Tim Williams, humbly led a perennially competitive GHS squad. He will attend San Jose State in the fall and has shifted his running to the marathon circuit, recently qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
All about fast: Speaking of running, speed became synonymous with Julius Travis, Romeo Travis and David Guenther, three-fourths of the two-time section champion 4×100 relay team. That trio, though, not only served GHS well on the oval, but in different arenas as well.
The Travis brothers’ athleticism left defenders in the dust during their time on the football team, while Guenther decided a return to soccer for his senior year seemed fitting. The always-hyper Guenther provided a spark in Armando Padilla’s defensive third – which proved vital in the Mustangs’ league championship.
Game changer: On that same soccer squad, Jorge Sanchez, a cornerstone forward for the Mustangs, had the size, the speed and the ball-handling skills that gave would-be defenders fits in proximity of the scoring area. A four-year impact player, Sanchez battled back from injury to maintain an elevated level of play.
Shimmy-shake: Taking advantage of his starting role at point guard, Cameron Yawary’s quirky, acrobatic, but affective get-to-the-hoop mentality made for some jaw-dropping layups in the tightest of circumstances under the basket. Even suffering a broken nose midway through the season had little effect on Yawary’s lane penetration. He not only made defenders pay on the drive, but give him time to set up beyond the arc and he was just as deadly.
All-Fall Senior Team
Cordero Gonzales – Football; Dani Hemeon – Field Hockey; Alex Rose – Field Hockey; Chelsea Hill – Water Polo;
Eric Vegas – Football
Fall Team of the Year: Field hockey
Moving into the vaunted Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, the Mustangs quickly established their right to be in the elite league. The season included just three losses and the program’s first trip to the Central Coast Section finals in 25 years.
The Mustangs also knocked off rival Los Gatos for the first time in five years, defeating the Wildcats 3-1 in a regular-season matchup. Los Gatos enacted its revenge in the CCS finals with a 3-1 victory of their own.
Twelve seniors (Alex Rose, Dani Hemeon, Tayler Schaut, Emily Costa, Shayna Robledo, Aubrey Young, Stephanie Gomez, Jessica Gonzalez, Katelyn Nebesnick, Alyssa Kroeger, Tianna Huddlestun and Amanda Poso) played in 2010-11.
All-Winter Senior Team
Jasmine Yanez – Wrestling; Ashley Lambert – Basketball; Cameron Yawary – Basketball; Jorge Sanchez – Soccer; Indra Garcia – Soccer
Winter Team of the Year: Boys soccer
At the beginning of the season, head coach Armando Padilla looked up and down his sideline and saw the potential.
He just wasn’t sure what he was going to get from his players.
After a grueling three months, the Mustangs were Tri-County Athletic League champions for the first time in four seasons.
With strong senior leadership from Jorge Sanchez up top, Abraham Arreaga and Kristian Urias in the middle and Jose Gabino Ramirez and David Guenther in the back, the Mustangs slayed two dragons – defeating Alisal for the first time in four years and dethroning the reigning champs with an 11-1 league record.
All-Spring Senior Team
Julius Travis, Romeo Travis, David Guenther – Track: Dietrich Baumgartner – Volleyball: Sarah Lorraine Lira – Softball: Stephanie Rodriguez – Softball: Gavin Menges – Volleyball
Spring Team of the Year: Softball
Looking around the diamond, a band of seniors held tight the core of the 2010-11 Mustangs.
Though they walked off the field after the Central Coast Section Division I championship game as runners-up, seniors Lindsay Holt, Stephanie Rodriguez, Elaina Vasquez, Sarah Lorraine Lira, Dani Hemeon, Melanie Morelos and Stephanie Gomez leave GHS as some of the winningest players to put on the blue and white.
Some played all four years on the team, some three, some two, but in a four-year span, this group was part of 78 victories.
This season alone, the Mustangs piled up 25, the most since the 2006-07 season. GHS had four First-Team All-TCAL selections and 10 award winners in all.
