Players, coaches honored for efforts

For the last time this school year, parents and athletes congregated in the Peoples Church gym to give out awards and recognition for the spring sports, May 7. The banquet recognized baseball, softball, boys tennis, track, and golf.

Coaches got the chance to share highlight some memories from the season and present awards to their respective teams, including MVP and Rookie of the Year. At the banquet, this year’s male and female athlete of the year was announced.

The awards for varsity baseball were given to Christian Castro, ‘20, who was awarded the Cy Young Award. Ronald Peterson, ‘19, was the recipient of the Silver Slugger Award. Roman Endicott, ‘18, won the Gold Glove Award and Rookie of the Year was awarded to Ty Coffman, ‘20.

Baseball coach Noah Heinz looks forward to continuing to build the baseball program.

“This season has been a rollercoaster ride, we got off to a hot start, got onto an eight and one record, and we were rolling well before a couple of injuries, and we lost a couple players to some other trips, whether it was journalism in New York or Choir,” Heinz said. “We are continuing to try to build our program here. We had success at the Junior High level, this year they went to the championship game. We have a good contingent of elementary players that are going to feed into the junior high program and we have some junior high players that are going to feed into the high school program to continue the success we’ve had over the last few years.”

Peterson, the recipient of the Silver Slugger award, receiving this award for his second year. He is happy to notice he has been staying consistent. He hopes to see himself playing at the next level and the team getting more wins in next year’s season.

“The Silver Slugger Award is given to the most productive hitter on the team,” Peterson said. “It feels good that my hard work has been paying off and has been recognized by the coaching staff. I was the recipient of the award last year, it feels good that I am able to stay a good consistent hitter. The best part of the season so far would have to be beating Minarets because they are the number one seed in division five. I would like to achieve playing at the next level as far as next years team I would like to see the team continue to get better and win more.”

Varsity softball awards consisted of the Eagle Award going to Natalya Hill, ‘18, Erin Wilson, ‘18, received the Coaches Award, and Mariana Fikse, ’18, was given the Most Improved Award. The Offensive Player of the Year Award went to Alina Davila, ‘19, and Jordyn Boyer, ‘20, was awarded MVP.

MVP Jordyn Boyer appreciated receiving the award; she enjoyed the games where the team was able to work together as a whole. She thinks the season was very successful but would like to see a better record next year.

“It was a wonderful experience for me to get awarded MVP,” Boyer said. “It made me feel like I was truly a blessing to this team. I feel like the best part of the season was the most recent games we have had. We really came together and worked hard as a whole team. This made winning a lot more fun.

“Yes, I would say this season was very successful,”Boyer continued. “Everyone on the team has really grown as a softball player and as a person. We really have been working hard, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else. In the next season, I would like to achieve beating this year’s record with wins and losses. I feel like next years team could be even better than this years. We really need to continue to work hard and really put the effort in. I see a bright future in next years season.”

Varsity boys tennis awards were given to Alex Rurik, ‘19, Jaden Ventura, ‘18, John Monke, ‘19, and Reese Brown, ‘19, who were all awarded the Coaches Award. Braden Bell, ‘20, received the Most Improved Award.

Tennis coach Robert Foshee thinks that this has been a great season and that the team has a lot of potentials. He has enjoyed getting to see the team get closer as the season goes on.

“This has been a great learning season,” Foshee said. “We have a young team that has a lot of potentials.  Since graduating 6 seniors last year, players have had to step into new leadership roles. Our players spent a lot of time in the preseason practicing and getting better at their game.  

“We’ve had some challenges throughout the year with so many school functions and New York trips that we never had a match with everyone present,” Foshee continued. “Now that playoffs are upon us, I think we could just now be reaching our stride.  It’s been a great year for this team! I think the best highlight throughout the year has been how our team has gotten closer as the season has gone along. We have a lot of young, new players and it’s been amazing seeing the older players include them and come together as a team.”

Reese Brown was awarded the Coaches Award and has enjoyed the undefeated season.

“It felt good to be given an award for my progress this season,” Brown said. “I grew a lot over the summer and it was great that the coaches saw that. The best part of this season so far is going undefeated in playoffs and finding out that we are going to host Valleys. Next year I expect us to at least get to Valleys, if not win it.”

The track team awards consisted of Jacob Hyatt, ‘21, receiving Male Track Athlete of the Year and Bethany Pouliot, ‘19, being awarded Female Track Athlete of the Year. Andrew Rieker, ‘21, was given the Coaches Award and Jonah Lozano was the recipient of the Rookie of the Year Award.

Coach Michael Fuller sees the season as being very successful since the beginning.

“We started the season well at our first meet, the Fowler Redcat Relays in March,” Fuller said. “Several athletes performed very well that day and the achievement bar pretty high. As the season progressed, we had to deal with weather postponements, injuries and athletes being gone for various school activities. At the end of the season, the team was able to perform well at the league championship meet; the girls team placed 2nd in the league championship, with only seven athletes competing, the varsity boys placed 3rd, with only six athletes competing, and the freshman boys placed 3rd, with only three athletes in the freshman/sophomore championship.

“Having three athletes win league championships, and two other athletes, as well as our relay teams taking 2nd place at the league meet, was a definite highlight,” Fuller continued. “Several athletes set personal records in multiple events and Bethany Pouliot set a new school record of 32’10” in the triple jump, besting the previous record by four inches.”

From ‘Most Improved’ to the ‘Eagle Award’ spring sports athletes are honored for their participation and achievements on the teams. @fresnochristian #TheFeather #FCgolf #FCboystennis #FCbaseball #FCsoftball #FCtrack pic.twitter.com/3Ppkkl2V2w

— The Feather Online (@thefeather) May 8, 2018

Fuller hopes to continue to build the program from year to year.

“I think we have a good foundation to build on for success in future years,” Fuller said. “There are six freshmen, four sophomores and five juniors on this year’s team. If we can get six to seven new athletes every year from the incoming freshman classes, we will be able to build a very strong program.”

The golf team gave out a variety of six awards. MVP was given to Julian Segura, ‘19. Blake Deffenbacher, ‘20, received the Achievement Award, Charles Gong, ‘20, was the recipient of the Contribution Award, and Zane Muñoz was awarded the Effort Award. The Most Improved Award went to Matthew Peterson, ‘20, and the Character award was given to Matthew Sue, ’18.

Matthew Peterson, ’20, who received the Most Improved award, enjoyed getting to see himself get better as the season progressed and has already set in place some goals for next years season.

“I enjoyed watching myself get better at golf because it makes the game more fun,” Peterson said. “It felt great because it showed me that my hard work paid off. My favorite moment of the season was winning the league championship. Next season I would like to be able to hit my driver 500 yards.”

Brent Deffenbacher, stepped up from the assistant coach position he held last year to coach the golf team this year. He appreciates the blessings that have come to the team this year with new assistant coaches and a new home course and he hopes to continue to see a growth in the golf program.

“I would summarize this as a season of transition for our Varsity Golf Team,” Deffenbacher said.  “After Coach Hopper’s retirement, there were many unknowns in regard to the program’s future. As I served as the Assistant Coach last year, I was able to provide bridge leadership from last year, in addition to adding both Cameron Deleare & Vic Gunderson as assistant coaches. We were also able to make Copper River Country Club our home course, which was a huge blessing for not only FC but our entire league.

“It was encouraging to field a full golf squad last year, which we were not able to accomplish last year,” Deffenbacher continued. “Also, it was incredible for FC to not only go undefeated and win the league. It was also fantastic to see Julian Segura, ’19, and Blake Deffenbacher, ’20, take first and second place individually in the league. I’m encouraged to see a renewed interest and excitement surrounding golf at Fresno Christian. We are in a strong position to not only defend league next year but progress deeper into the statewide competition. The future is bright for Fresno Christian golf.”

At the banquet, the 2018 athlete’s of the year were announced. Cayla Rivas was awarded Female Athlete of the Year and Tyler Villines was awarded Male Athlete of the Year. The choice for the athlete of the year comes from how many sports they played, what awards they won and the playing opportunities they were presented with.

Spring sports are still continuing to wrap up their successful seasons.

For more articles, read Join the Discussion: Teacher Appreciation Week 2018 or Book Review: Once an Arafat Man.

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