SBART Press Luncheon: Isabella Urlando and Brendon Cekada Earn Athlete of the Week Honors

Brendon Cekada led San Marcos to a sweep of Santa Barbara last week that clinched the Channel League title. | Credit: Victor Bryant

With the spring sports playoffs on the horizon players and coaches expressed their excitement for the stellar matchups and fierce competition that will ramp up over the next several weeks at Monday’s press luncheon.

SBCC swimming’s Isabella Urlando was recognized as the SBART female athlete of the week after she led the Vaqueros to the Western State Conference championship, and was the only female competitor to win three events at the meet.

Urlando broke three WSC and school records. She won 100 butterfly in 55.34, the No. 2 time in state; 100 backstroke in state-best time of 54.91, breaking the record by over 3 seconds; won 200 backstroke in a state-best time of 2:02.47, besting the conference record by over 10 seconds. In addition, she led SBCC to second-place finishes in four relays.

Isabella Urlando dominated at the WSC Championships.

“Izzy is a very special athlete. She is humble, diligent, hard working and kind as can be. I love seeing her smile and grow confident,” said SBCC Athletic Director LaDeane Hansten reading a statement from SBCC swim coach Chuckie Roth. “She is a great person and I am very happy for her.”

Fresh off a sweep of rival Santa Barbara, San Marcos high baseball player Brendon Cekada received the SBART male Athlete of the Week award. He doubled in the 11th inning and scored the game-winning run in the Royals 6-5 victory over Santa Barbara in the first game. In the second game, he had two hits, including a two-run single in a 7-1 win over the Dons in the second game.

“After the game on Tuesday he talked about how he’d rather be one-for-six and come through for the team at the end than five-for six and not come through,” said San Marcos baseball coach Wes Ghan-Gibson. “That’s the type of kid he is.”

Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award

Teleios Zermeno received the Phil Womble Ethics in Sports award for Providence School after demonstrating the highest standard of ethics and sportsmanship. He boasts a 4.16 GPA with over 50 community service hours while competing in beach volleyball and track and field.

Teleios’ primary sport is actually ice hockey where he plays on the Santa Barbara Royals varsity team and spends lots of time volunteering for the youth ice hockey camp in the summers. He is coming off setting the school record in the 400 meter with a time of 54.18 at the Santa Barbara County Championships this past Saturday.

“He is an incredibly hard worker, who shows up everyday,” said Providence Athletic Director and track and field coach Evan Covell. “He is all about doing whatever it takes to get our team the league championship.”

Westmont Scholar Athlete of the Year

Daniel Rubin of Westmont cross country and track and field was recognized as the Scholar Athlete of the Year for Westmont at Monday’s press luncheon.

Academically, Rubin maintains a 3.97 GPA and earned the Physics department’s outstanding senior award earlier on Monday.

Daniel Rubin is Westmont’s Scholar Athlete of the Year.

“Track is a hard sport to always love. I was wrestling with the concept of competing in college,” Rubin said. “Through meeting with coach Smelley and spending time with him on the track I can now say that now after four years I love track more than I ever have.”

Dos Pueblos Beach Volleyball Claims Channel League Championship

The No.1 pairing of Lucy Spire and Chloe Hoffman claimed the first official Channel League pairs championship 21-14, 21-5 on Saturday at West Beach. Dos Pueblos also clinched the Channel League team title with a 4-1 victory over Santa Barbara on Wednesday.

“I’m going to miss these two. This is their last year here and I have been fortunate to be their coach for their four years,” said Dos Pueblos coach Mike Fitzgerald. “These two are pretty self motivated. I kind of just get the luxury of rolling the ball out to them and letting them take over from there.”

For Chloe Hoffman it is her fourth consecutive Channel League Pairs Championship, but this season for the first time it will result in a berth into the CIF-SS individual tournament.

Spire will be playing beach volleyball at USF next year and Hoffman will be playing at Stanford. The Chargers are 13-1 overall this season. They will play the winner of Harvard Westlake and San Clemente in the playoffs on Thursday.