Los Banos players sweep basketball MVP awards, athletes shine at CCC track finals
The Los Banos High boys and girls basketball team both celebrated championship seasons with perfect runs through the Western Athletic Conference.
The two teams combined to go 19-0 this spring. The girls went 11-0 overall and 8-0 in the WAC South Division, winning their 11 games by an average of 27.3 points per game. The boys went 8-0 in the WAC South Division, but had to win some tight games against Beyer and Ceres.
“The biggest challenge was staying healthy,” said Tigers girls coach Lorinda Sanchez, who had two girls quarantined during the season after there were a couple positive tests in the Los Banos volleyball program.
The Los Banos girls were down to seven players a couple time and played one game with just six players.
“It was a stressful way to go through a season,” Sanchez said. “Every week you’re worried about your players testing negative. It’s tough when you have some of your players playing two or three sports. You worry they might get it from somewhere else.”
Both teams were able to navigate the season successfully and win championships.
Los Banos’ Anissa Sanchez and DaMari Tate were both named WAC South Division MVPs, respectively for the girls and boys.
Anissa averaged 17.4 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game for the Tigers.
“She was the leader on the court and made sure to get her teammates involved,” Sanchez said. “She helped our two freshmen get to our level and speed. She was our leading scorer, our leader in assists, steals and second in rebounds. She was very positive all the time.”
Tate averaged 24.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and six assists for the boys this season.
“He’s a great scorer, great leader and great rebounder,” said Tigers coach Gonzalo Rodriguez. “He was unselfish as well. Every time we needed a score we went to him. Anytime we needed anything we went to him and he’d come through for us.”
Los Banos’ Hans Emerson and Kayson Welch were both named to the all-WAC South Division first team by the league coaches. Pacheco center Tangata Tuitupou also received first-team honors.
On the girls side, Los Banos freshman America Ordunez was named to the all-WAC South Division first team after averaging 11.2 points per game. Pacheco seniors Ariannah Sanchez and Lauren Greer also were named to the first team.
CCC Track Championships
The Central California Conference held one last showcase for local athletes this week at the CCC Finals at Golden Valley High School.
There were plenty of impressive performances with many athletes winning multiple events.
El Capitan junior Anaya Shelton won three gold medals with victories in the 100-meter dash (12.87 seconds), 200 (26.07) and 400 (1:00.72).
On the boys side, Buhach Colony senior Jimmie Summers also won three individual events with victories in the 800 (2:02.40), 1600 (4:33.80) and 3200 (10:28.40).
El Capitan senior Divine Peters won two individual events with victories in the 100 (10.91) and 200 (21.96). Peters also helped the Gauchos win the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Other double-winners on the boys side were Golden Valley’s Mason Phillips with wins in the the shot put (48 feet, 10.5 inches) and discus (143-08) and Atwater’s Azim Muldrow with victories in the high jump (6 feet) and triple jump (40-09.5).
Merced’s Isabel Perez-Zoghbi picked up wins in the 1600 (5:41.10) and the 300 hurdles (48.58). Perez-Zoghbi also helped the Bears 4x400 relay team win with a time of 4:14.09.
Other double-winners from the girls’ finals were Livingston’s Breanna Espinoza in the shot put (40-02) and discus (128-06) and Wolves teammate Alizabeth Huerta with wins in the long jump (16-06.5) and triple jump (35-04.75).
A complete list of the CCC Finals results can be found here.
This story was originally published June 14, 2021 at 8:02 AM.
