Golden Valley’s Wyan, El Capitan’s Stokes named MVPs

Marissa Wyan and Hope Stokes were the heart of their water polo teams, leading the squads in scoring.

Wyan led Golden Valley to its first Central California Conference championship since 2007. Stokes led El Capitan to its second consecutive Western Athletic Conference title.

They were named the MVP of their respective conferences.

“Marissa was the Golden Valley team leader,” said Cougars coach Bill Gossett. “She led in the water. She led out of the water. She was calm and assertive. When the team was down, Marissa picked them up. When we had a bad game, she was the one to say we need to get our act together. She was the glue of the Golden Valley team.”

Wyan scored 40 goals to lead the Cougars to an 8-2 record in the CCC.

Stokes was just as important to the Gauchos, collecting 75 goals and 33 assists.

“Hope is an all-around player. She plays great team defense and will take over on offense to help win close games,” said El Capitan coach Kristie Dunham, who was named the WAC Coach of the Year. “She is what I consider a money player.”

Golden Valley and El Capitan also had the top goalies in the league in Sky Cyr (Cougars) and Toni Perez (Gauchos).

“Sky changed the way Golden Valley plays water polo,” Gossett said. “She allowed me to gamble constantly. She was one of the main reasons we were able to beat Merced the first time. I was confident we could leave people open and Sky would block their shots.”

Metztli Enriquez and Alexandria Jasso were named to the all-WAC first team from El Capitan. They were joined by Dani Flores (Pacheco), Kaitlin Downward (Los Banos), Irene Duke (Los Banos), Julia Pata (Ceres) and Dani Brusenski (Livingston).

The CCC first team was comprised of Merced’s Kathryn Elgin and Stephanie Hart, Buhach Colony’s Gwynne McBride, Golden Valley’s Anna Neufeld, Atwater’s Delilah Medina and Turlock’s Hannah Groteguth.

All-CCC Boys Water Polo

After leading the Merced boys on an undefeated run to a CCC championship, the Bears’ Abraham Santana was selected as the MVP by the conference coaches.

Santana did it all for the Bears, recording 41 goals, 39 assists and 51 steals in 10 CCC games.

Earning first-team honors were Cody Costa (Golden Valley), Ethan Eagleton (Merced), Connor Norton (Atwater), Tristan Howard (Buhach Colony), Jared Bernardi (Turlock), Angus McLeod (Golden Valley), Alec Propes (Merced) and Luke van Warmerdam (Atwater).

The all-WAC boys team has not been announced.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Golden Valley’s Wyan, El Capitan’s Stokes named MVPs."