5 local seniors named winter sports league players of the year

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Mar. 21, 2023) — Four local soccer athletes and one basketball player, all seniors and each from a different school, were named most valuable players when the Diablo and East Bay athletic leagues announced their winter sports all-league teams.

Lauren Kenney was the EBAL player of the year for the Carondelet soccer team, which won league and North Coast Section championships before losing a heartbreaker in the CIF Northern California championship game.

Marco Jara led Clayton Valley Charter boys soccer to the No. 1 ranking for much of the season as the DAL Foothill offensive co-MVP. Ananda Walker won the same honor for College Park girls in the DAL Foothill Division. This week Jara was further named MaxPreps player of the year.

Angel Diaz was the defensive MVP for Concord in DAL Valley Division soccer.

Leniyah Fulsom was co-MVP of the DAL Valley Division basketball season for Ygnacio Valley.

Diablo Athletic League (local schools), Carondelet and De La Salle soccer, basketball and wrestling athletes getting all-league honors):

Boys Basketball

DAL Foothill: 1^st team – Elijah Perryman (Clayton Valley Charter); 2nd team- Jake Andrus (Northgate), Jake King, James Moore  (CVC), Connor Moore (College Park); Honorable Mention – Julian Plaza (CVC), CJ Agulles (NG)

DAL Valley: 1^st team – Deshawn Williams (MD), Jermaine Patton, Loyal Morris (Ygnacio Valley); 2^nd team – Anthony Foster (Con), Todd Taum Jr. (Mt. Diablo), Antonio Kellogg Jr. (YV); HM- Evan McKnight (YV), Charles Mathis III (MD)

DLS: 1^st team – Alec Blair; 2^nd team – Billy Haggerty; HM- Evan Wells

Girls Basketball

DAL Foothill: 1^st team- Soo-Jin Berry (CVC); 2^nd team – Tade Scheid (NG); HM – Hana Neuman, Amelia Schrag (NG), Sophia Groce (CVC)

DAL Valley: Co-MVP – Leniyah Fulsom (YV); 1^st team- Natalie Dance, Makayla Powell (MD), Nyela Pete (CP); 2^nd team – Misa Le, Sabrina Strode (CP), K’is Brooks, Sa’rye Starks (YV); HM – Jorena Olivar (MD), Ciara Quesada (Con), Taylor Ochoa (CP)

Carondelet: 1^st team – Keisha Vitalicio; 2nd team – Jamie Kent, Allie Cummins

Girls Soccer

DAL Foothill: Co-MVP Offense – Ananda Walker (CP); 1^st team- Erika Upson, Hailey Halford (CP), Jules Colchico, Sarah Burkes (NG), Luz Hernandez (CVC); 2^nd team – Kaitlyn Crossman, Helana Ban (CP), Abigail Schumann (CVC), Sarah Cantiago, Keira Lund (NG); HM- Brooke Rickenbacher, Emily Beeson, Amanda West (CVC), Reagan Thomas, Suhani Singh, Sophia Fulp (NG), Liliana Bailey, Jacklann Bellamy, Mikka Sopenoff (CP)

DAL Valley:  1^st team – Josephine Kremin, Samantha Checke (Con), Paola Castro (MD), Kimberly Rubio, Indigo Whiteley (YV); 2^nd team – Hannah Morrell, Mikayla McKenzie (Con), Miranda Serna (MD), Nanci Garcia, Dulce Isidro (YV); HM – Sofia Lopez, Yarnet Munoz, Dayana Ramirez, Lopez (Con), Delismar Colmenares, Alina Martinez (MD), Katie Steindorf, Karen Bonifacio, Hirana Chevez (YV)

Carondelet: Player of the Year – Lauren Kenny; 1st team- Maddie Buckley, Joy Casselman, Chloe Casselman, Lizzie Vranest; 2^nd team – Victoria Alessandrini; H – Kaya Durkee, Riann Juroff

Boys Soccer

DAL Valley: Defensive MVP – Angel Diaz (Con); 1^st team – Nicholas Silva, Leo Grubesic (CP), Daniel Guerra (Con), Jared Gallegos (MD); 2^nd team – Jack Fox, Gabo Sekel (CP), Jairo Gutierrez, Cristofer Cabrera, Fernando Pina Hernandez (Con), Alejandro Sanchez (MD); HM – Moises Acevedo, Carter Emerick (CP); Osmar Hernandez (Con), Armando Banales (MD)

DAL Foothill: Co-Offensive MVP – Marco Jara (CVC); 1^st team – Alex Braginsky, Chase Caldwell, Nolan Martin (CVC), Ronald Lopez (YV), Nicholas Rowalt (NG); 2^nd team – Skye Megyesi, Will Caranza (CVC);  (YV), Blayne Ballard, Nate Greenberg (NG), Emilio Martinez, Jonhi Chavez; HM – Cooper Whitten, Colin Farley, Giovanni Negrette (CVC), Antonia Ceja, Timoteo Rivera-Gonzalez, Alan Garcia (YV), Mateo Gonzalez, Lucas Lesieur (NG)

De La Salle: 1st team– Lucas Pfister; 2^nd team – Matthew Rjecki; HM – Cooper Kennedy, Hudson Merritt, Leo Bravo, Mateo Marchis

Boys Wrestling

DAL: 1^st team – Dakota Buelna, Miguel Ruiz-Dare, Matt Northrup (CP); 2^nd team – Aydin Bagley (NG), Selichi Naddy, Quentin Artis, Jose Ortiz (Con) , Calin Capra, Reyes Ruiz, Oliver Saelao, Zach Marshall (CP); HM – Srivanth Chennupatti, Devin Mallory (CP); Antonio Pucci (NG), Steve Marin (CVC), William Carlson (Con) , Jadrey Robinson (MD)

DLS: 1st team – Manuel Martir, Caleb Tatad, Giovani Cuevas, Carlos Vazquez, Gavin Fernandez, TJ Arvizu, Atri Feizi, Stefan Bakiev, Cooper Cazares; 2^nd team – Joshua Perez, Omar Torres; HM – Franklin Enkhmandakh, Rolando Sanchez

Girls Wrestling

DAL: 1^st team-Abbi Cooper, Sara Bolcerek (CVC), Savannah Talmadge, (NG), Ayaka Naddy (Con), Emma Diaz (CP); 2^nd team –  Avery Seidenspinner, Loreili Labao (CP), Danica Heine, Rebecca Fletcher, Hailey Lu, (NG), Samantha Salcedo (YV), Jaelene Ibay (MD), Aaimya Brown-Webster (Con); HM – Yoshiye Longley, Sara Gomez (CVC), Blake Powers (NG), Violet Sheehan, Myia Weiler (CP)