The Leo B. Murphy Athletic Awards, a ceremony that recognizes student-athletes, took place on May 29.
Adrian Chavez and Jovalin Victorino each won the Leo B. Murphy Scholastic and Athletic Achievement Award. Lamont Davis was named the Senior Male Athlete of the Year, Victorino won the Senior Female Athlete of the Year. Also, head coach of the varsity boys’ basketball team Champ Wrencher, won the Jeff Lamb Coach of the Year.
Senior An Nguyen is a female swimmer and won the Ned McIver Scholar Athlete award, which is given to athletes who excel in both academics and sports, Nguyen said. To balance her academics and sports, Nguyen had to manage time efficiently, she said.
“Because I was swimming for such a long time, it was part of my schedule already, so I was used to balancing it,” Nguyen said. ”And then it’s just a lot of time management. Sometimes I had to pull back swimming because of marching band, Science Olympiad, and grades. But it’s a balance. Some days I would prioritize schoolwork, and other days I would prioritize swimming.”
Nguyen also won the sportsmanship award, which is an award that the coaches use to show appreciation for players on the team, she said. She got it because she has always been a mood-lifter on the team and is very cooperative with her coaches, Nguyen said.
“I’ve been varsity captain for four years now, and my coaches always trust me, so if the coaches need to do something, it’s always me who makes it,” Nguyen said. “I’m also like the one who makes sure the team is working, and if someone has a problem, I’m usually the one who hears about it and talks to others about it.”
Freshman Rohan Iyer was a 3-sport athlete this year, running cross-country in the fall, playing soccer in the winter, and running track in the spring, he said. Iyer believes he won the male Freshman Athlete of the Year award because he showed steady improvement in running from cross country, he said.
“I think it was mainly because of cross country because that was my varsity sport, and I went to CCS for that,” Iyer said. “Before the final meet for cross-country, I was sick for two weeks of the last month, so I didn’t know if I was going to run well during CCS finals. I ended up beating my PR (personal record time) by 20 seconds, so that was really good.”
Senior Theodore Su, a track and cross country runner, also won the Ned McIiver Award and was nominated for the Leo B. Murphy Award, Su said. Su was nominated mainly for his GPA, and continuing with running for four years, he said. The main reason he continued running was because of the people in track, he added.
“I think being in the running community is a big part of cross country as a whole,” Su said. “Because to be honest, running is not that fun, but hanging out with people around you make it a lot more fun.”
For future goals, Iyer wants to improve in overall running and maybe in soccer too, he said.
“I want to make states for cross country, whether it’s as a team or individually,” Iyer said. “And then for soccer, I don’t really know, because it’s not an individual sport. For track, making states is really hard, so I think CCS is an achievable goal.”
Nguyen appreciates her coaches and teammates, she said.
. “I think they’re the reason why I won these awards because meeting them and swimming with them made me want to keep swimming,” Nguyen said. “Shout out to them!”