Sac-Joaquin Section honors top scholar-athletes

The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section announced its Clarke Coover Memorial and A. Dale Lacky Scholar-Athlete award winners on Tuesday, highlighting seniors who had “outstanding athletic performance, community service and academic success during their four years of high school” according to a press release.

Escalon’s Elijah Lattig was named one of the recipients of the Clarke Coover Award (Le Grand’s Alexa Ultreras was the other) which was awarded to the top two honorees.

Here are Lattig’s accolades from the news release:

“Elijah played football and tennis for four years each, soccer for three seasons and he played basketball as a freshman. In football, he won the Most Improved Award twice, the Coaches Award three times and he was part of the state championship team his junior year. In tennis, he received Most Improved and Most Dedicated Awards. He’s won academic awards in physical education and animal science. He’s a member of FAA, Key Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Elijah has a 4.13 GPA, which is No. 3 in his class of 211. He will attend the University of Idaho where he plans on majoring in animal sciences to go into the veterinary field.”

Six other local athletes were named A. Dale Lacky Scholar-Athlete Award winners:

Anne Dunn (Central Catholic): “Anne played tennis and soccer and competed for the track and field team for all four years each. In tennis, she was named all-league twice and was team captain once. In soccer, she was the team captain twice and the team MVP once. In track and field, she won the WE Award and was team captain once. She’s an AP Scholar, won the WE Award and the Great Shepherd Bishop Blaire Award for service hours. She’s the Student Body Secretary and a member of the Social Justice Club, Interact Club and the Ministry Club. She volunteers as a math tutor, altar server and a summer camp counselor. Anne has a 4.43 GPA and will attend the University of Notre Dame, where she will major in finance or accounting with the future goal of going into one of those fields.”

Christian Perez (Denair): “Christian played football and baseball for three years each. In football, he was part of Denair’s Section and state championship team in 2018. He’s a member of the Principal’s Honor Roll and he won the Committed Coyote Award. He volunteers with Denair Youth Football. Christian has a 3.7 GPA and will attend Merced College, where he plans on continuing his football career. He plans on majoring in psychology with the future plans of working as a psychologist, law enforcement officer or therapist.”

Cale Ramel (Enochs): “Cale played basketball and competed for the track and field team for four years each; he played tennis for one season as well. In basketball, he was team captain twice and team MVP once. In track and field, he was the team captain twice. He’s an AP Scholar with honors, Boys State nominee and a lifetime CSF member. He’s a member of Key Club and the Filipino Club and he volunteers with the local basketball league and various community service events with the Kiwanis organization. Cale has a 4.7 GPA, which is in the top 5 percentile in his class of 570. He’s undecided on his college choice, where he plans on majoring in nursing or biological sciences with the future goal of working in the healthcare industry.”

Seth Borba (Oakdale): “Seth wrestled for all four years and he ran for the cross country team once. In wrestling. He’s a two-=time Section runner-up and he finished seventh in the state as a junior. He made the all-league team three times. He volunteers in his community at youth wrestling tournaments, from setting up and officiating to working the snack bar. Seth has a 3.92 GPA and he will attend Menlo University, where he will continue his wrestling career. He plans on majoring in business finance or business analytics with the future goal of becoming a chief financial officer.”

Joelle Lok (Pitman): “Joelle played water polo and swam for four years each; she also competed for the track and field team twice. In water polo, she was the team MVP three times and all-league twice. She was the swim team MVP once as well. She’s a lifetime CSF member, student body social media officer and a four-year member of the Future Business Leaders of America. She volunteers with local blood drives and as a camp counselor. Joelle has a 4.74 GPA, which is No. 3 in her class of 433. She’s undecided on her college choice, where she’ll major in psychology, psychobiology or psychological and brain sciences with the future goal of becoming a psychological researcher regarding behavior and addiction, a professor, speech pathologist or elementary school teacher.”

Sydney Thomason (Ripon): “Sydney played volleyball and softball for four years each; she played basketball twice. In volleyball, she was named most improved player once and was all-league once. In basketball, she was named all-league once. In softball, she was named all-league twice, league pitcher of the year once and was all-state her sophomore year. She’s a member of CSF, Link Crew, Ping Pong Club and Bug Club. She volunteers with her local recycling center, community runs and Love Ripon. Sydney has a 4.14 GPA, which is No. 13 in her class of 234. She will attend the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where she will continue playing softball while majoring in computer science with the future goal of being a computer programmer at a major technology company.”

All of the winners along with the section’s three male and three female model coach honorees will be recognized at the section’s awards ceremony via Zoom on May 11.