Student Athletes Earn All–Channel League Honors

The fall sports All–Channel League teams honor many of the top high school athletes in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Student athletes from Dos Pueblos High, San Marcos High, and Santa Barbara High are well-represented.

Tackle Football

Santa Barbara High finished with a 9-3 record overall, including 7-1 in Channel League play. Senior quarterback Abel Renteria was named co-quarterback of the year, along with Dominic Duran of Pacifica. Senior Koa Herrera was recognized as Channel League Running Back of the Year. Sophomore offensive lineman Malachi Johnson was named Channel League Co-Offensive Lineman of the Year, along with Pacifica’s Aufaga Peapea. 

Kai Mault of Santa Barbara High was honored as Channel League Utility Player of the Year after contributing at wide receiver, defensive back, and heavily on special teams as an explosive returner. All of Santa Barbara’s award winners were also named All–Channel League First Team Offense, along with senior wide receiver Winston Bartley.

Santa Barbara’s First Team All-Defense selections included seniors Jacobo Nevarez and Michael Cabral, juniors DJ Wilson and Bode Fauskee, and sophomore Michael “Monty” Lopez.

Santa Barbara’s second team All–Channel League selections included seniors AJ Gomez, Jordan Mitchum, Sammy Perez, and Jack Holdren, as well as junior Tomas Gil. Honorable Mentions from Santa Barbara High were Damian Stehno and Adrian Chavez.

San Marcos finished 4-6 overall and had one First Team selection on offense, Luke Crawford, and one First Team selection on defense, junior Brody Branstetter. Four San Marcos players were Second Team All–Channel League: Dante Bruice, Nathan Jones, Kyle Rivas, and Manny Verdugo. Honorable Mentions from San Marcos were Joseph Herrera and Diego Hernandez.

Dos Pueblos finished 3-7 overall this season and had two First-Team All–Channel League selections: junior Kaleb Williams and senior Nathaniel Huerta. The Second Team All–Channel League Selections from Dos Pueblos were Zac Gesswein, Matthew Welch, Micah Barnhart, and Juan Carlos Contreras. 

Dos Pueblos Honorable Mentions were Roman Alonzo and Iyad Ahmad-Reda.

Girls’ Flag Football

The inaugural girls’ flag football season was a huge success locally. Dos Pueblos proved to be one of the best teams in Southern California and finished 14-3 overall. Santa Barbara finished 9-4 overall and pulled off a 14-12 upset victory over Dos Pueblos. San Marcos accumulated an 11-6 record with many quality wins along the way.

Dos Pueblos senior quarterback Gianna Nichols was named Channel League MVP. Santa Barbara High junior quarterback Dayzia Mendoza was named Channel League Offensive Player of the Year, and Maddy Jones of Dos Pueblos was named Defensive Player of the Year.

The All–Channel League First Team included Katie Peterson and Brooklyn Hedricks of Dos Pueblos, Carolina Esparza and Alcocer Vazquez of Santa Barbara, and Rio Chesluk, Peyton Sperling, and Molly McCarter of San Marcos.

Second Team honorees include Taylor Hayes and Ruby Streatfeild of Dos Pueblos, Jaz Gordon and Savannah Valenzuela of Santa Barbara, and Riley Cook and Marilyn Monroy of San Marcos.

Honorable Mentions for Dos Pueblos were Sophia Pixley and Sterling Streatfield. For Santa Barbara, Abby Webber and Izzy Garofalo received Honorable Mention recognition. Jazmin Ordaz and Laurie Spieler were Honorable Mentions for San Marcos.

Girls’ Volleyball

Ventura claimed the Channel League title in girls’ volleyball, but all three Santa Barbara County teams made the playoffs.

First-Team All–Channel League selections include Atasha Black and Halle Rillie of Dos Pueblos, Tessa de Albergaria and Nicole Schuetz of Santa Barbara, and Josie Gamberdella of San Marcos.

The Second Team consisted of Jayden Jones and Addison Low of Dos Pueblos, Emmy Werner of Santa Barbara, and Kaylin Cooney of San Marcos.

Among the Honorable Mentions were Lia Papador and Grace Posey of Dos Pueblos, Stella Borgioli and Grace Chenoweth of Santa Barbara, and Cora Loomer and Elena Thomas of San Marcos.

Boys’ Water Polo

It was a banner year for boys’ water polo locally as San Marcos and Dos Pueblos met for the CIF-SS Division 2 Championship with the Royals emerging victorious.

Senior Nic Prentice of San Marcos was named Channel League MVP. Luke Burns and Samuel Rich of San Marcos joined Prentice on the first team.

For Dos Pueblos, Jaden Moore and Reggie Robles received First Team All–Channel League recognition. Santa Barbara was represented on the First Team by Shane Davis.

The Second Team consisted of Aden Bishop and Andrew Kline-Fernandez of Dos Pueblos, Will Stuart and Mateo Obando of San Marcos, and Lorenzo Russell of Santa Barbara.

Jacob Magid, Hudson Macleod, and Aiden Klein of San Marcos received Honorable Mention recognition.

Girls’ Golf

Junior Sagarika Manian of Dos Pueblos captured her third consecutive Channel League individual title and was named Channel League MVP.

First-Team All–Channel League selections include Victoria Chen of Dos Pueblos and Riley O’Brien of San Marcos.

Sadi Adams, Evelina Erickson, Campbell Thayer, and Talia Cummings of San Marcos were named to the Second Team.