Multiple area SFL athletes earn Most Valuable Player and All-League honors

The Sierra Foothill League has released its list of All-League selections for spring 2022 sports and a number of athletes from Whitney, Del Oro, Rocklin and Granite Bay High schools have been awarded with Most Valuable Player or First-Team honors. Here is a look into who is on the list for each sport. Baseball Whitney Wildcats junior Jace Gillmore and Rocklin Thunder senior Brandon Larson were named the co-Most Valuable Players in the Sierra Foothill League. Gillmore led the Wildcats to an 11-0 record on the mound while Larson led the Thunder at the plate with three home runs and 29 runs batted in. "It's an honor to be named co-Most Valuable Player of the league along with Jace and the award is representative of all the hours I have spent in the gym and on the field this year," Larson said. "I would say that my favorite moment of the season was the game three comeback against Granite Bay to win the series. Scoring eight runs to go up by one doesn't happen very often and it got our team fired up." Five other players from the Division I Sac-Joaquin Section Wildcats baseball team made the All-League list: Gavin McLendon, Shane Saunders, Tyler Allen, Jax Gimenez and Dillon Castellanos. Toran O'Harran, Jesse Cuthill and Jack Peterson also received honors for Rocklin High. Four athletes from the Division II Section Champion Granite Bay Grizzlies team earned All-League: JP Smith, Brett Ott, Preston Fondren and Chase Bentley. Jaren Ekkelboom and Quincy Marlbrough from the Del Oro Golden Eagles were also on the list. Softball Five seniors from the Division II Section Champion Golden Eagles team earned All-League honors: Haylee Engelbrecht, Caroline Grimes, Jenna Birch, Olivia Robison and Kendal Manley. Rocklin High's Brielle Wright was also on the list, along with Sydney Barker, Bella Garcia, Kaylah Adams and Katie Wetteland. Kylie Nelson and Avery Seva received All-League for Granite Bay High while Alyssa Flindt, Mya Flindt, Madilyn Novello and Jordyn Jochims made the list for Whitney High. Swimming and diving In diving, Martin Feuillet of Whitney High and Noah Al-Shaikh of Granite Bay High earned All-League on the boys' side and for the girls, Lucy Child and Kaylee Hurley of Granite Bay High were on the list. In boys' swimming, Grizzlies seniors Hayden Ghufran and Chris Nihart, along with Golden Eagles junior Sean Christianson, were all named the co-Most Valuable Players. Six other Grizzlies also received honors: Ethan Scifres, Noah Carver, Will Pike, Troy Quintana, Ryan Bousfield and Evan Thilow. Louis Fasani and Cayden Pitzer also made the list for Del Oro High. On the girls' side, Grizzlies senior Rosie Murphy was named co-Most Valuable Player while Mary Brooke Chandler, Brooke Beauvais, Skyla Lang, Ella McCarron, Maddie Myers earned honors for Granite Bay High. Wildcats freshman Jada Duncan made the list, along with Melanie Quinto from Del Oro High. Track and field Six boys from the Rocklin High track and field teams earned All-League honors, along with six boys from Whitney High. For Rocklin, they are Kyran Bell, MacGregor TeSelle, Kyle Hall, Ian Ronald, Isaac Ja and Elias Mullican, and for Whitney, they are Mateo Delgadillo, Xavier Bruce II, Steven Cuevas, John Dailey, Anthony Parker and Herschel Sabnis. Peter Strohm and Wyatt Roseman also made the list for Del Oro High. For the girls, Golden Eagles senior Riley Chamberlain received All-League while Brooke Baptista and Giselle Kirchner were on the list for Rocklin High. Abigail Peterson and Gracelyn Brown earned honors for the Grizzlies. Five Lady Wildcats made their way on the list: Ava Kopec, Emily Beasley, Jasmine Beasley, Ashanti Elie and Juliana Roberson. Golf Whitney High senior Zach Pollo is the Most Valuable Player in the Sierra Foothill League and he made it all the way to the Masters Tournament at Elkhorn Golf Club. "I am definitely very proud of earning league Most Valuable Player and it's very cool to say that I was the best player in the league this year and it just means to me that a lot of hard work and hours put into practice is paying off," Pollo said. "My favorite moment this season was our last match on senior night when I shot a 31 to end the season on a really high note." CJ Gassner also earned honors for the Wildcats while Karson Kindelt and Garrett Harrison of Granite Bay High were on the list. The Grizzlies made it all the way to the NorCal Regional Championships where they finished tied for fourth. Five golfers from Rocklin High received All-League: Luke Price, Josh Leiker, Max Thomas, Austin Louie and Jacob Larson. Tennis Golden Eagles freshman Boden Willis finished the regular season with a 9-3 record and was awarded the Most Valuable Player in the league while Granite Bay freshmen Roshan and Yoshan Murugesh received All-League honors for each going 10-0. Rocklin High's Ansh Thakkar and Akshayan Nagarajah were both on the list while Jacob Sy and Armaan Sondhi earned honors for Whitney High. Lacrosse Grizzlies senior Jackson Degner and Golden Eagles senior Colton Schweig were named the co-Most Valuable Players of the Sierra Foothill League. Four other Grizzlies also earned honors: Colby Gravlin, James Stabbert, Nate Golding and Nick Grahame. Gravlin led the team with 51 goals in 17 games. On the girls' side, five Grizzlies received All-League honors. They are Kaylee Kittle, Jane Tattersall, Natalie McGuckin, Sophie Golden and Megan Lorenzen. Del Oro High's Hadley Gieck was also on the list as she led the Golden Eagles with 56 goals. Volleyball Four players from the Sierra Foothill League champion Whitney Wildcats earned All-League, including seniors Chase Schwab and Aidan Van Dam, who combined for 339 kills. Brendan Wilk and Spencer Polischuk were also on the list for the Wildcats while Andrew Tanner and Brandon Ngo earned All-League for Granite Bay High. Golden Eagles junior Matthew McCool and Thunder senior Moses Gamble also made the list. STUNT Cheer Ashley Vogy and Savannah Boyce from Rocklin High earned All-League honors for their performances in STUNT this past season.