Round Table: Danica Black and Zach Liljenquist named Athletes of the Week

Joe Bailey, Santa Maria Times, Calif.
·5 min read

May 10—The final Northern Santa Barbara County Athletic Round Table luncheon of the 2021-22 school year was a memorable one.

Two seniors attending the final Round Table of their high school careers were named the Athletes of the Week. They are Orcutt Academy softball player Danica Black and Santa Ynez track standout Zach Liljenquist.

Black earned her award after striking out 10 and pitching all eight innings in a 4-3 win over Santa Maria last week. She is the lone senior on a young Orcutt Academy team and made her season debut in the middle of the season after rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered last summer.

Liljenquist was named Male Athlete of the Week after qualifying for the CIF Southern Section Division 4 Finals in the 800-meter run, the 4x400 relay and the pole vault.

Black has helped anchor the Orcutt Academy softball team that was lacking experience. She threw every inning last week in their two games against Santa Maria.

"It was really overwhelming at first," Black said of being named Athlete of the Week on Monday. "Now it just feels so amazing. I've never really received an award like this, so to get it in my last year of high school is a great accomplishment. I'm really happy. It's a lot of feelings I can't really describe."

Liljenquist was happy to be named Athlete of the Week, though he's plenty focused on excelling at the CIF-SS Div. 4 Finals later this week. Liljenquist hopes to crack two minutes in the 800 and may be get over 13 feet in the pole vault.

"It's a great privilege and I wasn't expecting it," Liljenquist said of being named Male Athlete of the Week. "I was coming straight from an AP Exam, so I'm immensely tired. But it's OK. It's a great way to start a new week, especially coming out of a good track meet."

Liljenquist said he took an AP Calculus exam Monday morning. The senior has been accepted to BYU in Provo, Utah, and hasn't completely ruled out trying out for the Cougars' Division I track and field team.

"I thought doing the 400 and 800 was a hard combo, but after doing the 800 and pole vault I realized how grateful I was to do the 400 and 800, because it's easier," Liljenquist said. "Doing the pole vault after doing the 800 adds another variable that you have to factor in."

The next time the Round Table will gather will be on May 18 at the end-of-year banquet where the male and female Athletes of the Year and the male and female Scholar Athletes of the Year will be announced.

Orcutt Academy

AD Chad McKenzie and softball coach Darrell Black spoke for the Spartans.

McKenzie introduced swimmers Mason Enthoven and Ella Edds and baseball player Isaiah Weichinger.

Black spoke of his daughter Danica.

"She's hitting .520 this season, which has actually lowered her career batting average of .563," Black said of his daughter Danica. "She does a great job and she does a little bit of everything for us. I'm really proud of her."

Santa Ynez

Also attending Monday's Round Table for Santa Ynez were track athletes Gabriela Robles, Giszelle Hrehor, Cash and Canyon McClurg, who have all qualified for the CIF-SS Div. 4 Finals. Mikey Gills and Caleb Cassidy represented the Santa Ynez baseball team that was set to play in a second-round playoff game Tuesday.

VCA

Softball coach Randy Stanford filled in for athletic director Pete Fortier. Stanford introduced four baseball standouts in Jordan Tittes, Jacob Sanders, Sean Swain and James Fakoury.

St. Joseph

AD Tom Mott brought track standouts Will Kuykendall and Morris Slovek. Slovek won the 100-meter dash at the league finals last week and Kuykendall, a basketball player, won the long jump, even though he's only competed in the event at four meets.

Crosby Hamparson represented the boys swim team and Caden Cuccia and Jeremy Camarena were highlighted for helping the baseball team split a two-game set with San Luis Obispo last week. Cuccia is hitting over .450 this season while Camarena is batting over .350 while both also pitch and play middle infield positions.

Pioneer Valley

Athletic director Anthony Morales introduced an impressive slate of student athletes. Morales highlighted senior baseball players Josue Garcia and Andrew Sandoval and swimmers Jericho Orcino, Adrian Eisner, Nick Limon and Levi Ybarra.

Morales also introduced the Panthers' four representatives for the Athlete and Scholar Athlete of the Year awards.

They are Adan Rubalcava, a football/basketball/baseball player who's up for the Male Athlete of the Year honor, and Isaiah Guerrero, another multi-sport athlete who's the Panthers' nominee for the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award. Guerrero was named the Ocean League MVP during the basketball season and plans to study mechanical engineering at Cal Poly, where he'll take his 4.3 GPA.

Abigail Ayuso Garcia qualified for the CIF State Meet in girls wrestling and is the Panthers' nominee for Female Athlete of the Year. Nadine Virto has a 3.97 GPA and plans on attending UC Santa Cruz. She's played basketball all four years at PVHS and is the Panthers' Female Scholar Athlete of the Year nominee.

Righetti

Janel Powell, the Warriors' swim coach introduced swimmers Jamielynne Lomibao, Noemi Bravo-Guzman, Allie Cabiles, Kirsten Herrmann and Madison Piasai. The Warriors took third at the CIF Central Section Division 1 Finals last weekend.

Lompoc

AD Claudia Terrones and former AD and coach Dick Barrett introduced a strong group of LHS athletes.

The softball team, which was set to host Newport Harbor in a second-round playoff game Tuesday, was represented by standouts Cheyanne Cordova, Briana Reitmeier, Rita Hernandez, Teagan Thompson and Natalie Aguilar.