Rose Garden Resident
Sports
MVPs, all-leaguers all over the floor in two Showcase games
By Dick Sparrer
It's a college basketball recruiter's dream.
One day, one location ... and seven league Most Valuable Players playing on a floor filled with all-league basketball players.
The recruiters aren't dreaming, though. In fact, their dream will come true on April 7 when Del Mar High School will host the first annual Dons Club Senior Showcase boys and girls basketball games, featuring the top seniors from the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
League MVPs Michael Weimer of Westmont (Mt. Hamilton Division), Marcus Crawford of Sobrato (Santa Teresa Division) and Arron Mollet of Del Mar (West Valley Division) will be teammates on a West boys team that's loaded with all-league talent. Still, the game promises to be interesting--because the East team is loaded with all-league talent, too.
Joining the three MVPs on the West squad, coached by Vince Pacheo of Yerba Buena, are all-leaguers Kendall Hendon and Zach Stevenson of Prospect, Jason Catalano of Branham, Stevone Jones of Del Mar, Reece Behrens and Jordan Katayama of Leigh, Mubank Abdulahi of Sobrato, Kirk Saecho of Yerba Buena and Josh Lewis of Overfelt.
Leading the charge for the rival East team, coached by Mark Cadet of San Jose Academy, will be three Seniors of the Year--Gilbert Mendoza of Pioneer (Mt. Hamilton), Stephen Skavdahl of Willow Glen (Santa Teresa) and Stephen Vargas of San Jose (West Valley).
Rounding out the squad are all-leaguers Marshawn Landrine and Albert Lutz-Paap of Oak Grove, Jordan Kantorick of Santa Teresa, Matt Everly of Silver Creek, Noukwe Kas-Osoka of Andrew Hill, Johnny Sandate of Mt. Pleasant, Matt Montelongo of Pioneer, Patrick Calhoun of Leland and Kyle Schroeder of Willow Glen.
It's a similar story in the girls game. Three league MVPs will lead the East girls team into action in the Showcase game. Michele Rebozzi of Pioneer (Mt. Hamilton), Oly Larkin of Branham (Santa Teresa) and Alex Scoffone of Lincoln (West Valley) head up a talented squad that includes Clarissa Diaz and Kelsey Grozier of Gunderson, Shelly Otaguro of Prospect, Kaitlyn Mitsumori of Lincoln, Steffi Mattern of Pioneer and Sarah Dagnino of Mt. Pleasant. The club will be coached by John Drake of Gunderson.
Mt. Hamilton Division co-MVP Kristen Yoshioka of Leland and Seniors of the Year Krista Frausto of Evergreen Valley (Mt. Hamilton) and Kellene Condie of Del Mar (West Valley) top the West team, coached by Leland's Wade Nakamura.
Leland's Meggie Yoshioka and Pam Wolfe, Evergreen's Sherina Summers, Westmont's Megan Schiebli, Willow Glen's Samantha Tsukiji and Live Oak's Megan Gulla round out the talented West squad.
The day's events will include a girls and boys three-point contest at 3:30 p.m., a boys dunk contest at 4:30 p.m., the girls showcase game at 5:45 p.m. and the boys showcase game at 7:30 p.m.
"Our hopes are to get as many people there as possible in order to accomplish two goals: To recognize these outstanding seniors for their high school achievements and to give them an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of many college scouts," said Del Mar girls coach Bill Murray.
