Photos Courtesy of Coco Steel and Daniel Monroe
With the strange year that San Luis Obispo High School is continuously experiencing, students and staff are grateful for the opportunities that have been able to occur within the athletics department. Expressions received self-reported responses from a few of the sports team coaches here on the SLOHS campus about how their seasons have gone so far. Was your team included? If not, tell your coach to read emails!
Expressions: How has your season gone this year?
Girls Basketball Coach and Health teacher Daniel Monroe: We are currently half-way through our season. Seven games down, seven more to go. While we haven’t won as many games as we would have liked so far, we realize that we have a second half of the season to turn it around. We are grateful to be back on the court and the girls work ethic and attitude have been tremendous!
Girls and Boys Cross Country Coach, Girls Track and Field Coach, Boys Track and Field Assistant Coach, and special education teacher Adam Basch: For girls cross country, the season went well; we had five races and won four of those. We did lose to Arroyo Grande, so we were 4-in-1 for the second best record in the league. The boys were undefeated; they won all five meets. There was no postseason for boys cross country, so they won all of their dual meets, and left it as league champions.
Basch, in reference to track and field: [for the girls team] we’ve won all of our meets, except for one against Nipomo, and we still have one more meet to go, as well as League Championships and CIF. Hard to say about the whole season so far, but we are off to a good start. The boys have won every dual meet they have been in so far, so that is great.
Boys Baseball Coach Joshua Miller: So far our season has gone ok. We are eight-seven, but the boys are working really hard and making huge strides so far. We are continuing to get better every week, which is exciting. We are hoping that continues and we can compete for a league championship by the end of the year.
Expressions: Do you have an athlete who worked really hard this year?
Monroe: Allison Dierks has been a great leader for our program this year. I have appreciated her positive attitude and her willingness to be inclusive to all of her teammates and has helped bring everyone together. Her leadership has helped foster a great culture for our team moving forward.
Basch, in reference to cross country: Work ethic is fantastic amongst the girls cross country group, that’s true for all of the athletes. Grace Rubio is the stand-out; she was our top finisher in many races. Shaylee Grimm is another top senior, as well as Coco Steel, who worked really hard in that group. Grace Greenelsh, and April Engelmeyer; all of our seniors were super hard-working. Garrett Beutel is going to be our top senior [for the boys team]. Luke Ernstrom had nice hard work ethic as a senior. Quinn Brussel is a top senior as well.
Basch, in reference to track and field: Helen Hoadley is one of our better pole vaulters. Julia Bloom makes the list; she also does pole vaulting. Shaylee Grimm and Grace Rubio are two of our 800 and 1600 meter runners. Coco Steel and April Engelmeyer, just like in cross country, were up there as well. Sara McDonald is our best thrower; she has a good work ethic. Raquel Kalpokoff comes out and high jumps, even though she is doing some other sports. [For boys], Braden Johnson is up there. Strong marks doesn’t always mean hard work, but all of these seniors are really hard working. Pablo Godoy, Gavin Fraysier, Derik Lawing, and Zachary Hill (who is our best boy’s hurdler) are all involved in the shorter-distance events. For distance events, Garett Beutel, Quinn Brussel, and Luke Ernestrom are all back from doing Cross Country, and are three more great seniors. Brandon Lucero has certainly been working hard this year as well. Christian Jones is out picking up points for us in the shot put. Mulenga Malama has done a few different events as well.
Miller: One student-athlete that has worked hard and is a leader for our team is Jackson Gomes. He also shows up ready to work and has a positive attitude and is a guy that is able to keep things light and fun while also challenging himself and teammates to compete and get better at every turn.
Expressions: Who, if any, are your team captain(s)?
Monroe: Our team captains are seniors; Allison Dierks, Daisy Hummell and Sara McDonald.
Basch, in reference to Cross Country: Girls team captains are not officially designated, but Grace Rubio certainly showed a leadership role in leading the group this year. Again [for boys], unofficial team captains, but Garett Beutel would have been acting as captain there.
Basch, in reference to track and field: For the girls, we don’t have official team captains for track and field, but all of the seniors have played a leadership role. No official team captains that I am aware of, [for the boys neither].
Expressions: What is the strangest thing about this year of athletics, in reference to your sports team?
Monroe: Obviously, number one would be having to wear masks during practice and competition. Having to play back to back games every week, which is not typical for a normal basketball season. Usually, we get a day or two off in between games to recover physically, and mentally prepare for the next game.
Basch, in reference to cross country: Obviously having cross country in the spring, rather than the fall, and just how that affects the training for endurance sports.
Basch, in reference to track and field: The social distancing measures; every meet is a little bit different..some of the meets are starting later, the training is weird, we lost the track, we don’t really practice together as a team (we practice in sub-groups), so it is really hard for the coaches and the athletes to be connected. Again [for the boys], the weird thing about the year is that our team isn’t exactly all practicing together, but these guys have really stuck it out and dealt with a lot of change there.
Miller: The guidelines are constantly changing and it has been a challenge for the student-athletes, as well, to balance school returning in person, and then sports starting around the same time. I think that generally, the kids are just really excited to be able to play and be with their friends and teammates everyday, which is awesome and takes on a little bit of a different meaning for them this year because they missed out on last season and a majority of the school year this year.
