LAKE COUNTY >> The Lake County Record-Bee will honor the top coaches and top athletes from the recently completed 2015-16 high school sports season beginning with Friday’s print edition.
The 29th annual Coach of the Year and Athlete of the Year awards honor a different individual each day for four days running. Coach of the Year for boys’ sports is up first in the July 22 edition. Coach of the Year for girls’ sports follows on July 23. Athlete of the Year for boys’ sports will be featured in the July 26 edition and Athlete of the Year for girls’ sports wraps things up on July 24.
Athlete of the Year finalists must be juniors or seniors who compete in at least two varsity sports and are in good academic standing at their respective schools. The 2015-16 finalists among the boys are senior Isaac Nevarez of Upper Lake, senior Wyatt Jones of Middletown, junior Marlon Jones of Lower Lake and junior Kyle Ellis of Kelseyville. Girls’ finalists are seniors Rachel Wingler and Emily Psalmonds of Clear Lake High School, junior Natalie Karlsson of Upper Lake High School, junior Riley Goff of Kelseyville High School, and seniors Kaleigh Alves, Kailei Foltmer and Ashlyn Welton of Middletown High School.
Coach of the Year finalists are not announced.
The Record-Bee has been honoring the county’s top athletes since the 1987-88 sports season when the first winners, both from Kelseyville, were Mike Wright and Tammi Tuttle. Last season’s winners were Middletown’s Welton and Isazah King (Lower Lake) among the athletes and coaches Zane Jensen (Clear Lake baseball) and Anthony Bazzano (Middletown girls’ basketball).
Heading into the 2015-16 season, only seven juniors have received the award. Three athletes, all girls, are two-time winners – Shannon Melville of Upper Lake (1989-90), Brittany Rumfelt of Clear Lake (2006-07) and Kelsey Welton of Middletown (2008-09).
There has been a tie for the award only once (Kelsey Welton and Kaila Sterbank of Clear Lake shared girls’ honors in 2009). Among the county’s five high schools, Clear Lake leads with 19 awards followed by Kelseyville with 17, Middletown with nine, Upper Lake with eight and Lower Lake with four.
