LAKE COUNTY — Athlete of the Year finalist Darius Ford of Clear Lake High School will be profiled in the Friday print edition of the Lake County Record-Bee.
Ford, a 2020 Clear Lake High School graduate, is one of 10 finalists for the newspaper’s Athlete of the Year Award. He is the fifth athlete to be featured with a full-page commemorative photo that also chronicles his achievements during the 2019-20 high school sports season. To date, Kelseyville’s Allison Bryant, Middletown’s Jared Pyzer and Clear Lake’s Jaron Mertle and Shaelyn McIntire have been honored.
Each high school sports season the Record-Bee honors two athletes — one boy and one girl — and two coaches — one in girls sports and one in boys sports — with Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year awards.
Athlete of the Year finalists are usually asked to compete in a minimum of two varsity sports but that requirement has been waived for 2019-20 because the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 spring sports season. Athletes must be juniors or seniors who are in good academic standing at their respective schools. All-League honors as well as input from coaches and sports officials help the Record-Bee select the winners.
All of this season’s finalists will receive their own full-page photo. This year’s finalists among the girls are Bryant, McIntire and Middletown’s Abbey Brown, Brianna Alves and Sophie Kucer. Finalists among the boys are Pyzer, Mertle, Ford, Lower Lake’s Vann Wilkins and Clear Lake’s Travis Howe.
Once all the finalists have been featured, the Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year winners will be announced, each receiving his/her own commemorative page in the print edition.
A portion of the proceeds from advertising sales for the commemorative photos are being returned to the athletes in the form of scholarships. Individuals or businesses can sponsor one or more athletes by sending an email to Sarah McGrath at smcgrath@record-bee.com.
