The 56th annual Senior Athletic Awards Banquet, held on May 19 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Rafael, honored all senior athletes for their outstanding athletic ability and excellence, but gave special recognition to a select 15 athletes.
Earlier this month, seniors Ariella Rosenthal and Nathan Morris were awarded with the Marin Athletic Foundation Award for outstanding athletic accomplishments in their designated sports throughout their high school careers.
Rosenthal has played four years of varsity basketball and varsity lacrosse, and won girls’ basketball Player of the Year this past season. Morris has been on the varsity wrestling team for four years and won Player of the Year this past season.
The banquet is an annual celebration of athletic accomplishment for all seniors that participated in a sport during their senior year. Each year there are a series of awards given out to those who showed exceptional athletic achievement in a specific sport.
According to physical education teacher Mike Dibley, the Marin Athletic Foundation Award is the most respected award because it is a countywide award that recognizes the top boy and the top girl from each high school in Marin County. The two received the award at a separate banquet that recognizes the top Marin athletes before they were recognized again at the Redwood Senior Athletic Awards banquet.
Frederick Huxham was also awarded with the E.E. Boyden Award, which is presented to an outstanding senior male athlete in honor of E.E. Boyden, former track coach and longtime booster of high school programs. Huxham has run distance track and cross country all four years, and this past season he beat the school, running a 4:09.99 minute mile at the MCAL championships.
Additionally, the Don Kreps Award is given to an outstanding senior female athlete, in honor of Redwood’s former principal. This year the award was given to Chace Schornstein, who played four years of varsity soccer and varsity basketball.
Geneva Gondak and Khari Haynes were awarded with the Principal’s Award, which is presented to students who have contributed to the athletic program in a significant way. Haynes was the running back on the varsity football team, and was also on track for all four years at Redwood. Geneva Gondak played four years of volleyball, two of which were on varsity, as well as one year of varsity softball.
Besides the awards given to those with exceptional athletic talent among the community, there are many other awards given out for ideals such as perseverance, time commitment, good sportsmanship, leadership, teamwork, determination, and effort.
The Patricia Joy Gibian Award was given to Kelly Klein, who played four years of varsity tennis. The Andrew O’Dorisio Award was given to Christopher Laub, who played four years of varsity golf, and the Mike Kavanagh Award given to Jon Shaw who played four years of varsity golf.
The Benchwarmers’ Award honored Matthew Friend and Lindsay Hendrickson. Friend played four years of lacrosse and ran cross country for one year, while Hendrickson participated in track and field for four years.
The culmination of all of these qualities were presented in the Coaches Award was given to Rachael Thorson and Tom Cavanaugh. The award is presented annually to a senior boy and girl in honor of coaches Al Endriss, Dick Hart, Phil Roark and Bob Troppmann. Cavanaugh played three years of varsity water polo but did not play his junior year, and was on the swim team for all four years. Thorson played three years of varsity volleyball and one year of JV.
One athlete was awarded the Three Sport Athlete Award, which is an award presented to a senior who participated in three MCAL sports each year for their entire Redwood career. Kenneth Berreman was awarded with this award for participating in water polo, wrestling, and swimming throughout his four years at Redwood.
“[The banquet] gives the athletes a sense of accomplishment and helps them realize they have goals that they can accomplish,” Athletic Director Jessica Peisch said.
