Heather Fenske Nominated Female Athlete of '08

Stars in Goal after Three Years on the Bench

HEATHER FENSKE, San Diego State's water polo goalie, has been nominated Lompoc Locker Room's Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.

Fenske amassed 245 saves in goal as the Aztecs matched their all time high-water mark with a fifth place national finish. Fenske established personal bests in every category this season. In her first year as a starter she racked up 234 stops in 26 games. Her 9.00 saves per game average ranked fourth in the Mountain Pacific conference and seventh in the nation. She has notched 11 double-digit save games, including a career-high 16 blocks vs. Cal State Bakersfield.

Fenske posted personal bests in every category for a very simple reason. She hardly played her first three years at San Diego.

More amazing than her numbers was the fact that Fenske sat and watched the Aztecs for three whole years with precious few opportunities to play. Nevertheless she stayed with the team and when finally given her chance, she excelled.

Maybe Lompoc Locker Room should establish a RUDY award for athletes like Fenske.

Fenske joins teammate Becca Ur and Lompoc weight thrower/power forward Chelsea Cassulo on the ballot for top female athlete of the year.

All the nominations in all four categories are listed in the right-hand column below our sponsors. Results will begin being posted on December 20 as determined by the Lompoc Locker Room Blue Ribbon Panel.

Jurgen Schmidt Nominated Athlete of the Year

85-year-old Set Five Swim Records

Jurgen Schmidt, 85, has been nominated as Athlete of the Year in the Lompoc Locker Room annual poll.

Schmidt set five U.S. national swim records at the Southern Pacific Regional Masters meet recently in Mission Viejo. Schmidt, 85, a freestyle long distance specialist, set new records in three freestyle races, the 500, 1000 and 1650, and surprised even himself with new marks in the 100 and 400 Individual Medley.

Schmidt was named Southern Pacific Masters Association Swimmer of the Year for 2008.

Schmidt joins Upper Iowa linebacker Mike Slaughter, Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy, Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant, LHS wrestler Masson Blow, Nevada running back Vai Taua and University of Mary point guard Geoff West among the nominees for Lompoc Locker Room Male Athlete of the Year 2008. Nominations will be received through Wednesday. E-mail YOUR nominations to pressboxprod@verizon.net. by December 10. Results will be announced by Lompoc Locker Room's Blue Ribbon Panel beginning December 20. Nominees in all four categories (male, female, coach and team) may be seen in the right hand column below our sponsors.

Mike Sullivan Nominated Coach of the Year

RECEIVERS COACH GIANTS

In his fifth season as the Giants receivers coach MIKE SULLIVAN is responsible for the Super Bowl champs’ air game.. Under Sullivan’s direction, the wide receivers have been a consistently productive group.

Last year, Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer were the team’s top two receivers, with Burress catching 70 passes for 1,025 yards and a career-high 12 touchdowns, while Toomer contributed 59 catches for 760 yards and three scores. In the postseason, Toomer topped the Giants with 21 receptions for 280 yards and three scores, while Burress had 18 catches for 221 yards including the game-winning 13-yard touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Picture David Tyree’s helmet-instead-of-hands reception which has been called the greatest play in Super Bowl history. Consider the story of Plaxico Burress. Mike Sullivan is the one who kept this crew together while Eli Manning matured as a quarterback.

Sullivan joins Corey McIntyre, coach of Cabrillo's Los Padres League champion girls water polo team and Jim Allen, coach of Lompoc High's LPL baseball champions on the nominees list as the Lompoc Locker Room Coach of the Year poll. The entire list can be seen in the right hand column here below our sponsors.

Slaughter Nominated Athlete of the Year

Player of the Week in his Final Game





MIKE SLAUGHTER, linebacker at Upper Iowa, has been nominated for Lompoc Locker Room Athlete of the Year.


In his final game the senior linebacker spent all day in the Minnesota- Crookston backfield and seemed to always be around the ball. Slaughter tallied 13 tackles (five solo) in the game while accounting for 4.5 tackles for loss and one sack. UIU won 37-36 in double overtime.

For his effort Slaughter was named Northern Sun Conference Defensive Football Player of the Week. In 10 games, Slaughter had 30 solo tackles and 27 assists, with 14 tacklesfor loss (64 yards), and five and one-half sacks for 36 yards. He also picked off a pass and returned it 28 yards, broke up a pass and defensed two.


Before Upper Iowa Slaughter starred at Allan Hancock College.





Slaughter joins Kansas City Royals pitcher Dannt Duffy, Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant, LHS wrestler Masson Blow, Nevada running back Vai Taua and University of Mary point guard Geoff West among the nominees for Lompoc Locker Room Male Athlete of the Year 2008. Nominations will be received through Wednesday. E-mail YOUR nominations to pressboxprod@verizon.net. by December 10. Results will be announced by Lompoc Locker Room's Blue Ribbon Panel beginning December 20. Nominees in all four categories (male, female, coach and team) may be seen in the right hand column below our sponsors.

Duffy Nominated to Repeat as AOY

KC Royal Phenom Won This Poll Last Year

DANNY DUFFY of the Kansas City Royals pro baseball organization has been nominated as Lompoc Locker Room's Athlete of the Year in 2008. This is the same category he won in a year earlier.

Duffy posted a sparkling 8-4 record, a 2.20 ERA and whopping strikeout total of 102 in 2008 at Burlington, Iowa of the Midwest League. His showing led the Royals to name him Burlington’s 'Pitcher of the Year.’

In Duffy’s final performance with the Bees he gave up none (zero) earned runs. The performance capped a 10-game streak in which he went 5-1 and posted a tiny earned run average of 1.14.

In September, just 14 months after graduating from Cabrillo, Duffy was invited to Kansas City to sign autographs. Royals brass say they plan to send him to Wilmington of the fast Carolina League in 2009.

Duffy joins Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant, LHS wrestler Masson Blow, Nevada running back Vai Taua and University of Mary point guard Geoff West among the nominees for Lompoc Locker Room Male Athlete of the Year 2008. Nominations will be received through Wednesday. E-mail YOUR nominations to pressboxprod@verizon.net. by December 10. Results will be announced by Lompoc Locker Room's Blue Ribbon Panel beginning December 20. Nominees in all four categories (male, female, coach and team) may be seen in the right hand column below our sponsors.

Geoff West Nominated Athlete of the Year '08

Playmaker in Northern Sun Conference Hoops

As a junior in 2007-8 GEOFF WEST started all 27 games for the University of Mary (Bismarck, North Dakota). The playmaker led the team with 60 assists and 30 steals. In addition he finished second on the team, by slim margins, in minutes (733, fourteen behind the leader) and points (271, six points behind). He was even fourth on the team in blocks with seven.

West began the '08-'09 season blazing. He leads the team in scoring at 15.8 per game.

West joins Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant, LHS wrestler Masson Blow, and Nevada running back Vai Taua among the nominees for Lompoc Locker Room Male Athlete of the Year 2008. Nominations will be received through Wednesday. E-mail YOUR nominations to pressboxprod@verizon.net. by December 10. Results will be announced by Lompoc Locker Room's Blue Ribbon Panel beginning December 20. Nominees in all four categories (male, female, coach and team) may be seen in the right hand column below our sponsors.

Jim Allen Nominated Coach of the Year 2008

His Braves Won LPL Title



Lompoc High baseball coach JIM ALLEN, mentor of the Los Padres League champions last spring, has been nominated Lompoc Locker Room's 2008 Coach of the Year.



Allen fed his team tough competition in out-of-town tournaments and as a result the club posted a lackluster 13-14 overall record. But Allen's objective was met-- the team improved over the season to win the LPL with a 9-3 mark. The Braves won five of their last six league games.



The team was a well-balanced crew with the #2 hitter in the league (Dalton Rouleau .400), the #3 home run hitter (Brandon Alonzo 5), the #4 and #5 RBI men (Scott Aguailar 24 and Rouleau 23), the #2 baserunner (Chris Mallory 20 stolen bases) and the #4 strikeout pitcher (Cody Berryman 47 K's).



The Braves under Allen also won the LPL in 2005 and 2006. Allen coaches the Santa Maria Packers in the summertime, hence the photo above.



Allen joins Corey McIntyre of Cabrillo's league champion girls water polo team on the nomination list. Nominations will remain open until December 10. E-mail your nominations to pressboxprod@verizon.net .Results will be announced by Lompoc Locker Room's Blue Ribbon Panel beginning December 20. Nominations to date are listed in the right-hand column below ouir sponsors.

Chelsea Cassulo Nominated AOY 2008

Chelsea Cassulo, Lompoc High's basketball and track star, and Hancock College hoopster, has been nominated for Lompoc Locker Room's Athlete of the Year.

Cassulo was named last May the North County Female Athlete of the Year by the North County Athletic Round Table.

At the Santa Barbara County Track & Field meet she tied the meet record in the shot put at 42'-6." She also won the discus (119-08) and finished eighth in the 100.

Earlier she was named to the Santa Barbara News-Press all-county basketball team. This month she joined the Hancock College basketball team.

Chelsea joins San Diego State water polo star Becca Ur on the Lompoc Locker Room Female Athlete of the Year nomination list. Nominations will remain open through December 10 so YOU have time to nominate your favorite. Just e-mail to pressboxprod@verizon.net. The list of nominees so far appears in the right hand column below our advertisers.

Lydell Sargeant Nominated Athlete of 2008

AND SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG TEN

LYDELL SARGEANT, the Penn State cornerback from Cabrillo, has been nominated by Lompoc Locker Room correspondent Scott Kennedy for consideration as the LLR Athlete of the Year. Sargeant starred all season as the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten title.

The senior cornerback picked off two key passes against Wisconsin and one, to end the game, against Ohio State, the latter the first Lion victory at Columbus in decades. Against Michigan State in the victory which clinched the Big Ten championship Sargeant made three tackles and an interception.

Sargeant was named to the Big Ten All-Conference second team by conference media. In the classroom he finished four years of classes six months early and graduates this month. Best of all Sargeant is the first Lompocan ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

He joins onetime Cabrillo teammate Vai Taua and Lompoc High wrestler/runner Masson Blow on the list of male nominees. On the female side Becca Ur, San Diego State water polo star, has been nominated. Cabrillo's 2008 girls water polo team and its coach Corey McIntyre have also been named.

Nominees will be accepted through December 10. Winners will be announced by the Locker Room's Blue Ribbon Panel beginning on December 20. Nominate your favorite by e-mailing pressboxprod@verizon.net

Vai Taua Nominated LLR Athlete of the Year

ALL-WAC TOO



Nevada running back VAI TAUA, named today to the WAC all-league first team, has also been nominated Lompoc Locker Room's Male Athlete of the Year for 2008. Photo here is by David B. Parker.





In his 12-game season Taua carried the ball 213 times for 1420 net yards and a 6.7 yard per carry average. He posted 14 touchdowns and made one run for 79 yards. He averaged 118.3 yards per game.

He also hauled in 29 passes for 226 yards for a 7.8 yard average per catch. He scored two TD's on passes. His longest reception was a 54-yarder

One of his biggest games came against Fresno State. He rushed 28 times for 263 yards (longest was 57, his average 9.4) and a touchdown. It was his first 200-yard performance of the season and the sixth-highest rushing total in school history. Taua started the season as the third-stringer yet after 10 games had topped the 100-yard mark seven times.

In his finale against Louisiana Tech the 2006 Cabrillo graduate scored the Wolfpack's winning touchdown with 3:15 to play on a 22- yard ramble. Nevada won 35-31.

Taua is one of only two underclassmen named to the WAC all-league first team.

Taua joins MASSON BLOW on the Lompoc Locker Room Male Athlete list of nominees. If YOU have a nominee for male, female, coach or team of the year, e-mail them quickly to pressboxprod@verizon.net. Nominations close December 10. Last year's male athlete of 2007 was pro baseball's DANNY DUFFY. Like last year the winner and the other top finishers will be named by a Blue Ribbon Panel of Lompoc sports observers beginning on December 20.