Icban, Thornton sweep awards
Five-time cross country and track state champion Michelle Icban and
women’s basketball coach Mike Thornton of Orange Coast College
claimed the Orange County Female Athlete and Coach of the Year
Awards, respectively, while Santa Ana College soccer player Nazario
Miramontes and Cypress College baseball coach Scott Pickler were
chosen for the same awards on the men’s side Tuesday afternoon in a
vote conducted by the county’s community college sports information
directors.
Icban edged Hazel Woods of Saddleback College in the voting to
help the Pirates sweep the female portion of the voting. She started
the season by winning the cross country individual and team state
championships, then repeated in the spring as 5,000- and 10,000-meter
champion on the track.
Thornton led the Coast basketball team to its first-ever state
championship in March and was named Southern California Regional
Coach of the Year. The Pirates amassed a school-record 31 wins and
took the No. 4-seed in the regional playoffs through to the state
title game win over Contra Costa, 69-61. Saddleback College women’s
basketball coach Fentriss Winn and Cypress College soccer coach Ray
Haas rounded out the top three in the voting.
Miramontes led the state in scoring for the Dons, tallying 31
goals and 13 assists for 74 points and was chosen the Orange Empire
Conference Player of the Year. He recorded a school-record seven hat
tricks on the season and finished with nine in his two-year career.
He claimed top scoring honors in the state by a whopping 29 points,
his closest competitors both finishing with 45 points. A pair of
baseball players finished 2nd and 3rd in the voting: Jason Vargas of
Cypress and Rob Johnson of Saddleback, respectively.
Pickler guided the Chargers baseball team to its fourth state
championship, knocking off conference-rival Saddleback in the
championship game. Pickler, who picked up his 600th win during the
season, shared the Orange Empire Conference Coach of the Year Award
as the Chargers were co-champions of the conference with Riverside.
Pickler was the only unanimous selection, taking honors over Orange
Coast track coach John Knox and Santa Ana soccer coach J.P. Frutos.
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