Guyot a rock for Eagles

Gianna Guyot is known as simply “G” or “G-Money” to many of her teammates at Estancia High.

There’s a lot of those teammates for Guyot, who competes in three varsity sports: basketball, soccer and softball.

The varsity patches add up for her. She’s a four-year varsity player in basketball, three years in soccer as a goalie. This spring will also mark her third year playing varsity softball for the Eagles.

Her role on each of these teams varies, but one can use another “G” word to describe what she brings.

She’s a glue player, someone who works behind the scenes to really make things gel for each given team. That’s certainly true in basketball, where she’s in the starting lineup this season for the first time, as well as a co-captain with fellow seniors Eliza Jason and Slade Garnett.

“She’s the steady one,” Estancia Coach Judd Fryslie said. “She never really gets the super-highlights, but without her on the team it’s a different game for us. We missed her when she went back east to visit schools for a couple of games this year. There were struggles, especially early in the game, because ‘Steady G’ wasn’t there.

“She’s so quiet. You don’t get a lot of feedback from her verbally, but her eyes will tell you what you need to know.”

What you need to know about the soft-spoken Guyot is that she’s fourth on the Eagles in scoring, at 5.5 points per game. But her value mainly comes on the defensive end, where the guard thrives. In the second Battle for the Bell game last week, she was charged with guarding Costa Mesa junior Katie Lawrence, who had scored 15 points in the teams’ first meeting. This time, Lawrence scored six and Estancia had an easier time even on the road, winning, 52-31.

After wrapping up their third straight Orange Coast League title, the Eagles (18-8) are headed into the playoffs next week as a top 10 team in CIF Southern Section Division 4AA. Guyot plays a big role as that defensive stopper, a role Garnett used to own before her recovery from a torn ACL.

“I think defense better than offense,” Guyot said. “I guess that’s my nature. I just felt like I had to do it. The last time we played them, [Lawrence] scored a lot on us.”

Guyot said she got encouraging words from her father, Mike, after the game. Mike Guyot played football and basketball at Estancia before graduating in 1985. Gianna’s mother, Ricki, went to rival Costa Mesa High before earning a gymnastics scholarship to Long Beach State. They met while working at Price Club (now Costco).

“My dad was really proud of my defense,” Gianna Guyot said. “He’s always on me about my defense, and how I should be the quickest one. I think I made him really proud, because he’s the basketball fanatic in our family.”

It’s a family of athletes, for sure. Gianna’s younger sister Delani, a sophomore, plays tennis, basketball and soccer for Estancia. Her younger brother Nathan, an eighth-grader, plays football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse.

Comparing the sisters, both of whom are playing two sports this winter season, Delani is more outgoing and is focusing more on soccer as a key midfielder for Estancia. That might seem funny, since Gianna is also a club soccer player, for Arsenal FC, and has signed to play soccer for Alabama State.

In past years, Gianna Guyot has shared time in goal for Estancia with fellow senior Caitlin Leahy. But this year, the girls’ basketball and soccer teams practice at the same time. Guyot has been focusing on basketball, though she has never stopped being supportive of the soccer team. Where many student-athletes probably would have quit soccer, Guyot did the opposite. She still goes to all of the games and did play in each of the final two league games this week for Estancia girls’ soccer (18-3-3), which also earned a share of the league title.

“This year Gianna told me that she really wanted to focus on basketball,” said Estancia girls’ soccer Coach Jessica Perry, also the school’s girls’ athletic director. “We have a team rule that if you’re not at practice the day before a game, you’re definitely not going to start, and there’s no guarantee you’re going to play. One of the things I love about Gianna is her sportsmanship. If I try to put her in, she’ll be like, ‘I wasn’t there yesterday, so Caitlin should get to play.’ I’ve always respected that about her. She’s definitely like, ‘I want to be a part of this team, but I know that I might not get to play.’”

Perry said that Guyot is Estancia’s female recipient of the “Athletes of Character award,” given out by the Orange County Athletic Directors Assn. She will be honored at a dinner Feb. 23, at the Anaheim Convention Center. She was nominated by Estancia softball Coach Carrie Lester, for whom Guyot plays second base and outfield.

“[Softball] is not my priority, but I’m still committed to it because of the team,” Guyot said.

Guyot certainly knows how to handle all of her responsibilities. When she does show up on the pitch, she has rock-star status.

“The team treats her like a celebrity because they don’t see her that much,” Perry said. “When she walks up, everyone starts yelling, ‘G! G’s here! Coach, G’s here!’ They just love her. I think she’s a good teammate. Regardless of if she’s there or not, they know that when she is around, she’s super-supportive.”

There have also been some unintentional sacrifices. When Leahy hurt her back last year in the postseason, Guyot had to step in during the Eagles’ first-round game against Riverside Poly. She broke her right pinkie finger while going for a save in the first half, but didn’t tell her coach. Guyot produced a shutout, though Estancia lost the game in penalty kicks.

“After the game, she was sobbing,” Perry said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, look how sad she is [because we lost].’ And everyone was like, ‘No, she’s hurt.’ Soccer has cost her a little bit in basketball.”

The injury forced Guyot to miss the Estancia girls’ hoops second-round CIF game at Ocean View, a game the Eagles also lost.

“That was really hard, being on the bench for that,” Guyot said.

Sure, there have been sacrifices along the way for the three-sport athlete. But she would do it all again if she could. Her parents raised her to work hard, she said. They rarely miss a game, along with her grandparents, aunt and cousins, forming a Guyot cheering session at any game she’s in.

“I just want to thank all my family and my friends, and my coaches and my teammates,” Guyot said. “Without them, I wouldn’t have had all the success and failure that we had. But we learn from the failure. That’s what makes you successful.”