Jim Tyack Award goes to trio of state champions
| Monday, May 18 2009 07:02 PM
Last Updated Monday, May 18 2009 11:25 PM
Jim Tyack Award winners
1956 Johnny Callison
1957 Joe Hernandez
1958 Vern Burke
1959 Lonzo Hill
1960 Billy Mackey
1961 Richard Jones
1962 Terry Maddux
1963 Michael McCaffrey
Michael Anderson
1964 Billy Satterfield
1965 Pat Skrable
1966 Andy Hill
1967 Junior Kennedy
Jeff Siemon
1968 Jan Stuebbe
1969 Barry Townsend
1970 Ted Roberson
McKinley Mosely
1971 Mark Newbrough
Larry Boaen
1972 Lonnie Shelton
Mike Bull
1973 David Turner
1974 Joe Lopez
1975 Gary Harris
Tim Haynes
1976 Brian Busacca
1977 Bruce Scurlock
1978 Linda Goen
Don Lonsinger
Roger Tarver
1979 Karen Weisman
Jeff Showers
1980 Maureen Robertson
Randy Maples
1981 Shannon Oakes
Keith Grider
Otis Jennings
1982 Wendy Martell
Scott Peterson
1983 Amy Torczon
Darrel Nerove
1984 Linda Ross
Billy Satterfield
Mark McGill
1985 Susan Lowry
Anthony Corwin
1986 Kelly Connelly
Mike Lewis
1987 Julie Caufield
Tony Mills
1988 Denise DeWait
John Werdel
1989 Katie Haller
Bryan Adams
1990 Lisa Johns
Clayton Madden
1991 Results unavailable
1992 Kori Ermigaret
Kam Warner
Jeff Buckey
1993 Christie Hollowell
Rashaan Shehee
1994 Andrew Diaz
Nicolette Ornalez
1995 Brooke Williams
Brian Sherrill
1996 Kacie Jung
Jacob Stuebbe
1997 Janae Henry
Josh Williams
1998 Bo Alade
Sean Barker
1999 Amanda Hockett
Rodney Leisle
2000 Halima Decree
Jared Brite
2001 Kristen Hurst
Laura Pilatti
Robert Bergman
2002 Blair Groefsema
Tiffany Brown
Nathan Rhodes
2003 Keisha Gaines
Jeff Baker
2004 Whitney Johnson
Brett Shelton
2005 Mallori Gibson
Jake Varner
2006 Megan Langenfeld
A.J. Jefferson
2007 Britt Peters
Justin Cheadle
2008 Ashlee Thomas
Peter Mitchell
2009 Anna Jelmini
Seth Hicks
Chris Schwartz
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An impromptu convention of state champions broke out at this year's Jim Tyack Award presentation Monday.
That California championship was the lofty standard this year as Anna Jelmini won the girls award and Seth Hicks and Chris Schwartz split the boys award at Cataldo's Pizza.
Jelmini won the shot put and discus state titles as a junior, Hicks the 135-pound wrestling title as a senior and Schwartz the Division I cross country championship as a junior.
"I got really nervous up there," said Jelmini, who's used to an even bigger stage. "It's just exciting to be a part of the finalists. I'm just really happy to get this award, because I think it's pretty prestigious."
The award is given every year to Kern County's most outstanding male and female senior athletes. It's named after Jim Tyack, Sr., a Bakersfield High and Bakersfield College athlete who was an outstanding track and baseball athlete who went on to play Major League Baseball.
This year's field was especially deep, with eight of the 10 finalists owning either a state title, a school record or an All-Area Player of the Year honor.
"Just standing up there with them was an honor," Hicks said. "All these multi-sport athletes, who were MVPs here, left and right. It was, wow, overwhelming. To be picked was really exciting."
The most decorated athlete there had to be Jelmini, who owns the all-time national record in the discus at 190 feet, 3 inches and is second all-time in the shot put at 54-4.75, just six inches shy of the national mark.
She's an overwhelming favorite to defend her state title in both events June 5 and 6 at the state meet at Clovis-Buchanan and plans to compete in the junior national championships and the Pan American Games this summer.
She also was the South Sequoia League's basketball MVP as a junior -- she dropped the sport to focus on throwing as a senior -- and carries a 3.94 GPA.
"It's not all about sports," Jelmini said. "Because what are you going to do when you're done playing sports?"
Schwartz followed up his state cross country title with a second-place finish in the 3,200 meters at last year's state track and field meet. He won a second section cross country title last year, then was seventh in state, first at the Western Regional and eighth at the national race.
Schwartz, also Kern County's top-rated chess player, will sign to run at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Thursday.
"This is really fun," Schwartz said. "Even though (locals) kind of have recognized me already, it's still kind of cool that they go out of their way to show their appreciation."
Hicks enjoyed a magical senior year. He won all 48 of his wrestling matches, including some at prestigious tournaments like the Doc Buchanan and North Torrance Invitationals. He also won the Central Section and the state tournament with a thrilling comeback win over Poway's Conrad Snell.
"The trophy they give us is just amazing," said Hicks, holding his wooden, gold-lined clock trophy. "It's exciting to still be recognized even though the season's over."
Other boys finalists were Garces' Stephon Carter, Bakersfield's Alex Mitchell and Golden Valley's Byron Newman. Other girls finalists were Centennial's Jessica Crowe, Golden Valley's Shanesha Epps, East's Karlee Grundeis and Liberty's Darci Smith.
Note: Crowe's Tyack finalist capsule was inadvertently left out of Sunday's edition. Here is the complete capsule:
Jessica Crowe
Centennial
Cross country, football, soccer, track and field
A terrific soccer player who earned first-team All-Area honors as a senior, Crowe was very well-rounded. She was Centennial's cross-country MVP as a senior and earlier helped the Golden Hawks win a Central Section title; she is the school-record holder in the high jump and part of the school-record 400-meter relay team and a state qualifier in track; and even a freshman and junior-varsity football player during her career.
