Mariana Tello and Edgar Garces of Santa Maria High School were honored Monday afternoon in Santa Maria at the Northern Santa Barbara County Athletic Round Table luncheon.
Tello, the female athlete of the week, is a member of the Saints' wrestling team. She helped lead Santa Maria to the CIF Central Section Masters championship over the weekend. It's the first girls' championship for the Saints since 1975. Tello also won a league title, CIF title, and is a CIF State qualifier.
"We honestly, since league, have been placing first, so it felt really, really good to place as a team," Tello said. "I'm a state qualifier, so I'm like super scared."
Garces, the male athlete of the week, is a member of the Saints' soccer team. Garces scored two goals last Wednesday night in Santa Maria's CIF Central Section Division 1 semifinal victory over Clovis North. The Saints, however, fell in the championship to Central (Fresno) 1-0 on Friday night.
"Winning semifinals was a big thing because my freshman year, I was on varsity and we lost semifinals," Garces said. "I felt like there was an empty space still left there. I scored two goals in that game, and it was something emotional that couldn't stop making me smile."
