Lauren Carandang of Pioneer Valley High School and Dominic Mendez of Righetti High School were honored Monday afternoon in Santa Maria at the Northern Santa Barbara County Athletic Round Table luncheon.
Female: Lauren Carandang, Pioneer Valley High School track & field. Carandang broke a school record in the triple jump at the City Meet and qualified for CIF with a jump of 36’2”. Carandang also took third in the pole vault at the Central Valley Relays at Dinuba High School with a vault of 7’7”. The Panthers head to Paso Robles on Saturday for the Bearcat Relays.
Male: Dominic Mendez, Righetti High School wrestling. Mendez finished 4th in the State this weekend outperforming his seeding at #6. Mendez defeated the #3 seeded Michael Torres out of Oakdale high school in the quarterfinals 3-2. Mendez finished 2nd at Masters and 3rd in Division 1 Central Section Championships.
"I've been working on beating it since midway through my sophomore year," Carandang said. "It's just so exciting that I was able to do it. I'm super proud of myself and I'm so thankful for all my coaches that have helped me get this award. And I'm really happy that I was able to represent my school in this way."
"I had a really good experience. Freshman year, last year, I didn't really do as good as I expected, but this year, I really came out with a high potential," Mendez said. "I did really good this year, and took out some big names."
