Story By LBCC’s Chris Ruiz
Men’s Volleyball star Antwain Aguillard and softball outfielder Vanessa Samudio have been named the Long Beach City College male and female athletes of the year for the 2008-09 sports season.
LBCC head coaches along with a panel of local media selected the winners. This is the second year of the athlete of the year award.
Sophomore Aguillard got nine of 12 first-place votes to easily run away with the men’s athlete of the year honor.
The middle blocker from Las Vegas was named the state championships most valuable player after leading the Vikings to the 2009 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) men’s volleyball title. In two matches at the state tournament, he totaled 35 kills and 11 blocks. Against Golden West College in the state final, Aguillard posted 20 kills and seven blocks, including a block on the championship winning point.
Aguillard was also named the Western State Conference player of the year as he led the WSC with a .563 attack percentage and 94 total blocks.
Aguillard is set to attend and play volleyball next year at Long Beach State University.
“Earning this honor is a perfect way to cap off a tremendous season for him,” said LBCC men’s volleyball head coach Randy Totorp. “Antwain is such a great athlete and was very coachable. We are really proud of him and glad we will be able to follow him close by at Long Beach State.”
Other nominees for the men’s athlete of the year included: Trevor Costin (baseball), Lane Whitney (basketball), Jaylon Martin (cross country), Peter Prescott (golf), Manuel Batista (soccer), Kenji Miyahara (swimming & diving), Matt Taggart (tennis), Michael Hancock (track & field), and Dusan Ivanovski (water polo).
Samudio, the female athlete of the year, had one of the finest seasons in LBCC history and will leave the college as one of its all-time best.
The left-handed hitting left fielder from San Pedro High School was named first-team NFCA All-American. She was also honored as the state’s co-player of the year as well as the South Coast Conference’s player of the year. Samudio is just the third Viking in the program’s history to be named state MVP.
“Vanessa definitely deserves the award,” said LBCC softball co-head coach Melissa Angel. “She had such a great season and all the post season awards prove it. She worked really hard for us the past two seasons to get to this point and we are extremely proud of her.”
Samudio closed her final season with a school-record .519 batting average (68 for 131) and set the single-season LBCC homerun record with 7. This season, she also had 18 doubles, 33 runs, 43 RBI, and a .863 slugging percentage. For her career, Samudio set school records with a .464 batting average (123 for 256) and 11 homeruns. She currently ranks second all-time with 123 hits, 29 doubles, and 87 RBI.
Other nominees for the female athlete of the year were: Wendy Robles (basketball), Jaasmin Pina (cross country), Karen Griffith (golf), Brooke Ehinger (soccer), Mieke Howell (swimming & diving), Carol Hunsinger (tennis), Malia Palacios (track & field), Maricris Lapaix (volleyball), and Kimmy Morrison (water polo).
Last year, hurdler Vannie Prudhomme (track & field) and pitcher Sadie Barton (softball) were named LBCC athletes of the year for 2007-08.