By Walsh CARVALHO

As 2009 ends it is an opportunity to reflect on the stellar performances by many local athletes and athletic programs.

Crescenta Valley High School boasted a few teams that made it to the CIF Southern Section championship brackets.

Boys’ basketball made it to the first round of the Division IA championships

Girls’ basketball made it to the second round of the Division IA championships, with an ALL-CIF second team award given to senior Cassie Pappas.

Girls’ soccer had a stellar year with a Division II quarter-final showing and five ALL-CIF awards given. They were presented to Victoria Baldridge – first team, Brittany Berger – second team, and three third team placements for Danny Cardenas, Amanda Rose Johnson and Jordon Royer.

Girls’ water polo made it to the Division IV quarter-finals with four ALL-CIF first team awards given to Kimberly Fraisse, Taylor Kuh, Olivia Trimis and Sofie Munoz.

It was a challenging season with many great team and individual performances on both the CVHS boys and girls varsity cross country teams. At the CIF Southern Section Divisional Preliminaries held in November at Mount San Antonio College, the boys’ team, led by Mike Duncan, finished 11th in their heat with 290 points.

However, the girls’ team took first place in the Pacific League.

Volleyball made it to the first round of the Division II finals.

In football, the Falcons advanced to the second round of the Southeast Divisions championships. The Glendale Quarterbacks club awarded Kyle Cota club MVP, Mike Bako won club athlete/scholar and Marro Lee won JV MVP.

Katie Park qualified for the post season as the Falcons top player in golf.

Ani Ebrahimian and Audri Pardo made the Division III playoffs in tennis.

Boys’ water polo won the Pacific League title, moving to DivisionVI semi-finals and turned out five ALL-CIF awards. Alan Dearman and Rane Colvin made first team, Chris Veselich and Matt Peters made second team and Martin Rivera made third team.

St. Francis High Schools boys’ also had a good year taking its basketball team to the second round of the Division IVAA finals.

In soccer the team advanced to the Division I semi-finals with Eric Verso making first team, Nick Rihn and David Rios making second team, and Max Cadena making third team.

Football had a good year entering the second round of the Western Division finals, and having Dietrich Riley honored with being one of 89 kids asked to play in the Under Armour All-America game in Florida on Jan. 2.

The girls of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy found themselves with some success this last year starting the 2009 season with first round appearance in the Division IVA basketball finals. They also excelled in soccer with a Division II second round game, and a pair of ALL-CIF awards. Sinead Fleming made second team and Natalie Zeenni made third team.

And wrapping up the 2009 season was Division III first round appearance for its softball team and a first team ALL-CIF placing for Jessi Ferri.

This is just a sampling of the many outstanding performances in 2009 from many teams and athletes. We are unable to list each and every noteworthy athlete but look forward to an equally impressive 2010 and the chance to follow their achievements whether on the field, in the pool, on the court or wherever their sports are played.

  CV Falcons, CV Weekly