Sports
Engelhardt, Rosenthal named as Ventura County Athletes of the Year
Patterson, Lewis named collegiate Athletes of the Year
Ventura High’s Sadie Engelhardt and Newbury Park’s Shane Rosenthal took home two of the night’s biggest honors June 1 as the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame celebrated the year in local sports with its annual awards ceremony at the Serra Center in Camarillo.
Engelhardt, the North Carolina State commit who won eight state championships in cross country and track, was named interscholastic Female Athlete of the Year.
“Just to be next to these other athletes just to be surrounded by greatness like this is such a privilege,” Engelhardt said. “It was pretty inspiring.”
Rosenthal, the UCLA football commit who set four county career records and the state receiving record as he led Newbury Park football to the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 championship, was named interscholastic Male Athlete of the Year.
Ventura College water polo player AnnMarie Patterson and Cal Lutheran University basketball player Devon Lewis were named collegiate Female and Male Athletes of the Year.
The Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025, including Simi Valley softball player Sara Griffin Webster, Westlake High tennis coach Connie Flanderka, distance runner Ruth Vomund and Ventura High running coach Bill Tokar, gave their induction speeches to the assembled athletes of the year and their families.
Camarillo high jumper Jeremy Fisher, who is abroad coaching, gave his speech via video and his coach, Dennis Reidmiller, accepted the honor on his behalf.
Hall of Fame executive director Brian FitzGerald presented Santa Paula High’s Miahnna Galvan with the organization’s scholarship award.
Galvan, the Citrus Coast League girls basketball MVP, will attend Cal State University East Bay. She also set the school record in the 3,200 meters, volunteered locally and wrote an essay which moved the judges.
Kimberly Chavarria (Buena), Trinity Tipton (Camarillo), Ahtziry Mendoza-Mendez (Channel Islands), Alexa Martinez (Fillmore), Lauren Kaller (Foothill Tech), Logan Burns (Grace School), Hailey Lopez (Hueneme), Dylan Montelbano (Moorpark), Kimiko Carmer (Newbury Park), Cadence Renshaw (Nordhoff), Katarina Modrzejewski (Oak Park), Sienna Angell (Oxnard), Alysia Clayton (Pacifica), Sofie Stock (Rio Mesa), Amanda Borg (Royal), Hailey Barlow (St. Bonaventure), Sofia Peralta (Santa Clara), Galvan (Santa Paula), Kiley Reisner (Simi Valley), Morgan Casillas (Thousand Oaks), Engelhardt (Ventura), Kirra Cane (Villanova Prep), and Claudia Turner (Westlake) were honored as the interscholastic Female Athletes of the Year from their respective schools.
Grace Hazelton (Moorpark College), Janelle Jimenez (Oxnard College), AnnMarie Patterson (Ventura College), Mari Carmen Bufkin (Cal Lutheran University) were honored as the collegiate Female Athletes of the Year from their schools.
Brady McHenry (Buena), Joshua Castaniero (Camarillo), Nazir Ivey (Channel Islands), Anthony Tafoya (Fillmore), Aidan Gomez (Foothill Tech), Evan LaSecla (Grace School), JR Lesher (Hueneme), Leon Chavez (Moorpark), Rosenthal (Newbury Park), Uriel Covarrubias (Nordhoff), Oliver Gonzalez (Oak Park), Joshua Godinez (Oxnard), Isaiah Dillon (Pacifica), JJ Bittner (Rio Mesa), Zach Nagy (Royal), Koen Glover (St. Bonaventure), Leon Chavez (Santa Clara), Allen Macias (Santa Paula), Kevin Ilano (Simi Valley), Oliver Clippinger-Zimmerman (Thousand Oaks), Josh Woodworth (Ventura), Esteban Lopez-Ayala (Villanova Prep), and Austin Maziasz (Westlake) were honored as the interscholastic Male Athletes of the Year from their respective schools.
Jacob Knudsen (Moorpark College), Luke Ortiz (Oxnard College), Daniel Duran (Ventura College), and Lewis (Cal Lutheran University) were honored as the collegiate Male Athletes of the Year from their schools.
Joe Curley covers sports for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.