Three hundred or so high school sports fans turned out Thursday night for the First Annual "Preppy" awards, held at the venerable San Jose Athletic Club.
The event was to honor Central Coast Section athletes and teams, as well as the student writers and photographers who cover the high schools for Prep2Prep.
Judging by the big smiles on many of participants' faces and the relatives and friends snapping photos of athletes holding trophies, the evening was a success.
"I think it's great," said Diffric Jackson of San Jose, the father of Archbishop Mitty High's heavily decorated softball player Jazmyn Jackson, who was named CCS softball player of the year. "Just coming here and seeing how the students are acknowledged as well as the student writers and photographers, it's just awesome. It's a great event that everyone can get behind and support."
Comedian Patrick Jaye was the Master of Ceremonies and he cracked wise on a variety of topics including Sport Utility Vehicles, the aversion of teenagers to going outside and the imaginary part-time employment of Prep2Prep student writer Ryan Allen. But we won't go into that.
Several hundred awards were passed out and one only had to see the big smile on Wilcox girls basketball star Joeseta Fatuesi or the pride exuded by Capuchino's hearing-impaired, record-setting football player Justin Ewing to know the teenagers appreciated being feted. Ewing will will play football at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. in the fall.
Fatuesi's parents took photos of her as she posed with her trophies for being the P2P Santa Clara Valley Athletic League-De Anza Player of the Year and P2P Central Coast Section Junior of the Year.
"I feel grateful and thankful to Prep2Prep for choosing me and giving me these awards," Fatuesi said. "I thought it was pretty nice to give awards out to the athletes. (My family) enjoyed it. It was a nice evening and I got to see players I played against and played with in AAU and school."
Also enjoying herself was Eastside College Prep's Hashima Carothers who was named the P2P CCS Senior Basketball Player of the Year. She will attend USF in the fall on a hoops scholarship and attended the event with her coach, Donovan Blythe.
"It was really nice and I really appreciate it," Carother said. "The whole event was nice."
Traveling from the Monterey Bay was Soquel's Stu Walters, the P2P's CCS Boys Basketball Coach of the Year. He led the Knights to the Santa Cruz County Athletic League title and some impressive post-season performances, including a near-upset of section and NorCal regional title winner Archbishop Mitty.
"It was great," Walters said. "I think it was the first time for this event and I think it went well. It was interesting to see all of the athletes. I was surprised (to get the award). There are a lot of great coaches out there."
The evening also had its share of light-hearted moments, including Serra baseball pitcher Orlando Razo musing that his award for producing the year's top P2P team video was a "life-changing event."
Putting on the festivities were P2P founder Danny Kadah, P2P general manager Jeff Panos and marketing director Jennifer Ginn. Ginn, a former college volleyball star, worked especially long hours in the weeks leading up to the night to honor all of the young men and women.
Kadah said there are a few bugs to work out before next year's event, but was pleased with the results.
"It's obviously a huge undertaking to put on an event like this and not everything went exactly according to plan, but to witness so many special moments and see so many schools represented made us extremely proud to host such an event," Kadah said. "I've spent the vast majority of my life in the Bay Area and I can honestly say that there has never been anything quite like the Preppys and we expect to make it even bigger and better in the coming years."
Near the end of the event Kadah announced that Prep2Prep in addition to blanketing its core market of the CCS will expand into the North Coast Section of Northern California and will test the waters in the state of Kansas.
Here are some of the more prominent awards handed out by P2P Thursday night:
--Male athlete of the year: Archbishop Mitty basketball player Aaron Gordon.
--Female athlete of the year: Mitty basketball player Kelli Hayes.
--Coach of the year: Sacred Heart Prep football's Pete Lavorato
--Girls team of the year: Mitty softball
--Boys team of the year: Alisal soccer
--Public school of the year: San Benito
--Private school of the year: Mitty
--Best P2P article: Jacob Rudger, Carlmont
--Best photograph: Eddie Garcia, Serra
--Best reporter: Bharath Ravishankar, St. Francis
--Best photographer: Austin Yu, Lynbrook
--P2P top contributor of the year: Megan Medland, Live Oak
--School rivalry of the year: Menlo vs. Sacred Heart Prep
--Video of the Year: Orlando Razo ... "A week in the life of Serra baseball."
--People's Choice male athlete of the year: Michael Strem, St. Francis baseball
--People's Choice female athlete of the year: Katie Moss, Homestead softball
--Best record-breaking performance: Justin Ewing, Capuchino football
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John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and followed on Twitter @PrepCat
