Aotw
Athlete of the Week Basketball Long Beach City College Long Beach State Millikan St. Anthony Volleyball Water Polo

The562.org’s Athletes of the Week

Congratulations to our Athletes of the Week and thanks to Naples Rib Company for their sponsorship!

HIGH SCHOOL

Frank Staine, St. Anthony Basketball

It’s a new era for St. Anthony basketball as the Saints are competing in Division 1 this year, and senior Frank Staine is trying to help them prove they belong. After a 1-3 start, St. Anthony won two games last week to even their record, beating Wilson by 31 and Los Al by 13; Stained scored 20 points with 11 rebounds against the Bruins and 25 points against the Griffins.

Rob Diaz, Millikan Basketball

The freshman led the Rams to a 3-1 record last week at the Valley Christian Tournament, and a third-place finish after a 59-37 win over La Mirada. Diaz was the Rams’ leading scorer on the week with 17 points in a season-opening win over Fountain Valley and 23 points in the win over the Matadores. Diaz scored 63 points in four games to lead Millikan.

COLLEGE

Garrett Zaan, Long Beach State Water Polo

Long Beach State made history last weekend with its first NCAA Tournament win in 27 years, beating Pomona Pitzer in an NCAA Tourney play-in game. Freshman star Garrett Zaan helped the 49ers in a 12-5 win with four goals, powering the team on to the next round where they’ll play Stanford this week.

Jessica Blakeman, LBCC Volleyball

A sophomore out of Benicia, Jessica Blakeman helped power LBCC’s historic week, which saw the Vikings host a second-round playoff match for the first time in several years. Blakeman had 17 kills and six digs in the state playoff win over Grossmont and followed it up with 17 kills and nine digs in the five-set loss to Cypress.

 

Mike Guardabascio
An LBC native, Mike Guardabascio has been covering Long Beach sports professionally for 13 years, with his work published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous awards for his writing as well as the CIF Southern Section’s Champion For Character Award, and is the author of three books about Long Beach history.
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