The Long Beach Century Club hosted its 68th Annual Sports Night Banquet this week recognizing the city’s top high school athletes along with a host of special award winners.
The562’s Mike Guardabascio and Tyler Hendrickson hosted the awards and started by naming Long Beach State coaches LaTanya Sheffield and Gavin Arroyo as the Century Club’s Co-Coaches of the Year. Both coached at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where Sheffield served as head coach of Team USA’s women’s track and field team, while Arroyo was an assistant for the men’s water polo team.
A few more Olympians were then honored as the Century Club’s Players of the Year, with the honors going to Team USA water polo’s Max Irving, Hannes Daube, Chase Dodd, and Ryder Dodd. The four Long Beach natives played a key role in Team USA’s bronze-medal finish in Paris, and Daube and Chase Dodd were present at the banquet to accept the award.
This year, the Century Club also had four new inductees into the Hall of Fame: Vania King, Patty Gasso, Tara Cross-Battle, and Lashinda Demus.
King, a Long Beach Poly alumna, achieved a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world in doubles and No. 50 in singles. She won Wimbledon and US Open doubles titles in 2010 with partner Yaroslava Shvedova, and went on to capture 15 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She also won a singles WTA Tour title at the 2006 Bangkok Open.
Gasso played softball at Long Beach State from 1983 to 1984 and began her coaching career at Long Beach City College in 1990. She was hired as the head coach of Oklahoma softball in 1995, where she just wrapped up her 31st year with the program. She has led the Sooners to eight national championships and holds the record for most wins by a coach in program history.
Cross-Battle led Long Beach State to an NCAA title in 1989 and was named AVCA Player of the Year in both 1988 and 1989. Cross-Battle earned an Olympic bronze medal in 1992 and was later inducted into the Long Beach State Hall of Fame (1995) and the International Volleyball Hall of Fame (2014).
Demus set national high school records at Wilson High in the 300-meter hurdles, as well as on the 4×400-meter relay team. She went on to compete for the University of South Carolina before winning multiple world titles and an Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles in 2012—becoming the first American woman to the event.
Each Hall of Fame inductee was present to receive their award—something that hasn’t always been possible in the past. Cross-Battle traveled from Houston to attend the banquet, while Gasso made the trip from Oklahoma. Each inductee gave a speech following their induction, and Gasso summed it up best:
“I’ll end off with this,” she said. “You can take the girl out of Long Beach, but you can’t take the Long Beach out of the girl.”
Brillana Boyd and Sandro Pueyo were honored as the Century Club’s Long Beach City College Athletes of the Year. Boyd capped off her two-year run with the Vikings’ girls’ basketball program as a two-time South Coast Conference Player of the Year, while surpassing 1,000 career points and 400 rebounds. Pueyo was named the 2024 South Coast Conference Men’s Water Polo Most Valuable Player and led the Vikings to a third-place finish at the 3C2A State Championships.
Long Beach State’s Players of the Year were beach volleyball pair Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah, along with men’s volleyball standout Moni Nikolov. Gementera and Hagenah hold the most career wins in program history, while Nikolov led the Beach to a 2025 national championship in a dominant one-and-done freshman season.
The Century Club’s High School Co-Coaches of the Year were Wilson track and field coaches Shannon Fisher and Neil Nelson. The pair continued their golden era of Long Beach track this year at the CIF State Finals in Clovis, capturing their third consecutive girls’ state championship.
In addition to naming athletes of the year in each sport, the Century Club also honored Long Beach Poly’s Aya McLyn and Jovani Ruff as its overall Girls and Boys Athletes of the Year, respectively.
McLyn received the award concluding a year of excellence across multiple sports. The Washington State-bound senior was Moore League Player of the Year in flag football and Midfielder of the Year during the winter soccer season. She also earned second-team All-League honors in girls’ basketball and was a member of Poly’s CIF-SS championship softball team.
Ruff was named Boys’ High School Athlete of the Year after closing out a historic career with the Poly basketball program. The four-year varsity guard and Cal commit finished with 2,073 points—the most by any high school player in city history.
The Century Club also took time to award some of the community’s outstanding contributors. Award recipients included Christy and Mack Calvin (Bob and Nell Kariger Award), Mike Van Dyke (Keith Cordes Award), Abbie Campos and Matthew Dragich (Harold Hofman Memorial Scholarship Awards), Lakeisha Buggs (Keith Hansen Memorial Award), Justine Wong-Orantes (Hank Hollingworth Award), Noelle Polmanteer (Marie C. Gooch Past-Presidents Award), Toni Marie Fallon and Jeremiah Malone (Special Olympics Awards), Cynthia Brannon (Ernie G. Pollman Memorial Award), Daylen Carey (Jim Herrick Award), and Tom Gallagher (Jim Knaub Award).
High School Athletes of the Year For Each Sport:
Girls’ Badminton: Nga Pham, Long Beach Poly
Boys’ Badminton: Brian Habacon, Cabrillo
Co-Baseball: Anthony Pack Jr. (Millikan), Rudy Carlos Jr. ( Wilson)
Co- Girls’ Basketball: Joy Anderson (Long Beach Poly), Nyemah King (Lakewood)
Boys’ Basketball: Jovani Ruff, Long Beach Poly
Beach Volleyball: Simrin Adams and Sadie Calderone, Wilson
Girls’ Cross Country: Avery Peck, Long Beach Poly
Boys’ Cross Country: Jack Brown, Millikan
Girls’ Diving: Fiona Lobedecis, Long Beach Poly
Flag Football: Aaya McLyn, Long Beach Poly
Football: Anthony League, Millikan
Co- Girls’ Golf: Loren Fearance (Long Beach Poly), Victoria Valenzuela (St. Anthony)
Boys’ Golf: Bodie Barnes, Wilson
Gymnastics: Eva Esqueda, Millikan
Girls’ Lacrosse: Emerson May, Wilson
Boys’ Lacrosse: Zeth Gonzales, Long Beach Poly
Girls’ Soccer: Aaya McLyn, Long Beach Poly
Boys’ Soccer: Juan Vasquez, Millikan
Co-Softball: Jaylene Echeverria (Lakewood), Lauren Cantwell (Millikan)
Girls’ Swimming: Kylie Montiel, Millikan
Boys’ Swimming: Lucas Jue, Long Beach Poly
Girls’ Tennis: Mandy Oliveros, CAMS
Boys’ Tennis: Leo Bauch, Wilson
Co-Girls’ Track: Loren Webster (Wilson), Jill Wetteland (Long Beach Poly)
Co-Boys’ Track: Wyland Obando (Wilson), Noah Smith (Long Beach Poly)
Co-Girls’ Volleyball: Kristen Dear (Long Beach Poly), Layla Moore (Long Beach Poly)
Co-Boys’ Volleyball: Marek Turner (Wilson), Matthew Tsao (Long Beach Poly)
Girls’ Water Polo: Katherine O’Dea, Wilson
Co-Boys’ Water Polo: Emerson La Porta (Long Beach Poly), Enzo Brigagliano (Wilson)
Girls’ Wrestling: Ashley Wafer, Lakewood
Boys’ Wrestling: Chris Anguiano, Millikan
