The Clovis Roundup gave its annual sports awards at the Clovis Unified School District board meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 29. Clovis Roundup sports editor Paul Meadors was on hand to present eight awards to the best student-athletes and teams for the 2017-18 school year.
“It’s a labor of love,” Meadors said. “It takes a lot of work, but the student-athletes of Clovis Unified definitely deserve something like this.”
The Girls Performance of the Year award went to Buchanan High School cross country phenom Corie Smith. Smith was the CIF cross country Division I state champion as a sophomore.
Clovis High School wrestler Seth Nevills took the Boys Performance of the Year award.
“In the state meet, [Nevills] pinned all six challengers in record fashion,” Meadors said. “In the final match against the No. 2 seed, he pinned him in 1 minute 11 seconds.”
The Clovis High School softball team was named the overall Team of the Year. The Cougars finished 30-2 overall, 10-0 in TRAC and won the 2018 CIF Central Section Division I title with a 6-3 win over Buchanan. The team was ranked No. 4 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports and No. 13 in the nation by MaxPreps.
The Boys Team of the Year is the Buchanan wrestling team. The Bears won the 2018 CIF State Championship for three years in a row. Buchanan, ranked No. 6 in the nation, also took two individual state titles and eight medals with 219 team points.
The Clovis West girls basketball team is the Girls Team of the Year. Clovis West went 32-4 overall and 10-0 in TRAC. The defending 2017 CIF State Open Division champions won the 2018 Central Section Division I championship and were runners-up in the Southern California Open Division.
Mike Noel, Clovis High School softball head coach, is the Clovis Roundup Coach of the Year. Noel won his eighth career Central Section softball title.
The Boys Athlete of the Year was given to Nevills, the 4-time CIF State heavyweight champion who ended his career with a 169-1 record, while Alexa Marchini from Buchanan soccer was named the Girls Athlete of the Year. Marchini recorded 150 saves and 15 shoutouts while allowing only 13 goals. Marchini helped the Bears to an 18-5-4 record, a TRAC title and the Central Section Division 1 title. Nevills is attending Penn State and Marchini is at Northern Arizona.