145 Hillers, Highlanders Honored as Members of U-T All-Academic Teams

Updated at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday

Helix running back Michael Adkins and Grossmont linebacker Erik Bergstrom have more in common than being juniors who play football. They excel in class, too. Michael’s GPA is 4.00 and Erik’s is 4.42.

But when it comes to academic achievement among local prep athletes, the superstars are Grossmont cross country runner Emily Palmer and volleyball player Danielle Dahle. Both are seniors with 4.58 grade-point averages—with 4.00 being straight A’s but grades in honors courses being weighted higher.

(And not far behind is Grossmont runner Adrienne Elliott, a junior boasting a 4.54 GPA.)

Those are but five of the 145 student-athletes from Grossmont and Helix Charter high schools who made The San Diego Union-Tribune’s prestigious All-Academic Teams. The paper on Sunday ran the names of 4,780 high school juniors and seniors in San Diego County who maintained a 3.0 or higher cumulative, weighted GPA while playing a California Interscholastic Federation-approved varsity sport.

Helix had 81 student-athletes on the list from seven fall sports (including 22 in football), while Grossmont had 64 from seven sports (21 in football). 

The Scotties had a slight advantage, however, since it has a field hockey team (14 listees). The Foothillers don’t field a field hockey team.

Helix athletic director Damon Chase also notes: “Helix did not use weighted grades in the report sent to the U-T.  Many of our athletes' grades are much higher when weighted grades are used to calculate GPA.”

The Union-Tribune reported Sunday that it and the county Office of Education invited all San Diego Section schools to take part in the Academic All-Stars program.

“The 2011-12 fall season for high school sports begins the 27th year of the Union-Tribune All-Academic Team,” the paper said. “For the 2010-11 school year, about 15,000 All-Academic Team certificates were awarded among the approximately 160,000 high school students in the San Diego [CIF] Section.”

Here are the top performers by GPA from Grossmont and Helix, by their sport:

• GHS FOOTBALL: Erik Bergstrom, Jr., 4.42
• HELIX FOOTBALL: Michael Adkins, Jr., 4.00
• GHS GIRLS GOLF: Erin Reilly, Jr., 4.07
• GHS BOX XC: Adam Omahen, Sr., 4.02
• HELIX BOYS XC: Kevin Huang, Jr., 4.00
• GHS GIRLS XC: Emily Palmer, Sr., 4.58
• HELIX GIRLS XC: Sara Remmes, Sr., 3.86
• GHS GIRLS VBALL: Danielle Dahle, Sr., 4.58
• HELIX GIRLS VBALL: Tianalei Siufanua, Jr., 4.00
• GHS GIRLS TENNIS: Britta Welsch, Jr., 4.54
• HELIX GIRLS TENNIS: Daniela Gorrino, Jr., 4.00 and Amanda Quang, Jr., 4.00
• GHS BOYS WATER POLO: Jack Benson, Sr., 4.24
• HELIX BOYS WATER POLO: Austin Elliott, Sr., 3.72
• HELIX FIELD HOCKEY: Jennifer Conlon, Sr., 4.00

Here are all the Grossmont and Helix All-Academic team members for each sport this fall:

FOOTBALL

GROSSMONT: Colton Anderson, Sr., 3.65; Erik Bergstrom, Jr., 4.42; Jeffrey Bowers, Jr., 3.76; Adam Dean, Jr., 3.66; Joseph Epstein, Sr., 4.14; Marcus Flisher, Jr., 3.96; Trent Galkoski, Jr., 3.73; Jonathan Green, Sr., 3.97; Ryan Green, Jr., 4.29; Tigran Gumushyan, Jr., 3.92; Brandon Hyatt, Sr., 3.40; Daniel Jacobs, Jr., 3.18; Omar Lopez, Sr., 3.36; Lawson Medeiros, Sr., 3.43; John Morgan, Jr., 3.07; Devon Morse, Sr., 3.51; Taylor Rathbun, Sr., 3.02; Hunter Roper, Sr., 3.41; Clifford Sapp, Sr., 3.41; Forrest Snyder, Jr., 3.04; Melchor Valencia, Jr., 3.07.

HELIX: Michael Adkins, Jr., 4.00; Matthew Anderson, Jr., 3.04; Daryl Bibbs, Sr., 3.38; Victor Bowen, Sr., 3.15; Romello Carbuccia, Sr., 3.41; Denning Crenshaw, Sr., 3.84; Humberto Del Toro, Jr., 3.00; Max Drew, Sr., 3.55; Joshua Forbes, Jr., 3.79; Kenya Gillem, Jr., 3.16; Darrion Hancock, Sr., 3.09; Christian Jones, Jr., 3.62; Brandon Lewis, Sr., 3.10; Denell Long, Jr., 3.03; Agustin Lugo Jr., Sr., 3.45; Anastacio Mahoney, Sr., 3.52; William Milo, Jr., 3.33; Keleem Parish, Jr., 3.97; Jimmy Pruitt, Sr., 3.04; Kacy Smith, Sr., 3.78; Anthony Spence, Sr., 3.46; Omar Williams-Pope Jr., Sr., 3.11.

GIRLS GOLF

GROSSMONT: Aubrey Badger, Sr., 3.97; Rae Ransaw, Jr., 3.04; Erin Reilly, Jr., 4.07; Kimberlynn Rennick, Sr., 3.63.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

GROSSMONT: Daniel Beach, Jr., 3.95; Daniel Kesner, Sr., 3.18; Adam Omahen, Sr., 4.02; Curran Walton, Sr., 3.58.

HELIX: Kelvin Chang, Jr., 3.36; Gabriel Echaves, Jr., 3.52; Marco Gutierrez Nicolino, Sr., 3.51; Shelby Hernandez, Jr., 3.31; Kevin Huang, Jr., 4.00; Tu Luu, Jr., 3.62; Joel Ortiz, Jr., 3.91; Jamal Rasul, Jr., 3.44; Antony Saucier, Jr., 3.28.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

GROSSMONT: Kayla Appenzeller, Jr., 3.45; Isabelle Bouffard, Sr., 4.21; Grace Crummett, Sr., 3.94; Natalie Cushman, Jr., 4.16; Adrienne Elliott, Jr., 4.54; Emily Palmer, Sr., 4.58; Clara Toma, Jr., 4.57; Christina Valdez, Jr., 3.56.

HELIX: Dakota Carrasco, Jr., 3.63; Sara Remmes, Sr., 3.86; Elaine Ribeiro, Jr., 3.45; Huma Roshnaye, Sr., 3.15.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

GROSSMONT: Rachel Chagnon, Sr., 3.91; Hannah Clark, Jr., 4.11; Danielle Dahle, Sr., 4.58; Danielle Davis, Jr., 3.84; Genevieve Demasi, Jr., 4.03; Megan Haar, Jr., 3.80; Olivia Meek, Jr., 3.92; Shawna Oberlin, Jr., 3.92; Jerdawn Robinson, Jr., 3.07; Erryn Smith, Sr., 4.22; Machaelah Zimmer, Jr., 3.96.

HELIX: Rachel Baker, Sr., 3.65; Alexa Fogel, Sr., 3.18; Nicole Harrison, Jr., 3.60; Rudy Leasau, Sr., 3.59; Zeinah Lemusu, Sr., 3.19; Sarah Meredith, Jr., 3.40; Hayley Singer, Jr., 3.36; Tianalei Siufanua, Jr., 4.00; Soumetha Sounevongsa, Sr., 3.44.

GIRLS TENNIS

GROSSMONT: Aimee Klabunde, Jr., 4.00; Emily Lareau, Jr., 3.62; Kierney Loucas, Sr., 4.27; Kaylan Pingel, Jr., 4.07; Sarah Reuss, Sr., 3.68; Eva Santillan, Sr., 3.08; Britta Welsch, Jr., 4.54.

HELIX: Alisha Donnell, Jr., 3.81; Amber Gonzalez, Jr., 3.21; Daniela Gorrino, Jr., 4.00; Katia Itzel Jimenez Romero, Jr., 3.45; Chong Li, Jr., 3.81; Cassidy McClain, Jr., 3.52; Han Pham, Jr., 3.50; Amanda Quang, Jr., 4.00; Desheyna Stong, Jr., 3.41; Shelby Tanaka, Sr., 3.41; Jennifer Trinh, Jr., 3.78; Laskyeya White, Jr., 3.20.

BOYS WATER POLO

GROSSMONT: Keaton Barr, Jr., 3.66; Jack Benson, Sr., 4.24; Thomas Fallis, Sr., 3.61; Nicolas Gagnon, Jr., 3.76; Yonaton Landstedt, Jr., 3.91; Michael Leimbach, Sr., 3.69; Charles Smith, Sr., 3.97; Robert Weiss, Jr., 4.12; Clay Wilson, Jr., 4.36.

HELIX: Mitchell Anderson, Jr., 3.36; Devon Arreola, Sr., 3.50; Jason Chea, Sr., 3.39; Mathew Doan, Sr., 3.58; Austin Elliott, Sr., 3.72; Andrew Holtz, Sr., 3.22; Eric Johnson, Jr., 3.68; Samuel Parks, Jr., 3.44; Jake Smith, Sr., 3.50; Connor Turner, Jr., 3.31; Wyatt Valtrakis, Sr., 3.28.

FIELD HOCKEY

HELIX: Breggie Coffey, Jr., 3.93; Jennifer Conlon, Sr., 4.00; Kassandra Evangelista, Jr., 3.72; Gabrielle Guzman, Sr., 3.44; Katie Hindorff, Sr., 3.43; Alexis Jenkins, Sr., 3.98; Kaley Jenkins, Jr., 3.97; Rachelle Martin, Sr., 3.98; Summer McCarthy, Jr., 3.20; Cynthia Mendoza, Jr., 3.33; Isabel Ortega, Jr., 3.18; Kai Penn, Jr., 3.19; Kiki Saunders, Jr., 3.74; Marina Tucker, Jr., 3.26.

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