Temecula Valley High School Wins Big At CIF SS Academic Awards Program
TEMECULA, CA — Three teams from Temecula Valley High School received the honor of selection for the 35th Annual CIF Southern Section – FORD Academic Awards program, the CIF-SS Office announced this week. The academic team winners were honored in a pre-game ceremony before the April 24th Los Angeles Angels game versus the Oakland A’s.
“The team awards, based on a cumulative grade point average, are awarded in 27 team sports. Entries from 1,902 teams were received this year,” a spokesperson for the CIF-SS said.
At Temecula Valley High School, the Women’s Soccer Team and the Men’s Lacrosse Team won the large school awards for their respective sports and were on hand to celebrate and then stay to watch the game. The TVHS Golf Team also received an award for academic excellence, however, they did not attend the event.
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Coaches were allowed to bring one student out onto Angel’s field to stand for the team. TVHS Lacrosse Coach and longtime Temecula resident Charles Assumma had a tough time picking just one athlete to walk with him out on the field.
“The most obvious student to bring is the one with the highest GPA,” he told Patch. “The problem is I had two that met those criteria, Vincenzo Gueli and Braden Mesirow, both received an impressive 4.6 GPA, so I had to fall back on a coin toss and Braden was the winner.”
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He shared a bit about the team and what the award means to all of them.
“Winning this award means that we are aligned with our priorities of family first, then your spiritual beliefs, then school, and lastly Lacrosse,” he said. “It also shows they can be very successful in all these important aspects of their life while keeping these priorities straight.”
Varsity Soccer Coach Jennifer Guinn spoke on behalf of her team, which holds a cumulative average of a 4.04 GPA, and what it means to receive this award for the 2022-23 season. Guinn walked out on the field with one of her varsity captains, Cameron Vehlow.
“Camryn received a 5.0 last semester during the season with an overall GPA of 4.6, the highest overall cumulative GPA in her senior class,” Guinn said. “She is a four-year Varsity athlete and it was an honor to walk on the field with her.”
“The girls continue to show that they set high standards for our soccer program. With those high standards, student-athletes helped each other out by offering tutoring and other means of support to reach their academic goals,” she said.
Senior and Varsity Captain Elizabeth Ludwig organized a soccer program-wide tutoring program that aided several players in achieving higher grades and increasing GPAs for total team eligibility. That program will be passed down to the next set of Varsity captains, according to Ludwig.
“We were extremely proud of our student-athletes and their dedication to their academics,” Guinn said. “What an honor to be the Girls Soccer reps for all large public schools in the Southern Section.”
Thirty-three different CIF-SS member schools were represented among the team winners, with Flintridge Preparatory School leading the way, with five team winners topping the academic lists.
The Southern California FORD Dealers sponsor the annual academic awards program.
To be considered for the award, teams must have at least five student-athletes with a minimum 3.0 GPA average (4.0 scale) in the first semester or first two quarters of the 2022-23 school year.
The first-place teams received a banner to commemorate their achievement—all teams who participated and qualified received Academic Award certificates for their student-athletes.
Additionally, 251 student-athletes have each been named the individual “Student-Athlete of the Year” by their school.
Each CIF-SS member school is entitled to name a male and a female “Student-Athlete of the Year” that must be a senior having maintained a minimum of a 3.5 GPA (4.0 scale) over the past three years, in addition to earning a letter in at least one varsity sport and participating in extracurricular activities (music, drama, service groups, etc.).
Looking at the team and their academic excellence, as well as their consistent results on the field, Guinn had this to say:
“I am so very proud of their commitment to our team on the field and in the classroom,” she said. “I have athletes receiving the highest Merit scholarships, and as we all know, Academics should be the number one focus and guarantee their future. Give your all and your best. We are so proud of our girls for giving their best. It paid off in big ways.”
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