Compton, Calif. – Sophomores Jayvon Brown and Olga Pardo took top honors at the annual Tartar Athletics Awards Banquet, hosted Thursday evening in the Tartar Gymnasium. The end-of-the-year celebration commemorated the achievements of ECC Compton Center student-athletes over the course of the 2016-17 academic year.
Brown, the South Coast Conference South Division Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and CCCAA February Athlete of the Month, earned Male Sophomore of the Year honors, while Pardo was named the Female Sophomore of the Year after earning her second-straight state championship appearance in badminton.
Men’s basketball’s Anthony Fitzpatrick earned the Male Performance of the Year after scoring the buzzer-beating basket at Cerritos to keep an 11-game winning streak alive of an eventual 15 game streak.
Softball’s Marlene Rodriguez won Female Rookie of the Year after being one of three athletes that appeared in all 36 games this season. She led the team on both sides of the ball, pitching 25 complete games on 30 appearances in the circle, and hitting a team-high .410 batting average with 14 doubles and 21 RBI.
The spring sports nabbed the Tartar Awards. Softball's Crystal Montalvo and baseball's Trinidad Romero were honored for demonstrating a team-first attitude, showing heart, spirit, dedication and a positive attitude. They were selected as best exemplifying Tartar Athletics.
Athletic academic counselor Shay Brown was the recipient of the Special Recognition Award, an award given to an individual from campus or the community that demonstrates interest, support, and significant contribution to Tartar Athletics.
And the night was rounded out by honoring men’s basketball’s Kyvonte Davis, who last season led the Tartars as one of the team captains. However, Davis never played high school basketball and commutes around 80 miles one-way per day from Palmdale to Compton. He was released by a few schools during his journey to eventually playing for Coach Higgins and now has signed with Holy Names University in Oakland.
The Tartars had much to celebrate in 2016-17, and the program is looking forward to an even better 2017-18.
2017 Tartar Athletics Award Winners:
Scholar-Athletes
Xavier Jones, Football
Kevin Gutierrez, Men’s Soccer
Xochitl Briseno, Women’s Soccer
Michael Chavers, Men’s Basketball
Jona’e Urabe, Women’s Basketball
Adrian Poot, Baseball
Teresa Meza, Softball
Olga Pardo, Badminton
Rookie of the Year
Marlene Rodriguez, Softball
Adrian Veliz, Men’s Soccer
Sophomore of the Year
Olga Pardo, Badminton
Jayvon Brown, Men’s Basketball
Performance of the Year
Jocelyn Jimenez, Women’s Soccer
Anthony Fitzpatrick, Men’s Basketball
Team Jokesters
Joy Aguilar, Softball/Women’s Basketball
Michael Chavers and Calvin House, Men’s Basketball
Tartar Award
Crystal Montalvo, Softball
Trinidad Romero, Baseball
Special Recognition Award
Shay Brown, Athletic Counselor
Most Inspirational Award
Kyvonte Davis, Men’s Basketball