By Mark Dorfman
The Aptos High School Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023 gets inducted on April 29.
The 11 new members are highlighted by Breana Kostreba, a two-time SCCAL MVP and three-time All-State softball player, Rylan Hunt, a distance runner who won three SCCAL cross-country titles and eight SCCAL track & field titles, and Joseph and Jack Smith. Joe, with 272 victories, is the 2nd-winningest boys’ basketball coach in school history, trailing only the legendary Bill Warmerdam. He is also the 3rd winningest girls basketball coach in school history. His father, Jack, was his right-hand man and assistant coach at every level and every step of the way.
Breana Kostreba
Breana Kostreba (Class of 2011) was a four-time 1st-team All-SCCAL softball player, a two-time SCCAL MVP, a three-time All-State selection, and an ESPN Rise 1st-team All-American. She led the state in home runs as a senior, and is No. 4 all-time in CA history. She led the Mariners to three SCCAL team titles, and was selected as the Santa Cruz Sentinel Female Athlete-of-the-Year in 2011. Bree matriculated to UC Berkeley, where she earned multiple All-PAC 12 honors, and, hitting .318 with 12 homeruns as a frosh, she led the Bears to the 2012 PAC 12 Championship and into the College World Series.
Rylan Hunt
Rylan Hunt (Class of 2009) was an extraordinary distance runner. In cross-country, Rylan won three individual SCCAL titles, and he led the Mariner harriers to four SCCAL team championships and two CCS team championships. In track & field, Rylan earned eight individual SCCAL titles, winning the 1,600 meters an unprecedented four times and the 800 meters three times, and he led the Mariners to three team titles. He was a multiple CCS medalist, 4th in the state in the 1,600 meters in 2008, and left Aptos High with top marks in four events. He was selected as the Aptos High Male Athlete-of-the-Year in 2009.
Jack and Joseph Smith
Joe and Jack Smith coached basketball at Aptos together for more than 20 years, Joe as the head coach and his father, Jack, by his side. They started with the JV, then moved on to the varsity girls for 4 years before transitioning to the varsity boys in 2003. Together they won more than 350 games and five SCCAL team championships. They reached the CCS Finals and qualified for the Nor-Cal Playoffs in girls’ basketball in 2001, and reached the same heights in boys’ basketball in 2015.
Both seasons remain two of the finest in AHS history.
Jack’s mantra “All in, all out, all the time” remains a core principle of both programs. Jack sadly passed in 2014.
The Class of 2023 also features some of Aptos High’s best competitors in football, soccer, tennis, volleyball, and water polo:
Jamie O’Mahony
(1984)
Jamie is in an exclusive club. In 50-plus years of Aptos football, he is one of only two AHS football players to ever be selected to the All-SCCAL 1st-team three times!
Not Trent Dilfer. Not Sam Kennedy. Not Kevin Walters. Not Carlos Torres. Only Jamie O’Mahony and Rick Downey. Jamie was a ferocious and unrelenting defensive lineman, and he helped the Mariner win the 1982 SCCAL team championship.
In 1983, he won the coveted Golden Helmet Award. Jamie was also a member of the 1983 SCCAL championship boys’ soccer team, one of only two boys’ soccer championships in AHS history.
Emily Di Franco
(1990)
After 50-plus years of Aptos athletics, Emily is one of only 30 student-athletes, out of over 12,000 participants, to earn four 1st-team All-SCCAL selections. She earned three 1st-team selections in soccer and one in softball.
In soccer, she was a four-year starter, a tenacious defender, and she helped the Mariners win three SCCAL team championships, including an 11-0-1 record in 1990, the second best season in school history.
Emily also participated in track and field, and both of her relay teams qualified for the CCS Finals in 1989.
Alissa Bailey
(1990)
Alissa was our No. 1 singles player all four years. She was a two-time SCCAL finalist, and lost in the semi’s the other two years.
She led the Mariners to the 1989 SCCAL team championship, our first in almost 10 years. In 1990, she led all amateurs at the BMW Cal Open at the Seascape Tennis Club.
She matriculated to Cal Poly, SLO, where she played both singles and doubles for four years, including in three NCAA National Championships, where the Mustangs finished 2nd in the nation in 1993.
Alissa achieved a remarkable overall record of 77-19 in four years at SLO. She was also a two-time 1st team All-CCAC selection.
Amy Larson
(2002)
Amy is one of the top two or three pitchers in AHS history. She was a four-year starter in softball, a three-year 1st-team All-SCCAL selection, and a two-time SCCAL Pitcher-of-the-Year.
In the AHS record book, she is No. 1 in ERA, No. 1 in fewest walks allowed, No. 2 in strikeouts, No. 4 in complete game shutouts, and No. 4 in no-hitters pitched. She also led the Mariners to four consecutive SCCAL team championships.
Amy matriculated to Occidental College where she continued to pitch successfully for another four years.
Brice Dahlmeier
(2005)
A dominating outside hitter, Brice led the Mariners boys volleyball team to its first SCCAL team championship and to our first appearance in the CCS Finals. In 2005, he was selected as the SCCAL MVP.
In four years, Brice led the Mariners to an overall 95-33 record, a four-year span of success not yet duplicated, and to deep runs into the CCS playoffs every year.
Brice matriculated into a joint degree program at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, and he played volleyball successfully at both schools, including making two Top 10 Lists at UCSC.
Torrey Ornelas
(2012)
Torrey is the most-decorated girls’ water polo player in AHS history. She earned four 1st-team All-SCCAL selections, including Frosh-of-the-Year in 2008, Sophomore-of-the-Year in 2009, Junior-of-the-Year in 2010, and SCCAL MVP in 2011.
Aptos High has only won two SCCAL team championships in girls’ water polo, and Torrey was the leading scorer on both of those teams.
Dave Ensminger
(assistant coach)
The recently-retired Dave Ensminger is the 2nd-longest tenured football coach in AHS history, trailing only Hall of Fame member Jamie Townsend. Dave started coaching football at Aptos High in the fall of 1985. Yes, 1985. 37 years ago.
That’s over 400 football games ago, and almost 4000 practices, and yet he never missed a game or practice since he started. Dave has coached the wide receivers at the frosh, JV, and varsity levels, and for very many years he was also the official varsity football stat keeper, which required double-duty from him at games.
Dave’s generous nature, his attention to detail, and his soft-spoken witticisms are treasured by legions of wide-outs.
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The Hall of Fame event begins with social hour at 4 p.m., with dinner and the program to begin at 5 p.m.
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Tickets for the Aptos High Sports Hall of Fame celebration are $65 each and may be reserved through Aptos High Athletic Director Travis Fox, at 728-7832, ext. 5201 or [email protected], or through Mark Dorfman at [email protected].
Photos:
Breana Kostreba
Rylan Hunt
Jack and Joseph Smith
Jamie O’Mahony
Emily Di Franco
Alissa Bailey
Amy Larson
Brice Dahlmeier
Torrey Ornelas
Dave Ensminger