Daniel Stratton, second from left, a multi-sport athlete and Top 10 student in his graduating class at Lucerne Valley High School was one of four to receive a Gabrielson Award for being an outstanding student-athlete. Others included, from left, Addie Woods, Mason Kelly and Melissa Fairchild. They received their plaques, along with $2,000 scholarships, last Sunday. PHOTO COURTESY KATRINA SIVERTS
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STAFF REPORT
VICTORVILLE • Multi-sport athlete Daniel Stratton of Lucerne Valley High School was one of four local high school students who were honored as Gabrielson Senior Male and Female Athletes of the Year last Sunday afternoon.
Stratton and Hesperia Christian’s Addie Woods won the small-school awards while Apple Valley’s Mason Kelly and Serrano’s Melissa Fairchild took hom the large-school awards. All four won a $2,000 scholarship.
Stratton was a three-sport star at Lucerne Valley and was named to the All-Agape League team in football, baseball and basketball. As a quarterback, he led the Mustangs to an undefeated league championship this season and was named All-CIF. He’s committed to play football at the University of Northwestern St. Paul in Minnesota.
Woods was Hesperia Christian’s team captain in volleyball, basketball and softball and earned All-Agape League honors in each sport. She’ll attend Cal State San Bernardino.
Kelly played linebacker for Apple Valley’s football team and also played basketball and golf. He averaged 12 tackles a game this season and was named to the All-Mojave River League First Team for the second straight year. He also broke the school record for career tackles. He’ll attend Universal Technical Institute and plans to become a mechanic.
Fairchild ran cross country and track for Serrano. She placed in the top eight at the CIF State Cross Country Championship four straight years and qualified to the CIF State Track and Field Championship in the 1,600 meters as a junior. She’ll continue running at Yale University.
Fifteen area schools — eight large and seven small — each nominated a male and a female athlete, and the Gabrielson Awards committee voted on the winners.
All 30 nominees received a plaque, a clock, a travel bag, gift certificates to Dick’s Sporting Goods and High Desert Mavericks tickets.
Four athletes also won Awards of Merit, which came with a $750 scholarship. Tommy Anderson and Schae Graham, both from Oak Hills, won for the large schools, while Academy for Academic Excellence’s Jed Phillips and University Prep’s Jeannine Lugo won for the small schools.
“We try to take into account as best we can character, leadership, community service and athletic skills,” Chairman of the Gabrielson Memorial Fund Dick Sauers said. “It’s really tough because all the kids deserve the award.”
Finally, Pete Delagardelle won the Distinguished Service Award. Delagardelle is a former athletic director and coach at Sultana.
“The Distinguished Service Award goes to people who, as a committee, we think need to be recognized for years of service in education or years of helping anyone in organized sports — people who have done extraordinary things,” Sauers said. “Pete’s been involved and always supportive of (the Gabrielson Memorial Fund) since it started in 1994.”
The Gabrielson Awards are sponsored by ISU-Armac Insurance Services and are given out by the Rick Gabrielson Memorial Fund, which operates under the umbrella of the High Desert Community Foundation. They’re named for Rick Gabrielson, who was a baseball and basketball star at Apple Valley High and went on to a baseball career as a player and coach in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He returned to Apple Valley to lead the Sun Devils to three league baseball titles as a coach.
He died in 1994, and that same year a scholarship fund bearing his name was created. The fund has given away more than $100,000 since then. The award was started to honor the area’s best baseball player, but expanded in 2006 to include all sports.