SAN DIEGO—From the graceful beauty of Rachael Flatt hitting a triple jump to the jarring impact of a Freddy Keiaho tackle to the drama of a Reggie Bush or Antonio Jackson loose in the open field, the San Diego Hall of Champions honored 17 individuals as January Stars of the Month.
Flatt, who still calls Del Mar her home but is currently living in Colorado Springs where she trains and attends high school, stunned the figure skating world when she went from third place to first on the final day competition to capture the U.S. Championships in Spokane, Wash., earning a berth on the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
Her score of 200.11 points, if duplicated in Vancouver, could make her a serious medal contender.
Keiaho, the former San Diego State Aztec who is a valuable special teams member and backup linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, and Bush, the ex-Helix High standout who is a star running back with the New Orleans Saints, will get a chance to meet head-to-head in the 2010 Super Bowl this Sunday.
Jackson not only had a 7-catch, 111-yard game against the New York Jets in the AFC Playoffs, he showed his ability again when he grabbed seven more passes for 122 yards and a 48-yard touchdown in the Pro Bowl.
Seven area college stars were also cited for their performances during January.
Basketball standouts Jene Morris of San Diego State, De’Jon Jackson and Dominique Conners of USD, Point Loma Nazarene’s Colleen Planeta and JayDee Luster of Wyoming, a Hoover grad, were joined by Aztec water polo player Ronni Gautschi and USD golfer Gunner Wiebe.
On the high school front, record-setting basketball players Angelo Chol of Hoover (section career blocked shots) and Katie Kuklok of Poway (school career scoring), were joined by girls basketball standouts Ariana Elegado of La Jolla Country Day and Ashlee Guay of the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, Bishop’s soccer standout Devan Osegueda and Rancho Bernardo 171-pound wrestler Jonathan Beck.
PROFESSIONAL
VINCENT JACKSON (Football, San Diego Chargers)—The talented wide receiver overcame his frustration of losing in the AFC semifinals by catching seven passes for 122 yards and a 48-yard touchdown to lead the West over the East in the Pro Bowl, 41-34. Earlier in the month he grabbed seven passes for a game-high 111 yards in the 17-14 loss to the New York Jets.
FREDDY KEIAHO (Football, Indianapolis Colts)—Playing backup middle linebacker and on the special teams, the former San Diego State Aztec helped the Colts march into the Super Bowl against the New Orleans Saints. Keiaho, who earned a Super Bowl ring in 2006, was one of those invaluable team assets as he filled all three linebacker positions as the Colts rolled in January.
REGGIE BUSH (Football, New Orleans Saints)—Just as he did at Helix High and USC, Bush picked up his game in the playoffs to help the Saints march into the Super Bowl. Against the Arizona Cardinals he rushed for 85 yards, including a 46-yard TD, caught four passes for 24 yards and he dramatically returned a punt 83 yards for another score. Bush followed that up with 33 yards on just two receptions against the Vikings, including scoring a key touchdown.
RACHAEL FLATT (Olympics, Figure skating)—Raised on the ice at the Westfield UTC mall, Flatt came through with the performance of her life, hitting seven triples, in the U.S. Championships in Spokane to go from third to first, not only capturing the gold medal but earning a berth in the Vancouver Olympic Games. Flatt, a high school senior who is training in Colorado Springs, collected an eye-opening score of 200.11 points.
AMATEUR
RONNI GAUTSCHI (Water Polo, SDSU)—With nine goals in four games, the Aztec senior from Morgan Hill helped lead SDSU to a 3-1 record at the Michigan Kick-Off in Ann Arbor, Mich. Earlier, Gautschi was one of seven Aztecs to score a goal in the Aztec’s 7-6 overtime win over No. 3 UCLA, just the fourth over the Bruins in school history, the first since 1995.
COLLEEN PLANETA (Basketball, Point Loma Nazarene)—The senior forward led PLNU to a 9-0 record. The two-time NAIA All-American averaged 23.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4 blocks per game during that stretch. Against four ranked squads, Planeta posted games of 21, 20, 15 and 21 points for the NAIA’s second-ranked team.
DOMINIQUE CONNERS (Basketball, USD)–Conners helped lead USD into third place in the WCC after topping the team with a 17.1 average (44-for-101). Conners also averaged 6.1 rebounds-per-game and did not score less than 12 points as she finished the month with 20 against Loyola-Marymount University and 26 against Pepperdine.
JAYDEE LUSTER (Basketball, Wyoming)—A star at Hoover High, Luster has come into his own during MWC play, especially against San Diego State where his two three-point field goals in the final seconds of the game allowed the Cowboys to collect an 85-83 victory. He finished with a season-high 14 points against the Aztecs, one game after hitting for 13 against Colorado State.
GUNNER WIEBE (Golf, USD) — By beating his coach, Tim Mickelson, by one stroke in an 18-hole playoff, the USD junior earned the one amateur spot for the Farmers Insurance Open. In his opening round on the South Course, Wiebe fired a solid 1-over par 73, carding three birdies over his final seven holes. On Friday he opened with two birdies and finished with a 78, missing the cut. By besting 100 amateur golfers with a handicap of zero or better to earn the sponsor invite, Wiebe followed his dad (Mark Wiebe) in playing in a PGA event.
JENE MORRIS (Basketball, SDSU)–The preseason Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, Morris led SDSU to a 5-2 record during the month of January in helping lift the Aztecs to first place in the conference. She averaged a team-best and league-high 19.3 points while also chipping in 26 assists, 22 steals and 15 of the team’s 30 three-pointers during the month. She was named MWC player of the week on Jan. 11.
DE’JON JACKSON (Basketball, USD) – USD’s Jackson averaged 12.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals for the Toreros. He converted 42.6 percent of his field goals (29-68), 33.3 percent of his three-pointers (11-33) and 87.0 percent of his free throws (20-23). Jackson reached double-digit scoring in five of the seven games.
HIGH SCHOOL
ARIANA ELEGADO (Basketball, La Jolla Country Day)–Rolling through the month undefeated, Elegado, a senior headed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was clearly the LJCD leader. In eight wins she averaged 16.5 points and 8.8 assists as the Torreys scored eye-opening victories against Beverly Hills (13 points, 13 assists) and Mount Miguel (24 points, 6 assists), surpassing 1,000 career points.
ANGELO CHOL (Basketball, Hoover)–Dominating inside on defense and picking up his outside game on offense, the 6-9 junior led the Cardinals to a 7-1 record in January, winning the final seven games. Along the way Chol eclipsed the section career blocked shot record and averaged 15.6 points, 14.0 rebounds and 9.9 blocked shots—just missing a triple double.
DEVAN OSEGUEDA (Girls soccer, Bishop’s)–One of the major problems beating the Knights, who are ranked 12th in the nation by ESPN, is scoring. That’s because the Bishop’s junior goalie deftly backs up the defense, which she did during the month when she added five more shutouts to her season total, giving her 11 on the season.
KATIE KUKLOK (Basketball, Poway)–With Kuklok leading the way, the Titans dominated play in the Palomar League and compiled an 8-0 record. Kuklok averaged 20.5 points with a high of 32 versus Rancho Bernardo. She had four 20-point-plus games. Late in the month she reached 1,101 points, moving into No. 1 all-time on the Titans all-time scoring list.
JONATHAN BECK (Wrestling, Rancho Bernardo)–In Southern California, no wrestling competition is more prestigious than the Five Counties in Fountain Valley. Beck, who wrestles at 171 pounds, captured that division against the best in the state as well as the Holtville Invitational en route to posting a 32-2 overall record giving him 100 career wins—one shy of the Broncos school record.
ASHLEE GUAY (Basketball, Our Lady of Peace)–One of the reasons the Pilots led the Western League and posted a 7-2 record in January was the play of the 5-foot-7 guard. With 23 points against University City being the high game, Guay averaged 13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 6.5 assists. She is the section’s leader in steals and No. 2 in assists.
Posted on February 5, 2010 by Christian Deleon
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