Erick Walker and I have both spent countless hours trying to figure out the answer to a simple question.
Who should be the male athlete of the year?
In fact, trying to pick the Male Athlete of the Year for the Reporters in Kent and Covington-Maple Valley caused Walker to lose sleep.
Still, after he selected an athlete for Kent it was on me to come up with a kid that rose to the top from Kentwood, Kentlake or Tahoma.
After discussions with my colleagues, students and an athletic director, I whittled a list of about 10 kids down to one to be our choice for the Covington-Maple Valley Male Athlete of the Year.
In the end, Tahoma High’s Tayler Saucedo won out, and it was tough. Generally we prefer to pick multi-sport athletes but in looking at the list Saucedo stood out for a number of reasons.
However, an argument could be made for a number of local athletes. We take this decision seriously. A lot of time — more than some realize — goes into it.
There’s no set-in-stone criteria for the eventual winner. However, a few key traits do come into play. After all the statistics are boiled down, we look at how many sports each individual competed in. Those who compete in three sports always gain a slight edge over those who may have participated in just one. In addition, character and leadership play a paramount role.
All told, this process is considerably more complex than simply flipping a coin.
What put it over the top for Saucedo, who went 7-1 with a 2.25 ERA for the Bears baseball squad, which won the South Puget Sound League North Division with ease despite competing against the defending 4A state champions from Kentwood or stout contenders such as Kentlake and Auburn Riverside — Tahoma’s only regular season loss — was his humility. When opportunities arose to brag about his abilities, he talked up his teammates, and when he could have taken credit for Tahoma’s post-season run, he instead shrugged out of the spotlight and shone it on the rest of the team.
His classmates like him immensely and his coach, Russ Hayden, had nothing but good things to say of Saucedo’s transformation from winless on the mound as a junior to workhorse reliability as a senior.
Still, he’s not the only great athlete among the three high schools the Reporter covers.
As such, here’s a list (in no particular order) of those who were in contention with Jones, and what they accomplished during the year:
1. Christian Behrens, Tahoma: Athletic director Tony Davis didn’t hesitate when I asked him who the Male Prep Athlete of the Year was: Behrens. And it’s clear why. The 6-foot-8 forward led Tahoma High’s boys basketball team by shredding SPSL North offenses left and right. The California-bound hoopster averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds per game his senior season. And he did that after his father’s death as well as on a reconstructed knee that he blew out during his junior season. Behrens is an intelligent and articulate young man with a bright future ahead of him both in the classroom and on the court.
2. Niko Madison, Tahoma: Madison played both ways for the Bears football squad, putting in time at running back and line backer, earning SPSL North Second Team honors on offense last fall. Madison rushed for 506 yards on 100 carries, averaging 5.06 yards per carry, tallying six touch downs during the season.
3. Aaron Davis, Tahoma: Davis played football, wrestled and was a member of Tahoma’s track and field squad, on varsity in the throwing events since his freshman year. He was named a Reporter Prep of the Week twice, once during winter and again during the spring, this school year. At one point during wrestling season he won nine straight matches, all by pins, wrestling at 215. He finished third at the sub-regionals and fourth at regionals where Tahoma won both team titles. He finished seventh in the shot put at the SPSL meet and competed at the West Central District meet.
4. Ruben Navejas, Kentwood: One of the finest wrestlers to ever come out of Kentwood High, Navejas won the 112-pound state championship this past winter. The title, however, doesn’t fully show how dominant Navejas was on the mat last season, when he posted a perfect 42-0 overall record. He became Kentwood’s second four-time state placer and first two-time state champion since Brandon Hunter (2002-2003). Navejas completed his prep career with an impressive 162-7 overall record.
5. Jordan Downing, Tahoma. Downing, a junior, helped the Bears boys soccer team get to the post-season by leading the squad with 11 goals during the season as well as dishing out seven assists, including a key goal in a 4-3 victory over league rival Kentlake late in the season that helped Tahoma hang onto third place in the division and a spot in the playoffs. Tahoma coach Jason Johnson described Downing as a “great kid.”
6. Austin Pernell, Kentlake: One of the few true three-sport stars, there weren’t many better athletes in the area — or the state — than this versatile Falcon. In the fall, Pernell helped Kentlake advance to the football postseason for the first time since 2003. The SPSL North’s Defensive Back of the Year, Pernell also was a first-team All-SPSL North selection at wide receiver, pulling in 27 receptions for 597 yards and seven touchdowns. But he was just getting started. Pernell went on to earn honorable mention accolades in basketball and first-team recognition as an outfielder on the baseball diamond. A junior, something tells us we’re just scratching the surface here with Pernell.
7. Jason Boyce, Kentwood: The senior Conqueror continued his evolution as an all-around athlete and leader, shining on the football field during the fall and on the basketball court in the winter. On the football field, Boyce proved to be a big play waiting to happen, pulling in 19 receptions for 431 yards and six touchdowns on the way to earning first-team all-league honors. On the basketball court, Boyce became Kentwood’s go-to guy, leading the Conquerors in scoring at 13.7 points per game, which helped Boyce earn first-team all-league honors.
8. BJ Arceneaux, Kentwood: There aren’t many faster athletes in the state than Kentwood’s Arceneaux, who grabbed a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash (10.90) at the state track meet, and was well on his way to a high finish in the 200 before falling down with a leg injury. Arceneaux’s highlight, however, came in the long jump, where he uncorked a mark of 24 feet, 2 inches at the state meet, giving him a second-place finish. Yet, the Kentwood senior wasn’t all about track. In the fall, he earned all-league honors on special teams of the football field, where he blocked a school-record five punts.
9. Shad Hall, Kentlake: Hall came within an eyelash of stunning the field in the 300-meter hurdles at the state meet in May, earning a silver medal by recording a personal-best time of 38.91 seconds. Hall spent the final fraction of a second during his run skidding along the Mount Tahoma turf as he dove to the finish line in an attempt to pass eventual champion Wes Bailey of Mead (38.89). A determined competitor, Hall graduated with Kentlake’s top individual performance of the year regardless of sport, establishing a new school record and coming up with a scraped knee and shoulder in the process.
10. Stephen Shin, Tahoma: Short and compact, you might take Shin for a wrestler, but the sophomore has been making a name for himself the past two seasons flying through the water — almost literally. He has qualified for state both seasons in the 100 yard butterfly and would have placed this past winter were it not for an unfortunate starting block error in the finals that led to his disqualification. As a freshman, Shin qualified for state at the last possible opportunity, but this past season he swam his way into the championship meet right off the bat. Funny, articulate and multi-talented — he skipped the all-state band competition to be in the pool for the 4A state swim championships in February — Shin is a force to be reckoned with in the water for the next two years at Tahoma.
