Bulldogs earn all-league honors
Four of Ramona High School’s boys water polo players earned all-league honors for 2008.
The Valley League coaches selected Mike Studley to the league’s first team and Alan Williams to the third team. Nick Ashton and Kari Gonter earned honorable mention distinction. In 2007, five Bulldogs earned all-league honors, including Valley League most valuable player Riley Bylund. In 2008, Westview goalie Ryan Rock earned the league’s MVP award.
“I think that was a good choice,” said Coach Donnie Williams. The league coaches thought highly enough of Studley to designate him for the first team.
“It was very deserving of him. He did what he had to do this year and stepped up his play to become a force,” Williams said of Studley. “His defense and outside shooting was really the difference.”
Four of the five Ramona players given all-league accolades in 2007 were seniors. The exception was Studley, then a junior, who received honorable mention recognition.
This year’s four Ramona selections include two seniors and two sophomores. Ashton is also a senior, and Alan Williams and Gonter are 10th-graders.
“It looks well for next year and the year after,” Williams said of two sophomore all-league selections.
No sophomores earned first-team or second-team honors in the eight-team league. The only sophomores on the third team were Williams and Valley Center goalie William Mist.
“If it had been a smaller league, he probably would have made second team,” Donnie Williams said of Alan Williams. Ashton and Gonter were on the junior varsity team in 2007.
Ashton is a goalie and thus had to compete for all-league honors with Rock, Mist and second-team selection Trevor Webb of Mount Carmel.
“He did a great job for us,” Williams said of Ashton. “I was real happy with him.”
Gonter is expected to join Williams as an offensive leader after Studley graduates.
“He’s just a good athlete,” Williams said of Gonter. “You’ll see more of him in the next two years.”
Ramona’s varsity team finished the 2008 season with an overall record of 11-16, including a 6-8 record worth fifth place in the Valley League standings.