KATRINNA JASSO

G-House tennis player Katrina Jasso, Palomar track athlete Tria Ismay take home PCAC women's Athlete of the Week awards for last week.

Katrina Jasso, Grossmont College's No. 1 tennis singles player, and Tria Ismay, who came big in leading the Palomar's defending Pacific Coast Athletic Conference track & field team championship team to first place by 20.5 points over the second-place host team at the 11-team Orange Coast College Invitational meet, have been selected as PCAC Women's Athletes of the Week for March 19 through March 25.

Jasso, a freshman out of San Diego Serra High School, has led the Griffins to a two-match lead over the rest of the conference as their No. 1 singles player, has helped lead the G-House to first place by two matches over Mt. San Jacinto and San Diego Mesa, who are tied for second, as the PCAC race winds down.

"Never a dull moment with this energetic bunch of young women," coach Megan Haber says. "They show up ready to play, work hard in practices and take care of business in the classroom. They're great and I love them."

And a big part of the energy is supplied by Jasso, the Griffins' No. 1 singles player, who also teams with Erica Childs, a sophomore out of Steele Canyon High School, at No. 1 doubles. After winning at No. 1 to lead Grossmont to a 9-0 victory over Imperial Valley last week, Jasso has helped lead the G-House to the two-match lead over the Eagles and Olympians  (with four matches remaining following a victory on Tuesday over San Diego City College). Haber's team has defeated Bakersfield 5-4, Ventura 7-2, College of the Desert 6-3 and Victor Valley 9-0 in addition to what is now records of 12-4 with losses to Saddleback 5-4, top-ranked Cerritos, Santa Barbara City College 5-4 and Middleburry College.

Ismay, a freshman from Poway High School, helped lead the Comets to the team title over host Orange Coast in last week's meet. The Comets outdistanced the Pirates 112 points to 91.50 and those two teams were followed in scoring by third-place Fullerton, fourth-place Vanguard University, fifth-place Glendale, sixth-place Long Beach City College, seventh-place (with 49.50 points) Southwestern, eighth-place Santa Monica, ninth-place Antelope Valley 10th-place Soka University and 11th-place Marymount University. 

Ismay was Palomar's leading scorer in the meet winning the 400-meter hurdles and anchoring the Comets' 4x100 relay and 4x100 relay teams to first-place finishes.

Tria Ismay is the daughter of former Palomar All-American wrestler Joe Ismay. Her dad's coach for the Comets was the legendary John Woods and Joe ismay went on to become a two-time NCAA Division I national tournament qualifier for Fresno State and the Bulldogs' team captain and Most Valuable award winner. He also followed in Wood's footsteps as a state community team championship coach.

HONORABLE MENTION

Allie Hughen, Softball, Palomar

Hughen, the ace relief pitcher / closer out of Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, has earned-run averages of 0.00 in conference games and also 0.00 for the overall season as the Comets have stretched their lead in the conference to two games over second-place Imperial Valley and are now 21-3 and are ranked No. 5 in the state. Last week, she pitched two innings of no-hit, shutout relief in a 9-3 victory over the Arabs. She retired the side 1-2-3 in a 10-0, run-rule win over Mesa, striking out one batter. In a 5-3 loss at Santiago Canyon, Hughen retired all six batters she faced striking out 2.

At the plate, Hughen is hitting .406 on the season (.522 in conference games). Against IVC, she went 3-for-4 and scored twice. Against Mesa, Hughen was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored. And, in a 5-0 win vs. Mt. SAC, she went 2-for-3 with 4 RBIs and a run scored.