By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

From helping their teams to phenomenal years to capturing the spotlight with their standout individual performances, the Courier recognizes four athletes — two from Claremont High School and two from The Webb Schools — as its fall 2023 high school athletes of the season: CHS sophomore Lyle Mideiros, boys cross-country; CHS junior Kristina Xu, girls golf; Webb senior Troy Seanoa, football; and Webb sophomore Anna Park, girls tennis.

CHS boys: Lyle Mideiros

Claremont High sophomore cross-country runner Lyle Mideiros. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

It was sophomore Lyle Mideiros’ first season with the varsity cross-country team after spending last year with the frosh/soph squad, and the 15-year-old acclimated well to new competition.

Usually the first body across the line for the CHS boys team, not only did Lyle help the Wolfpack secure second in the D1/D2 blue race at the 75th Mount San Antonio College Invitational, and at the November 10 California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division 2 preliminaries, also at Mt. SAC, the sophomore also propelled his team to third place in the Palomares League.

Individually, Lyle finished the season with two top 10 finishes: fifth at the November 3 Palomares League Finals, and eighth in the D1/D2 blue race at the 75th annual Mt. SAC Invite on October 21, and three top 20 results, including 11th at the November 10 CIF-SS Division 2 preliminaries; 12th at a Palomares League preview meet on September 8; and 16th at the September 30 varsity 3A-4A boys race at the 16th annual Nike Twilight Invitational, all within nine races. View Lyle’s other four finishes at athletic.net.

Lyle was named to the all-Palomares League first team. He is looking forward to track and field in the spring as well as next cross-country season. He is working toward his Eagle Scout ranking in the Boys Scouts of America and is active in both the CHS Instrumental Music Program as well as the Civil Air Patrol.

CHS girls: Kristina Xu

Claremont High junior girls golf captain Kristina Xu. Photo/courtesy of Kristina Xu

This season Kristina, a 16-year-old CHS junior, helped the girls golf squad capture the Palomares League title and was named league MVP. The team finished 8-1 overall, 5-1 in league play. It was the second time Kristina has been named league MVP.

“Our team was the runner-up in the Palomares League last year, so we set the goal for ourselves to be Palomares League champions this year,” Kristina wrote in an email. “We set our mind to it, worked hard as ever and accomplished it.”

This year she helped the Pack qualify for and finish fourth overall (out of 20 teams) at the October 30 CIF-Southern Section Division 2 team tournament at the par 72 River Ridge Golf Course with a combined score of 420; Kristina led the team with a 74, two over par. Kristina’s total of 72 at the CIF Southern Regional Finals on October 24 then qualified her for the November 2 CIF-Southern Section individual finals at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon, where she shot a five over par 72. That score qualified her for this year’s SoCal Individual Girl’s Golf Finals, but she was forced to withdraw due to illness. Kristina was named the league MVP at the Palomares League individual tournament in October after shooting a 146 across the two-day competition.

Last year at the CIF Southern Region Finals at par 74 Los Serranos Country Club, Kristina shot a 76 which advanced her to CIF Sectional Finals at Western Hills Country Club. There, against 72 high school golfers from across the Southern Section, Kristina placed eighth by shooting two over par 74. She then competed, but did not place, at the SoCal Individual Girl’s Golf Finals at the Brookside Country Club.

Kristina has been the team’s captain the last two years and boasts a 38-3 overall career team record at CHS. She’s also a three-time all-region CIF qualifier, all-section CIF qualifier, all-SoCal CIF qualifier, team MVP, and an all-Palomares League first teamer.

Webb boys: Troy Seanoa

Webb senior football player Troy Seanoa. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Seventeen-year-old Webb senior running back, middle linebacker and punter Troy Seanoa was ready for another below average football season this year with the Gauls, and who could blame him? Webb went 2-5 last year, good for fifth in the Manzanita League, which was actually an improvement over 2021, when the team finished fourth in the Cross Valley League at 1-5.

But this year turned out to be a season to remember. The Gauls finished second in Manzanita League play with a solid 5-1 league record, 7-2 overall, and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2017, where they fell to Lynwood, 30-27, in the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division 14 tournament.

Troy made more of an impact this year over the last two. Offensively, he recorded 850 yards rushing, 265 receiving, and 62 passing, as well as scoring 14 touchdowns. Defensively, he made 128 tackles, including 13 sacks, and one interception across nine games, and was named the Manzanita League’s Defensive MVP.

He was the team’s leading tackler with 121 last year, including 4.5 sacks, and totaled 164 yards, 85 rushing and 79 receiving, with one touchdown on offense. He recorded 63 tackles and one sack during his sophomore season.

Troy is not sure where he’ll land for college, but he plans on studying kinesiology and pursuing rugby wherever he ends up.

Webb girls: Anna Park

Webb sophomore tennis player Anna Park. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

After a hectic summer that did not include much practice, Webb sophomore tennis player Anna Park, 16, was simply hoping to remain steady this season. She never imagined she’d wind up being the second-best singles player in the San Joaquin League, earning a spot in the CIF-SS individual tournament held earlier this week, or helping the Gauls secure second in the San Joaquin League with an 8-2 record, 13-6 overall. She also helped her team make the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division 4 playoffs, but the Gauls exited in round one at Warren High School, losing 11-7.

“I was just trying to be consistent, trying to at least do my part for my team,” she said.

Anna defeated her first round opponent Jenny Pham of Magnolia High School, 7-5, 6-3, at Monday’s CIF-Southern Section girls tennis singles tournament before losing 6-0, 6-1 to Anika Guniganti of Villa Park in the second round. Last year as a freshman Anna lost in the first round to San Dimas’ Abby Bernhard, 2-0.

This year, Anna was named to the first-team all-San Joaquin League roster and boasted a 23-4 head-to-head league record, meaning she only dropped four sets out of 27 against league opposition.

In addition to prepping for tennis next year, Anna looks forward to playing girls basketball for Webb.