Corona del Sol’s class of 2009 has several star athletes, including members of the school’s 2009 baseball team who won the State 5A-I Championship.
Several members of this bumper crop of athletes went on to play at the college level.
Here’s how some of these fared playing at the next level.
Michael Felton and Brock Abbadini played together at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, an NCAA Division II school located in Weatherford, Okla. SWOSU is part of the Lone Star Athletic Conference.
Felton had an exceptional freshman season for the Bulldogs, garnering multiple school and conference post-season awards in a number of categories. He was named the league’s top freshman and also captured first-team honors as the league selection at second base. He became the first SWOSU player to earn a first team honor since the league combined its two divisions in 2008.
Felton’s dazzling statistics tell the story. He not only is ranked as the 2010 NCAA Division II’s third-leading hitter with a .495 average (92 hits in 186 at bats) but his .495 batting average was the highest single season record for any player in LSC history.
He shattered the previous LSC mark (.488) for single-season batting average, a record that had stood since 1997, and set a SWOSU single-season record besting the previous record (.452) set in 1977.
Felton set his second single-season record for the Bulldogs with the most hits (92), bettering the previous record (87) set by Jeff Deckard in 1987. He also led the team in runs batted in (50), doubles (18), total bases (123), and on-base percentage (.546). He was second in runs scored (51), total plate appearances (217) and hit three home runs.
In addition, Felton had a 35-game consecutive hitting streak which is also believed to be a school record. He played in all 50 games, starting in 49 of them. He had 113 fielding assists and 22 double plays as second baseman for the Bulldogs.
Felton’s post-season honors continued when he was selected to the first-team of the 2010 Daktronics All-South Central Region Baseball Team, a selection that will advance him for nomination to the Daktronics All-American ballot later this summer.
He was one of 35 players recognized as finalists for the Tino Martinez, the annual award given to the top NCAA Division II player in the nation.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs and the LSC, Felton is not returning to SWOSU this fall. Felton missed his family and friends, and the weather was hard for him to get used to, so he moved back to Arizona.
“Next year I’m going to Gateway Community College,” said Felton “After I finish the year, I will look to go to the best place for me. It could be a D-II or D-I school or maybe even the draft. It all depends on the year and how everything goes.”
Abbadini, a 6’ 4” left-handed pitcher, had a solid season with the Bulldogs with a 7.79 ER. He appeared in 19 games and tied with two other pitchers to lead the team in wins with four each.
No word yet about whether Abbadini will be returning to SWOSU.
Ryan Moore and Tyler Giannonatti chose Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., to showcase their baseball talents.
Moore, a standout athlete at Corona, had a successful freshman season for the Wildcats in the outfield and up at bat. The 5’11” Moore played in 45 out of the total 59 games starting in two. He had a solid batting average of .464 with 13 hits out of 28 times at bat. Altogether he had 10 runs, two doubles and 13 RBI’s.
Moore, one of best at stealing bases at Corona with 21 steals on 22 attempts overall, continued his prowess at Kansas State, stealing nine bases on nine attempts his first year.
Giannonatti, a right-handed pitcher for the Wildcats, also had a solid freshman campaign. He pitched in 14 games earning a 6.27 ERA and is given credit for winning two games.
Two other 2009 Corona graduates did well their freshman season playing at the next level: Lexie Schroeder and Nicole Coggins.
Schroeder, a two-star athlete at Corona, chose to play volleyball over soccer at Northern Arizona, where she not only played the libero or defensive specialist position but was a scholar athlete studying nursing.
Schroeder continued her competitive spirit at NAU, playing in 23 of 27 matches with 10 starts. She played defense for the Lumberjacks, finishing the season with 2.09 digs per game, which placed her third on the team in digs per game. She had a season high 14 digs against Sacramento State on Sept. 24.
In addition, Schroeder was awarded two academic awards: a 2009-10 Golden Eagle Scholar Athlete Award Recipient, given to honor athletes who maintain high levels of scholastic achievement while performing with distinction in the university’s athletic programs.
Schroeder was also one of seven student-athletes from the NAU volleyball team to be placed on the Big Sky Conference’s All-Academic team.
To be eligible for consideration for this award, she needed to participate in at least half of the team’s competitions and achieve at least a 3.2 GPA.
In addition, Northern Arizona’s volleyball team recently received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (WBCA) Team Academic Award for the second straight year when they turned in a cumulative grade point average of 3.40 for the academic year. Schroeder was one of the team’s student-athletes to help the team win this award.
Nicole Coggins played in 28 games her freshman year as a wing on Denison University’s girls basketball team. She totaled eight steals in an average of 10 minutes per game to earn a total of 50 points most of them through three-point shooting. Denison is in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
Butters update
Another standout Corona athlete from the class of 2009, Zeric Butters, graduated May 28 from Salisbury Prep, in Salisbury, Conn.,where he collected first honors each semester. He reported to the West Point Military Academy on June 28. He is currently attending the West Point Boot camp, fondly referred to by the cadets as “The Beast.”
Butters played football and lacrosse while at Corona. Like other first-year athletic recruits to West Point, he attended a prep school on the East Coast, where he also played lacrosse. Classes are scheduled to start Aug. 16 when Butters will also continue to train as the West Point lacrosse goalie.
A team to watch
It appears two Corona basketball players started getting the Aztec basketball team noticed during the summer leagues.
Rumor has it that senior guard Calaen Robinson, who has further developed his left-handed play, and senior big man Avery Moss, with his improved offense and defense, have given others the impression that the Aztecs may be one of the teams to watch in the 5A-I league this next season along with Mesa Mountain View and Mountain Pointe.
