University High’s scholar athletes honored at PCL Awards Ceremony at Portola

University’s award winners included (from left) Sam Kammerman, Malia Goldsmith, Yuuri Yoshikawa (sportsmanship award winner), Pedro Palmaka, Kaylor Chott and Amanda Kutcher. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Unigersity High’s scholar athletes were honored at the Pacific Coast League Senior Student Athlete Awards Ceremony Monday night at Portola High School.

University’s female scholar athletes were:

-Kaylor Chott, who helped the Trojans win the PCL basketball title the last two years and was also a standout player on the lacrosse team, earning first team all-league. Chott has committed to Colorado Boulder to major in architecture.

-Malia Goldsmith, an all-league basketball player who battled an injury her senior season to help the Trojans win the league title this season and was instrumental in the Trojans league title her junior year. She recently committed to Cal State Fullerton to play basketball.

-Amanda Kutcher, who was a first team all-league soccer player her senior year and received CIF Division 2 honors. Kutcher will play soccer at Irvine Valley College next year and hopes to transfer to a UC school to major in biology.

-Cecilia Langlois, who competed in cross country, water polo and track and field. She earned four all-league honors. In the fall, whe will attend UC Davis to major in earth sciences/anthropology.

Uni’s male scholar athletes were:

-Giorgio Conta, who played both soccer and tennis for the Trojans. He was second team all league for soccer his junior year and first team all-league his senior year and in tennis, helped the Trojans win the CIF title. In the fall, he will attend UCLA to major in bioengineering.

-Sam Kammerman, who competred in soccer, cross country, track and field and volleyball. In his junior year, he was first team all-league and second team all-county for soccer. He plans to attend UC Riverside to pursue a future in business.

-Pedro Palmaka, who led University to its first CIF boys soccer title and also led the Trojans to consecutive league titles, picking up both first team all-county and league offensive MVP honors. He will attend New York University;s Stern School of Business in the fall.

-Luke Venzlaff, an outstanding water polo player and swimmer for the Trojans. He achieved a varsity lettering time his sophomore through senior years and achieved Division 1 CIF championship time standards in the 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly and 50 and 100 freestyle. He plans to attend Orange Coast College College and will swim on the OCC team.

Goldsmith and Kammerman were named University’s athletes of the year while Yuuri Yoshikawa and Aaron Lee received the scholarship awards.

NOTE: Additional stories on the other Irvine high school scholars will appear on OC Sports Zone throughout the week. Not all athletes remained for pictures after the banquet.