Redwood's Cole Gilcrest, El Diamante's Santana Guijarro share EYL MVP basketball award
Vongni Yang
Two Visalia high school boys basketball players earned the 2024 East Yosemite League's top honor.
Redwood's Cole Gilcrest and El Diamante's Santana Guijarro were named the EYL's co-Most Valuable Players.
Gilcrest anchored the Redwood to an undefeated EYL championship. The Rangers ran the table in league play, going 10-0 while outscoring their foes a combined 569-471.
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The 6-foot-10 Gilcrest averaged a double-double in 10 EYL contests, scoring 13.4 points with 12.1 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game. The junior post player had 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks on Feb. 2 to lead Redwood to a 76-57 win over Monache.
That victory clinched an outright EYL title for the Rangers.
"Cole is worth 25 points a night," Redwood head coach Jason Black said. "He's scoring 13, he's stopping 12."
Guijarro scored the 1,000th point of his career in EYL play this season, dropping 25 points on Jan. 23 to pilot the Miners to a 58-29 win over Golden West.
Guijarro, a senior, helped the Miners place second in the EYL standings with a 7-3 record. The Miners' guard averaged 26.9 points per game and embodied the program's family-first philosophy.
"Santana is truly a selfless person and loves his teammates," El Diamante head coach Jerome Guzman said. "On senior night, he came to me and requested that he did not start the senior night game because we had six total seniors, and a couple of them had never started a varsity game and he wanted to let them have a chance to start on senior night. When they did, he was their biggest and loudest supporter on the bench. This is the ultimate reflection of what this program and he as a player stands for, 'Forget About Me, I Love You.'"
Six Tulare County players were named to the All-EYL first team:
- Ty Baxter, Monache
- Izzy Briggs, Mt. Whitney
- Josh Velasques, El Diamante
- Zander Jensen, Redwood
- Brayden Della, Porterville
- Jagar Brooks, Golden West
All-EYL awards were voted by the league's respective coaches.
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2024 All-East Yosemite League Boys Basketball Honors
- Co-Most valuable player: Santana Guijarro, El Diamante; Cole Gilcrest, Redwood
- First team: Ty Baxter, Monache; Izzy Briggs, Mt. Whitney; Josh Velasques, El Diamante; Zander Jensen, Redwood; Brayden Della, Porterville; Jagar Brooks, Golden West
- Second team: Juan Cortes, Golden West; Javon Holmes, Golden West; Evan Galley, Redwood; Isaac Esquivel, Redwood; Adrian Huerta, Mt. Whitney; Josiah Simmons, Mt. Whitney; Emilio Cervantes, El Diamante; Ezra Ayers, El Diamante; Emmett Focke, Monache; Omar Ramirez, Porterville; Camden Haynes, Porterville
Monache's Milly Rojas rolls to EYL MVP girls basketball award
The Monache Marauders stormed through league play with a perfect 10-0 record en route to an absolute EYL girls basketball championship.
That resulted in a pair of Marauders bringing home EYL's top awards.
Milly Rojas, a sophomore combo guard/forward, was selected by EYL coaches as the league's Most Valuable Player.
In 10 conference games, Rojas led Monache in scoring, averaging 15 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 3.9 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. She had one of her best performances of the season in a 28-point outburst, where she drained six triples, to lead the Marauders to a 61-56 win over El Diamante on Jan. 31.
Monache's Jonathon Bartlett shared the EYL's coach of the year honors with El Diamante's Jessica Cervantes.
Under Bartlett, the Marauders won back-to-back EYL crowns.
Cervantes directed El Diamante to a second-place finish in the final EYL standings. The Miners went 8-2 in league competition with their only two losses coming to EYL champion Monache.
2024 All-East Yosemite League Girls Basketball Honors
- Co-Coaches of the year: Jessica Cervantes, El Diamante; Jonathon Bartlett, Monache
- Most valuable player: Milly Rojas, Monache
- First team: Danae Banuelos, Golden West; Kyah Bartlett, Monache; Olivia Torres, El Diamante; Rian Jones-Dillihunt, El Diamante; Ryleigh Schoonover, Porterville; Sydney Calderon, Redwood
- Second team: Aniyah Venegas, Golden West; Aryel Chavez, Redwood; Josalyn Colon, Mt. Whitney; Neveah Creason, El Diamante; Reyna Soto, El Diamante; Shelley Andrade, Monache