Top Spring Athletes: The Desert Sun reveals its best of the best from the spring season
The spring sports season around the Coachella Valley was full of remarkable performances.
You want a track and field CIF-SS title? We had one.
You want a swimming CIF-SS title? Check.
Interested in a baseball team playing for a championship for only the 11th time in desert history? You got it.
Undefeated league seasons? We have a bunch.
It's time to reveal The Desert Sun's Top Spring Athletes for the 2022 season.
That's where high school sports reporter Shad Powers, with input from area coaches and athletes, chooses the top athlete in each of the spring sports.
Without further ado, here are the desert's Elite Eight, listed in alphabetical order.
TRINITY BARNETT
School: Rancho Mirage
Sport: Track and field
What she did: Barnett had been the fastest girl in the desert for a while now, but during her senior season, she proved she's one of the fastest in Southern California. In the CIF-SS Division 3 championships, Barnett put everything together for her career-best time of 24.45 seconds to win the 200-meter title. She also finished fourth in the division in the 100 meter with a time of 11.98, her best mark of the season. She also won the DEL title in the 100 and 200 for the third time in her career. She set a league record in the 200 at 25.26 seconds this year. Off to college: Barnett will continue her track and field career at Cal State Fullerton.
GET TO KNOW TRINITY
Favorite food: Chicken alfredo, mac and cheese
Favorite Music: R&B and hip-hop
Binge-watching: "All-American," "Stranger Things," and my favorite movie of all time is "The Hate You Give"
Dream vacation: Jamaica
Sports idols: Sha'Carri Richardson, Allyson Felix, those are the main two that I watch.
Track origin story: It first started I would go to my brother's practice, I was maybe in seventh grade, and one day the coach just told me to come out and try it and since then I had my first track meet and I just kept doing it.
LUCAS BRUNETT
School: Palm Desert
Sport: Swimming
What he did: Brunett, a junior, pulled off a rare feat for a desert swimmer, winning a CIF-SS title. He was the fastest swimmer in Division 2, winning the 50-yard freestyle in a blazing 20.71 seconds. It's believed to be the first boys' CIF-SS title in Palm Desert swimming history. Brunett was also named MVP of the Desert Empire League meet, winning the 200-yard freestyle, breaking his own league meet record with a time of 1:42.43. He also won the 100-yard freestyle in 46.01, also setting a league meet record by more than two seconds. Brunett also was on two winning relay teams.
GET TO KNOW LUCAS
Favorite food: Burgers, I'll take a good burger anywhere I can find it
Favorite music: Classic rock or newer rap. When we grew up, classic rock is all my dad would listen to in the car: Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden that kind of stuff.
Binge-watching: I just started "Breaking Bad," a little late, but it's great, I love it.
Dream vacation: Japan, love to visit Japan for a week and see all the sights. The culture is so rich and everyone is so respectful there.
Sports idol: Caleb Dressel, he swims three of the main events I swim, and he's a world record holder so it's cool to see him. He's who I model my swimming after.
Nickname: Louie. My parents started that.
Swimming origin story: Started just wanting to be safe in the water. My mom did little lessons with us. And then I joined a rec team and I never stopped, started at 4 or 5.
What's next: Finish the recruiting process, hopefully land a D1 swim scholarship. Next year, focus on breaking a couple more records at the high school and do a little better at CIF states next year.
MICHAEL DETAMBLE
School: Shadow Hills
Sport: Track and field
What he did: The versatile junior star finished fifth in the CIF-SS in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.62. At the DEL meet, DeTamble won the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, was on the winning 4-by-400 relay and finished third in the long jump. He also helped the Knights to a DEL team title, the first league title for Shadow Hills since 2015.
GET TO KNOW MICHAEL
Favorite food: Chicken alfredo, home, restaurant wherever I can get it.
Favorite music: I like J.Cole and Future
Binge-watching: "Breaking Bad" that's my one right now, and now "Better Call Saul."
Dream vacation: I just went to Cancun and that was amazing, but if I couldn't go to Cancun again then probably Miami, I just like to be by the beach.
Sports idol: Track is Ryan Benjamin, 400 hurdle guy, he's like the top dog.
Track origin story: The second I was able to walk he had me running (referring to dad and Shadow Hills track coach Richie DeTamble). So that's how I started. I remember long jump and doing little sprints as a kid. Then the 400. Then I tried the hurdles in eighth grade, didn't think much of it. In high school, I was completely against the idea of hurdles. But I tried and then realized I liked it.
What's next: My goal as a senior will be to try to be one of the best hurdlers in the state.
EDUARDO GONZALEZ
Sport: Tennis
School: Palm Desert
What he did: Gonzalez, who joined the Palm Desert tennis team this year as a junior, went undefeated, won the Desert Empire League title and made it to the CIF-SS individual semifinals where he was locked in a tight match but had to retire with an injury.
GET TO KNOW EDUARDO
Music: I like all the new trends, pop, rap just whatever's flowing on top of the charts.
Binge-watching: "Stranger Things" gotta watch that, "Money Heist" is good, too, I like a lot of Netflix
Favorite food: I really like sushi, I really like that Akura, BNP here is always amazing.
Dream vacation: Switzerland or Greece or somewhere tropical like Bora Bora or something
Nickname: Edu people say for short.
Tennis idols: I really like Juan Martin del Potro, but he's kind of gone now, and Rafa always. Del Potro, I just like his personality. He's one of the calmest guys, and he has an insane forehand too.
Tennis origin story: My dad played college tennis in Mexico, and he introduced me to the sport when I was like 10 years old and since then that's the only sport I've played.
BRANDON LEON
Sport: Baseball
School: La Quinta
What he did: Leon was Mr. Reliable for the Blackhawks. He was the leadoff hitter and center fielder for a team that went 15-0 in league play and made it to the Division 3 CIF-SS championship game, only the 11th team in desert history to make it that far. In 23 games, Leon hit .450 and scored 25 runs to go with 11 doubles, two homers and an impressive OPS of 1.314. He was named to the CIF-SS first team for Division 3.
GET TO KNOW BRANDON
Favorite food: My favorite food is probably double-wrapped chipotle burrito.
Binge-watching: I watch a lot of anime, "Naruto" is my favorite one and another one is "Attack on Titan." I don't know if it's a big thing yet, Anime, but it's more popular for sure.
Favorite music: Everything except country, favorite would be rap. I like Kanye, A$AP Rocky, some rock like Pierce the Veil or My Chmical Romance.
Dream vacation: Japan or Hawaii. I like the scenery; it just looks so nice and the culture and the food.
Baseball origin story: I started playing when I was 5, I really got into because of my brother. It was just something that i wanted to do with him. That's kind of how I got into it.
The flip: (Leon punctuates every LQ win with a standing backflip) That was random. After one game, I asked the guys should I do a backflip after the game and they were like "You can do one?" After a Rancho game, I decided to do the flip, and they were surprised and it became a thing.
What's next: Leon got a scholarship to play baseball at Cal State Northridge.
LUCAS MYERS
Sport: Golf
School: Palm Desert
What he did: On a Palm Desert High School team loaded with underclassmen, senior Lucas Myers was a steadying influence and played some of his best golf late in the season. A 3-under 69 on the North Course at Indian Canyons Golf Resort in Palm Springs gave Myers the Desert Empire League individual title and advanced him to CIF-SS individual play. He advanced out of the CIF-SS preliminaries, then shot 74 to survive a nine-for-eight playoff at the CIF-SS qualifier for the Southern California championship conducted by the Southern California Golf Association. At that event in Pasadena, Myers finished 41st with a 2-over 74, leaving him short of the CIF state tournament but ending his high school career on a high note.
GET TO KNOW LUCAS
Favorite food: Rice and chicken
Favorite music: Anything classic rock
Binge-watching: "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Golf origin story: My start in golf was going to hit balls at flags 70 yards away and chipping for hours with my dad. My dad got me started playing golf by practicing short game.
Sports idols: I don’t really have specific golf idols, I’m more of a fan of the sport and just watching good golf.
VICTORIA TALAMANTES
Sport: Softball
School: La Quinta
What she did: Talamantes was the terminator on the mound for the Blackhawks during her junior season. She was the ace of the staff of a team that went 15-0 to win the Desert Empire League. The Blackhawks then won a pair of games and Talamantes pitched back-to-back shutouts in those wins, a 7-0 victory over Hemet and 1-0 win over highly ranked West Torrance. She was named the Desert Empire League's top pitcher.
GET TO KNOW VICTORIA
Favorite food: Spaghetti, I put a little oregano on it, a lot of parmesan cheese
Binge-watching: "Gilmore Girls", that's my favorite show right now. I already finished "Stranger Things."
Favorite music: I like indie rock, I like a little rock and roll, I like the Smiths and the Foo Fighters. The Smiths are my favorite.
Nickname: Kiki, my mom came up with it when I was born and that was that.
Dream vacation: China. I like the nature side of China, and I'd like to see those little houses and the beautiful trees that you see in movies sometimes.
Softball origin story: At first my brother started T-ball and my dad was like oh do you want to try softball and i was like, No not really, and I just kind of finally gave in and then I loved it. And I haven't stopped playing.
What's next: My senior season and getting ready for college. I want to major in psychology and I definitely want to play softball.
EMMI VON SCHERR
Sport: Swimming
School: La Quinta
What she did: Emmi Von Scherr was named the co-MVP of the Desert Empire League swim meet as she breezed to first-place finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:55.91) and the 500 freestyle (5:06.35). She went on to finish sixth in the CIF-SS Division 3 championships in the 200 and the 500.
GET TO KNOW EMMI
Binge-watching: Just finished "Stranger Things" season 4 and there's going to be more so I'm excited about that. I watched it all in a day, they kept getting me with the cliffhangers so I had to keep watching.
Favorite food: Raising Canes. Chicken fingers and fries are my go-to.
Favorite music: That's hard. Post Malone just came out with a new album which I liked, same with the Weeknd. I do like some alternative stuff, but I do like some rap. I like to mix it up, not a big country fan, though.
Dream vacation: Probably I would go back to Japan. I'm part Japanese and it's good to see your heritage and everyone is so nice too. It's just so nice to see a different way to live, and the way they treat things compared to here. Very high on technology. I went about three years ago.
Sports idols: I really like (runner) Emma Coburn, and (runner) Sydney McClaughlin. They're incredible, really talented, really supportive of each other.
Nickname: People just call me Em or Eminem
Athletic origin story: We were always hyper and my mom was like why don't you take them out of the house to wear them out, so we'd go to the track or the pool, but we never got worn out.
What's next: Emmi will attend West Point and run on the cross country and track teams for the Army. I thought it would be a good structure for the future and it would be something different. Just serving and having the honor to serve your country and be a part of it will be a really great honor.
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The Desert Sun reveals its best of the best from the spring athletics season
