Culver City High School held its annual Athlete of the Year banquet two weeks ago inside the cafeteria on the school campus. Although there were a lot of awards given out, four very deserving student athletes came away with the top awards of Athlete of the Year.
Football and baseball star Mason Mulvihill and football, basketball and volleyball standout Kyle Johnson shared the Male Athlete of the Year award. For the girls basketball star Kailey Tooke, along with track and field standout Nia Garcia were co-winners of the Female Athlete of the Year award.
Normally the awards are given to only one male and female athlete, but his year Culver city Athletic director Tom Salter said the voting was so close two in each category had to be recognized.
Mulvihill helped his teams win two league championships in football and baseball. He was an All-CIF wide receiver in football and as a center fielder on the baseball team he proved to be one of the best in the Ocean league with his glove and bat.
“All the hard work paid off,” said Mulvihill at the banquet. “After I graduate I want to attend Cal State Dominguez Hills and play baseball and major in Criminal Justice. I eventually want to become a police officer.”
Three-sport standout Johnson was happy to share the award with his close friend Mulvihill. “I thought Mason deserved the award just as much as I did, so it all worked out,” Johnson said. “We are great friends.”
“I have loved the last four years at Culver City,” Johnson, who was very competitive on the court and field, but laid back off the field, said. “I am a very competitive person. I like to win and I hate to lose, but you can’t lose off the field so you need to be nice off the field and be competitive when you step between the lines.”
Johnson will play volleyball for UC Santa Cruz in the fall.
Garcia had an outstanding track and field season. She was unbeaten in the triple jump, long jump, 100 meter and 300-meter hurdles through the regular season, including the Ocean league finals. She was beaten for the first time last month in the CIF prelims. Each time she competed against faster competition in CIF she lowered her lifetime best time in the 100-meter hurdles.
“I am excited and happy that I won the award and I was happy with the way my season ended although it could have been better,” said Garcia. ” Running in the CIF was an overall good experience and I am happy to get the opportunity.” Garcia has received several college scholarship offers and wants to be a nurse and an anesthesiologist.
Tooke was a four-year varsity girls basketball player who capped off an outstanding career with a 46 point performance this years’ CIF playoffs. “It feels really good that all my hard work paid off in the classroom and on the court,” said Tooke. “My four years at Culver City went by really fast but I had a great time winning a CIF championship and going to the CIF finals.” Tooke will attend USC next fall.