Soccer star gains scholar-athlete award

Curtin Griffin, West High Class of 2005, is one of two first recipients of the California Pacific Conference Scholar Athlete Awards.

Griffin plays for the William Jessup University men’s soccer team and is also a National Association of Interscholastic Athletics scholar-athlete and a first-team, all-conference player for the California Pacific Conference.

Griffin carries a 3.915 grade-point average at the university, where he majors in youth ministry. He is also a volunteer coach for high school players at Adventure Christian Church, where he plays in a worship band and serves as a youth mentor and small-group leader.

West grad’s team makes D-II World Series

Brittany Astle, West High Class of 2007, just finished her junior year at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where the Rambelles reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division II College World Series in St. Joseph, Mo.

Astle plays center field for the Rambelles and bats .329. Her team was ranked No. 19 in Division II going into the championship tournament.

Angelo State started the series with a 10-3 win over Metropolitan State on May 27, took a 1-0 loss to Hawaii Pacific and claimed a 5-4 win over Bloomsburg on May 29.

The Rambelles and the No. 2-ranked Lady Blazers of Valdosta State were tied 2-2 in the seventh inning of their semifinal game on May 30. The Lady Blazers won it with a walk-off home run on the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh to gain a spot in the finals.