Pinnacle athletics 20-21 celebrations

Badminton Captain and senior Chloe Strachan was selected as an All-District badminton player, and captains and seniors Bella Williams and Sam Dirks were selected as All-District Honorable Mentions. Pinnacle Girl’s Badminton finished the season ranked number 7 overall with a finish in the first round of the state playoffs.

Cross Country Cami Merickel and Caden Acosta qualified to compete in the state cross country championship meet that was held on Thursday November 12th at Crossroads Park in Gilbert. For the three mile race, Cami Merickel placed 9th overall with Caden Acosta setting a personal best. Congratulations to these two great Pioneers! Congratulations to the entire Cross Country team for a great season! Go Pioneers!

Football As part of the Fall sports accomplishments, Pinnacle is proud to announce the PVUSD Football coach of the year is Dana Zupke! GO BIG BLUE! Three year starter Anthony Franklin is 2 time all state player and a full athletic scholarship to Stanford University. Senior Alec Bernardo, after a debilitating injury freshman year not only finished as a 2 year starter but also will continue playing at Central College in Iowa! Anthony Ament will be continuing his football career at Oregon, and Dorian Singer will be playing at the University of Arizona.

Boys Golf Congratulations to the Boys golf team as our season ended yesterday. This year's highlights include: Desert Valley Region Champions; 3rd Place finish at State; Joseph Lloyd 9th place Individual. Has yet another honor to share. The following young men have been selected for the BOYS GOLF ALL PVUSD TEAM. Please congratulate the following players. Joseph Lloyd, Camden Katz, Jordan Campbell, and Aiden Sanders.

Boys Golf Coach of the Year goes to… Coach Jay Thomas! Pinnacle High School is proud to announce, Coach Jay Thomas is the PVUSD District Coach of the Year! He has served as a teacher, coach, and mentor since Pinnacle opened in 2000. Also, Congratulations to Coach Thomas on his retirement! All the best!

Girls Golf Wins Again Girls Golf team won the Roar Classic, which was a 36 hole tournament. Katie Stinchcomb won the individual medalist and Carolyn Fuller was third and Kyla Wilde finished 9th. Lexi Pelle and Kaley Maxey were a huge part of the victory!

Girls Golf For the first time in 2 years our girls golf team didn't come out on top. They finished runner-up in yesterday's state championship to Xavier Prep, losing only by 3 strokes. They mounted an incredible comeback down 16 strokes with 7 holes to go but just couldn't do it. They have had amazing HS careers and aren't quite finished yet…

2018: Runner-Up State Championship 2019: AZ D1 STATE CHAMPIONS 2020: NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2020: Runner-Up STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ( Coach Wilde Arizona Republic Coach of the Year) 2021: TBD They will have one last run together representing AZ as the defending National Champion in June in Pinehurst, NC once again. Thank you for your support of the girls. Thank you Coach Wilde and Coach Chrissy Bonifasi-Hughes for all you both have done. Spiritline Congratulations to our Pinnacle Spiritline for another successful season!

Competition Season Accomplishments

Varsity Pom 4th Place Pom & Jazz at USA Regionals 1st place Jazz / 2nd Place Pom at TSC + "Precise Performance" special award 4th Place Jazz / 9th Place Pom at the 2021 AIA State Championship!

Varsity Cheer 4th Place Show Cheer at USA Regionals 13th Place Show Cheer at AIA State Qualifier 3rd Place Show Cheer at TSC

Gameday Pom 2nd Place Pom at TSC

Gameday Cheer 5th Place Show Cheer at TSC

Swim & Dive Congratulations to the PHS Swim & Dive Team on their 7th consecutive district championship in their only invitational meet of this shortened season. In addition, 32 swimmers qualified for the State meet. Thank you Coach Rider and Coach Ditter! The boys swim team took 4th at the State meet with Ben Scott, Luca Gissendaner, Reagan Dresser, and Aaron Rosen taking 1st (state champions) in the 200 Medley Relay! The girls took 10th at State. We also had three divers qualify this year for State. Delainey Pisaruk took 9th, Dylan Davis took 11th, and Aubrey Storey took 17th. azcentral Sports Awards Academic All-Star Athlete PHS Senior, Alyssa Johansen has been recognized as one of azcentral’s Academic All Star Student Athlete of the Week. Alyssa, a right-side hitter on the girls volleyball team is one of the top student athletes on the school's campus. Her Senior year is not quite what she had envisioned, but she is making the most out of it. You can read the full Arizona Republic article on Alyssa here . Congratulations Alyssa!

Pinnacle High School Volleyball Volleyball has had a tremendous season with an upset over Sandra Day O'Connor HS! This is the article about our Lady Pioneers in the AZ Republic - CLICK HERE TO VIEW ARTICLE GO PIONEERS!

Fall Sports District Athletes Despite the Covid-19 restrictions our teams and athletes fought hard! To find out how your athlete did this season click here to see a complete list of the All District Athletes.

Boys Basketball Boys basketball made state playoffs for the 19th consecutive year! Coach Wilde celebrated his 400th WIN! Congratulations to Bryce Ford for 1st team All Region.

Pinnacle's Kyle Naylor discusses his viral 3 point shot Freshman team manager Kyle Naylor was given the opportunity to suit up with the freshman basketball team to play on February 5th. A video went viral showing Kyle making a three-pointer at the end of the Pioneers game against Sandra Day O'Connor High School. An amazing accomplishment! You can see Kyle’s shot here. Congratulations Kyle!

Girls Basketball Girls basketball made the playoffs and were seconds away from a first round upset. Congratulations to Shay Figueroa as Region Offensive Player. Sydney Murphy as Region Defensive Player. Mia Singstock as 1st Team. Chloe Strachan as 2nd team.

Boys Soccer Pinnacle is proud to announce the Desert Valley Region Player of the year is Kyle Benjamin. The boys soccer team battled the 4th ranked team in state and went to Penalty shootout. Congrats Pinnacle Boys Soccer! Pinnacle is proud to announce the PVUSD Soccer Coach of the Year ~ Justin Hughes

Girls Soccer The girls soccer team made it to the semi finals of the state playoffs, the farthest they have made it in a while. Our record was 12-1-1. The girls did a great job all season and we are really looking forward to what we can do next year! Congrats to Brooke Fabri and Anuli Okafor for making the 6A All State Team. That is HUGE. All district first team includes Alli Bryant, Emma McWilliams, Juliana Botev, Brooke Fabri and Offensive Player of the Year, Anuli Okafor. Pinnacle is proud to announce the PVUSD Soccer Coach of the Year ~ Jen Larsen. Wrestling The Pioneer wrestlers finished the regular season with a 7-7 record. As the host school for the Sectional Tournament, they qualified a school record EIGHT wrestlers for the State Tournament! Senior Luke Despres (152) brought home a State medal with a 6th place finish, defeating the #1 seed in the process. Next year's team will return eight Varsity wrestlers, five of which were State Qualifiers, led by 2x qualifier Jake Dillon and 2x Girls Varsity wrestler, Jessica Birk. The wrestling team is also proud to announce the 2020-21 PVUSD Wrestling Coach of the Year ~ Chris Reid.

Baseball The varsity team played one of the most competitive schedules in the state with 6 heartbreaking losses by one run and leading in 15 of their 18 games. They played hard until the last out of the last game! The Pinnacle baseball program is proud to recognize the following players for their outstanding year!

● Brady Fischer ~ Honorable Mention Desert Valley Region ● John Lauinger ~ 1st Team Desert Valley Region, PVUSD All-District, Selected to the AzBCA 6A North All-Star Team ● Luke Newman ~ Honorable Mention Team Desert Valley Region, Honorable Mention PVUSD All-District ● Casey Parsons ~ 2nd Team Desert Valley Region, PVUSD All-District, Selected to the AzBCA 6A North All-Star Team ● Michael Riley ~ 2nd Team Desert Valley Region, PVUSD All-District ● Wyatt Wyllie ~ Honorable Mention PVUSD All-District

Softball The varsity team had a very successful season, going 17-6. The Pioneers earned the 4- seed in the state tournament, affording them home field advantage for the first two rounds. The ladies played exceptionally and made it to the state semifinals game. The softball program proudly recognizes the following players for their accomplishments:

● Faith Kroening- 1st Team Desert Valley Region ● Bella Williams- PVUSD All-District, 1st Team Desert Valley Region ● Reis Beuerlein- Player of the Year- PVUSD All-District, 1st Team Desert Valley Region ● Jessica Geng- 1st Team Desert Valley Region ● Ilana Weiss- PVUSD All-District, 2nd Team Desert Valley Region ● Taylor Thompson- PVUSD All-District, 2nd Team Desert Valley Region ● Paige Stockford- Honorable Mention -Desert Valley Region ● Olivia Mazzacano - Honorable Mention- Desert Valley Region ● Emily Carpenter- Honorable Mention- PVUSD All District

Boys Tennis Ivan Andreopoulos and Anders Nordstrom were the #6 seed going into the individual state tournament where they made it all the way to the quarterfinals. Both the boys JV and Varsity finished the season with a record of 12-2. The varsity team went all the way to the semi finals of team state and finished the season ranked 3rd. Congrats to the boys tennis teams!

Girls Tennis Pinnacle Girls Tennis had an amazing season finishing 11th in Division 1. Senior captain, Ava Kester went 21-5 and won MVP for PVUSD.

Track & Field Pinnacle Track & Field athletes Alexa Hamiton and Caden Acosta set new school records this year. Alexa Hamilton set the Long Jump school record at the Chandler Rotary Elite Invitation with a jump of 17’ 0”. Caden Acosta set the 1600m run school record at the Horizon Invitational with a time of 4:25.27. New School Track Records The Pinnacle Girls track Team took first place at the Northeast Valley Championship meet. It was a Tremendous team effort with lots of personal records achieved by both the girls and boys teams. Go Pioneers!

★ In the 4x1 relay Megan Borland, McKenna Watson, Olivia Duncan, Gabriella Chaira set a new school record of 48.86. A first place finish! In the 4x4 relay Olivia Duncan, Morgan Escobedo, Gabriella Chaira, Megan Borland set a new school record of 3:59.42. A first place finish! ○ The other 1st place finishes are: ■ Logan Miller Pole Vault ■ Mckenna Watson 100 meter dash ■ Cami Merickel 3200 meter run ■ Gabriella Chaira 800 meter run - new school record 2:14.43 ○ State Finals: ■ Dylan Davis ~ 6th Pole Vault ■ Luc Baker ~ 6th Triple Jump ■ Alexa Hamilton ~ 7th Triple Jump ■ Alexa Hamilton ~ 7th HJ ■ Logan Miller ~ 8th Pole Vault ■ Morgan Escobedo, Megan Borlan, Olivia Duncan, Gabriella Chiara ● ~ Girls 4x400 6th ■ Megan Borlan, Mckenna Watson, Olivia Duncan, Gabriella Chiara ● ~ Girls 4x100 4th ■ Gabriella Chiara ~ 4th 800m

Athletic Commitments We are proud to recognize the following student athletes for their outstanding performance in their respective sport. The following student athletes signed a letter of commitment to the following universities.

Student Athlete Sport College Tyler Dorsch Baseball Concordia University ~ Chicago John Lauinger Baseball Oakland University Luke Newman Baseball Cochise College Casey Parsons Baseball Lewis and Clark College Chloe Strachan Basketball Master's University Anthony Ament Football University of Oregon Anthony Franklin Football Stanford University Alec Bernardo Football Central College ~ Iowa Joseph Lloyd Golf University of Utah Lexi Pelle Golf Savannah College of Art and Design Katie Stinchcomb Golf University of Memphis Kyla Wilde Golf University of Wyoming Aiden Sanders Golf William Jewell College Sydney Seigel Golf University of Tulsa Brianna Ramey Soccer University of Mary ~ North Dakota Elijah Gagnon Soccer Grace College Cassie Fleming Soccer New England College Alaina Kuhn Soccer North Central College Jessica Geng Softball Concordia University ~ Chicago Madeline Link Softball Queens University of Charlotte Taylor Thompson Softball Hawaii Pacific University Isabella Williams Softball Franklin Pierce University Aaron Rosen Swim University of Pennsylvania Camille Merickel Track and Field University of Nebraska at Lincoln Brooke Cowie Volleyball Fresno State

Madison Lounds Volleyball University of California at Riverside Kierslynn Wright Volleyball Yavapai College