By Walsh CARVALHO

The CIF Southern Section announced some of their ALL-CIF teams last week, and nine local athletes made their families and coaches proud.

Two high schools from the area, Crescenta Valley and La Cañada, were represented on the list which says a lot about their athletic programs and coaching staffs.

Crescenta Valley topped the list with a total of five players from coach Sakonju’s water polo squad. The Falcons, who won the Pacific League title, also made it to the quarterfinals in the CIF-SS division VI championships, which they won last season.

The CV players listed are juniors Alan Dearman and Rane Colvin who both made first team. Seniors Chris Veselich and Matt Peters made second team and senior Martin Rivera made third team.

La Cañada, who made it to the second round of the CIF-SS division 2 championships, also had two players from their water polo honored. Junior Jack Depew was placed on second team and sophomore Bo Mattix made third team.

The Spartans also had two members of the girls’ volleyball squad make the list. The Spartans made it all the way to the CIF-SS division 2A finals this season, just falling short of the title. Fourth year varsity player senior Courtney McCutchan led the team with an outstanding 390 kills, 48 aces and 230 digs on the season. McCutchan made first team while freshman teammate Hayley Woodford was honored with a second team placing. Woodford had a great first season with 60 kills, 37 aces, 150 digs and 935 assists.

St. Francis also had great news thanks to wide receiver Dietrich Riley who was ranked 112th out of 150 on the ESPNU ranking of top recruits. Riley averaged 81.7 yards per game, had 125 carries and 15 touchdowns this season. He made ALL-CIF last year and will most likely again this year. Riley was honored with being one of 89 national players chosen to participate in the Under Armour All-America game in Florida on Jan. 2.

Riley has been coached by former NFL coach Ted Marchibroda. Daily practice sessions will be televised on ESPNU on Dec. 30-31 from 3 to 6 p.m. The Burger King Skills Challenge will air on Jan. 1 at 9 p.m. on ESPN2. The game itself will air live at 11 a.m. on Jan. 2 on ESPN.