Pictured left to right: Jake Ratzlaff, Justin Cuevas, Cooper Truong, Giovanni Capraro
At the end of each school year, Servite Athletics presents four special awards to student-athletes who excel in the classroom (Scholar-Athlete of the Year), on the field of play (Athlete of the Year), in the community (Frank Ryan Service Award) and personally (Sherer Courage Award). These awards are given out at our annual Hall of Fame Dinner and All Sports Banquet held at the Orange Hill Restaurant.
Learn more about each of our decorated student-athletes below.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR - GIOVANNI CAPRARO
The Athlete of the Year is someone who excels in athletics in addition to providing service to the community while maintaining the high academic expectations set at Servite. This award is always competitive with hockey player Gio Capraro standing out among the rest to earn the esteemed recognition in 2024.
Our athlete of the year has been dominant in his sport throughout his high school career, graduating as a three-year varsity letterman.
He will leave his mark not only on Servite but also the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League, finishing his career as the league’s all-time leader in scoring and points. He was also named Varsity Player of the Month on 3 occasions. In doing so, he rewrote the Servite record books as well finishing his career with 119 goals, 42 assists and 161 total points in 75 games played. To put that into perspective, he tallied more points himself than half the teams in the division.
In his senior year, he recorded 64 goals and 15 assists, averaging 3 points per game. He was named a starter for the league’s all-star game, where he scored a Michigan for those of you familiar with hockey terms. In addition, he finished the season as the Offensive Player of the Year for the entire league.
Hockey won the Commissioner’s Cup in both his sophomore and senior years, in large part to his contributions. This season the Friars finished 21-1 overall to also win the Ridge Conference Championship.
Off the ice, he has volunteered with the YMCA and Anaheim Ducks sharing his love for the game with the next generation of hockey players.
Following graduation, he will continue his hockey career playing juniors.
For the first time in school history, we are proud to recognize a hockey player as our athlete of the year. Congratulations, Gio Capraro.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR - COOPER TRUONG
A Servite scholar-athlete represents a young man who is not only a varsity letterman and a high academic achiever but also a contributor to the success of their athletic program and an active member of the school and greater community. This year's Scholar-Athlete of the Year is Cooper Truong.
Truong is a varsity letter winner in volleyball leading the Friars to the CIF-SS D2 semifinals this season after helping the team advance to the quarterfinals as a junior. As a senior, he earned 1st Team All-Trinity League recognition while also being selected to play in the Orange County All-Star game.
During his free time, he volunteers at Advanced Behavioral Health, an organization devoted to aiding families who have young children with autism.
On campus, he is involved with our Priory Leadership Program serving as a Senior Assistant Prior while also working as an Admissions Ambassador. In addition, he is the president of the Servite chapter of the National Honors Society and an active member of Red Cross Club and a peer tutor for CSF.
In the classroom, his academic schedule consisted of taking 11 Honors placement classes and 12 Advanced placement courses while scoring a 1580 on the SAT. He earned Principal’s High Honor Roll with Distinction all four years, never earning below an A in any class. He was awarded the Emblem of a Servite Friar as a junior and senior while being recognized as an AP Scholar with Distinction. Our scholar-athlete of the year is graduating with a 4.76 GPA as our salutatorian and will be attending the University of Southern California in the fall.
Congratulations to Cooper Truong!
SHERER COURAGE AWARD - JUSTIN CUEVAS
The Sherer Courage Award is given to a young man who has overcome personal challenges and preserved in spite of the obstacles put it in front of him. Named in honor of Jeff Sherer ’83 who was known to his teammates as the “Gentle Giant” and described as the ultimate team-first guy, this award epitomizes pride, determination and courage in the face of adversity. Sherer was diagnosed with ALS in his early 30’s and battled the progressive disease bravely for six years always remaining a positive example and lifting up those around him until his passing in 2003.
We are honored to present the 2024 award to Justin Cuevas, a young man that has shown amazing strength and perseverance overcoming multiple injuries throughout his Servite career as a multi-sport athlete.
Coming to Servite as a junior, he was poised to make an impact as soon as he took the field. Unfortunately, that debut ended up delayed an entire year. During fall leading into soccer season, he suffered a knee injury while playing club resulting in surgery and rehab that took his entire junior season. Despite the setback, he assimilated into Servite and the soccer team remaining positive and contributing to the program in other ways whether that was assisting at practice, doing music at games, helping the team warmup or even coaching from the sidelines. He also volunteered on campus sharing his passion for photography and videography, assisting both the communications and athletic departments, creating content to further highlight his brothers and the school as a whole.
When his senior season finally arrived, he hit the ground running, making the most of his opportunity. He scored four goals and tallied six assists in his first five games as a Friar while also being named a captain.
He went on to lead the team in every offensive category tallying 18 goals, 14 assists and 6 game winners on the season while earning OCRegister Athlete of the Week honors after scoring three goals and adding one assist in the Friars’ quarterfinal and semifinal matches to clinch a finals berth.
The team proceeded to win the CIF-SS D1 Championship and CIF D2 State Regional title for just the second time in school history. Individually, he earned CIF D1 Player of the Year honors, 1st Team All-Trinity League and All-Orange County recognition, and was named to the Prep Soccer All-Area team. He has also been nominated for All-American consideration. The team finished the season as the No. 1 ranked team in California by MaxPreps and the 6th ranked team in the nation by the United Soccer Coaches Association.
He has earned the opportunity to play collegiate soccer and is headed to Concordia University, Irvine in the fall.
Congratulations, Justin!
FRANK RYAN SERVICE AWARD - JAKE RATZLAFF
At the end of each school year, Servite Athletics presents four special awards to student-athletes who excel in the classroom (Scholar-Athlete of the Year), on the field of play (Athlete of the Year), in the community (Frank Ryan Service Award) and personally (Sherer Courage Award). These awards are given out at our annual Hall of Fame Dinner and All Sports Banquet held at the Orange Hill Restaurant.
The Frank Ryan Memorial Service award is presented to a varsity letterman who has gone above and beyond in providing service to his communities while balancing his academic and athletic obligations. This award is named in honor of Frank Ryan who sent nine sons to Servite between 1972 and 1993 and worked diligently to support the Friar community in whatever way possible. He understood the need to serve and searched out opportunities to help, never having to be asked to do anything.
This year’s recipient is Jake Ratzlaff. Ratzlaff made community service a hallmark of his high school experience working with a variety of organizations while competing in cross country and track and field and carrying over a 4.0 GPA.
Off campus, he volunteered with TOP Soccer, teaching individuals with disabilities how to play soccer. Besides helping with the athletes, he also supported his fellow volunteers serving as a training guide. In addition, he was very active in the St. Norbert’s community serving as a confirmation sponsor and helping out with food distribution for those in need. He also served at Holy Family working with their vacation Bible School and Youth Jog-A-Thon.
On campus, he served as the President of the Red Cross Club his junior and senior year, helping to organize and execute Servite’s annual blood drive. He was also an active member of the We Rise Together Club all four years, helping to coordinate donation drives for a variety of causes. When injury struck his senior year, he added team manager to his list of service roles, assisting the varsity lacrosse team and coaching staff with various tasks during practices and games.
At Servite, he also served as an Admissions Ambassador hosting shadow days and volunteering at special events. In addition, he was involved with the Priory program, serving as an Assistant Prior his junior and senior year.
Academically, he earned High Honor Roll or better every semester while taking multiple HP and AP classes. Athletically, he’s graduating a 7-time letter winner advancing to the CIF Finals every year with the cross country team including his senior year when he captained the squad.
He is headed to Loyola University Chicago in the fall.
Congratulations Jake and thank you for your service!
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