Each year, a few select seniors are recognized for their outstanding accomplishments and inspirational presence on behalf of their athletic teams at Escalon High School with the presentation of two special awards: The Bob and Mark Loureiro Most Inspirational Senior Athlete and the Lloyd C. Engel Outstanding Senior Athlete.

This year, Emma Rangel and Ben Ferreira were named as the Most Inspirational athletes while Madison Babasa and Logan Huebner were presented with the Most Outstanding senior athlete honors.

These are awards that Escalon High School varsity coaches vote on, said Athletic Director Andrew Beam, and it serves as the culmination for the high school sports career of the recipients.

The awards were presented to close out the spring sports awards program at the school.

“The Bob and Mark Loureiro Most Inspirational Athlete award exemplifies leadership, inspiration, character and athletic success,” Beam explained, noting that its namesakes have a place in EHS history as well. Bob Loureiro coached baseball for 42 years at Escalon and football for 25 years, amassing over 600 baseball wins in career that ran from 1963 to 2004. His son Mark Loureiro served as the varsity football coach from 1989 to 2017 and earned three state titles and eight section championships during that time.

Female winner Emma Rangel was a three-sport athlete and a team leader in volleyball, soccer and tennis.

“She is an outspoken leader of her peers, a leader on campus, she runs our famous Cougar TV segments and truly bleeds purple and gold,” Beam said. “She brings energy and pride this campus.”

Honored as a three-time most valuable defensive player in volleyball during her four years with the sport, she also won a TVL mixed doubles tennis championship this season.

“I try my hardest to be an inspiration on the team,” admitted Rangel. “I feel like to have a good team, you need that person to be a leader, to be happy, to be joyful, to keep that spirit up. I’ve tried these last four years to be as positive as I can be.”

Male recipient Ben Ferreira played four different sports during his years at EHS, including football, basketball, volleyball and tennis.

“Every sense of the word inspirational, this young man embodies … he inspires his schoolmates, his teammates, his teachers, coaches … he has a spirit and charisma to him that draws people,” Beam said.

He was a two-time first team All TVL selection in basketball and a first team selection in volleyball, along with being a TVL boys doubles champion in tennis this season.

“It’s hard to believe that over the last five years, this young man has suffered five different separate shoulder separation incidents. He was robbed of multiple seasons of sport or limited to partial seasons due to injuries,” Beam told the crowd on hand for the ceremony.

But, said Beam, that didn’t deter him from being there for his teammates.

“I feel like it is who I’ve become as a human being; I just hope other people can look at me and be inspired by me,” Ferreira shared. “I’m just super happy I was able to go to all the practices with my teammates to show them that just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I think perseverance creates character.”

For the Lloyd C. Engel Outstanding Senior Athlete award, Beam said it is named in honor of Engel, who was one of the founding coaches of many of the female sports programs at EHS. He was a coach for tennis, track, basketball and football and served at EHS from 1946 to 1965 as a teacher, coach, and athletic director.

“This award represents the pinnacle of academic excellence at EHS,” Beam added.

Female winner Madison Babasa played eight varsity seasons between her two main sports, basketball and softball.

“She was a six-time first team All-TVL selection, was TVL most outstanding player in basketball and three-time TVL most outstanding player in softball,” Beam said.

For four straight years, she was honored as a TVL scholar-athlete and became a 1,000-point scorer this season in basketball.

She is a Division I softball signee to the University of Arizona.

“Her impact on the school goes beyond statistics and this prestigious athletic award is a reflection of the leadership, toughness and selflessness she embodies,” noted her varsity basketball coach, Joseph Dalpogetti.

For her part, Babasa was honored with the selection.

“It means a lot, honestly; being an athlete at Escalon, it’s hard work, but it’s good and it feel nice to be getting this award,” she said.

Male winner Logan Huebner was a three-year varsity starter in baseball, a three-year varsity starter for football, playing safety, linebacker and quarterback.

“As a sophomore, he was a big part of our Section championship team,” Beam said. “He played basketball all four years and is the all-time wins leader at Escalon and joined the 1000-point club this year,” said Beam.

He also had several first team all-league honors during his career.

“He is a true definition of a multi-sport student athlete,” said his basketball coach Nate Bartelink. “He gets it done in the classroom with a 3.8 GPA while being a standout in three sports and he is an even better person.”

Hubener pointed to being a part of the state championship football team as a freshman as one of his best memories.

“That’s really a big milestone and I was glad I got to be part of the team,” Huebner said.

He agreed with his fellow award winners that balancing athletics with academics is not easy but it’s something he’s glad he did while attending EHS.

“It’s a lot of hard work, all day every day … but we all find a way to get it done,” Huebner said.