It’s truly amazing how fast 4 years go by and it has been quite a ride for Anthony Paredes, who was selected as the Class of 2020 Male Athlete of the Year for both Godinez & the Golden West League.

Paredes has been selected due to his athletic abilities as a long distance runner with tremendous speed on all playing surfaces whether a rugged cross-country course,  astro-turf soccer field or an all-weather track.  Simply put, Paredes has incredible footwork.

He is the type of athlete that every coach wishes to have in their program.  Paredes is quite good at playing the extremely important role as the competitive compassionate captain. He’s the quiet, hard working type who turns on his turbo jets when they are most needed and does the work, enjoys the competition and is the perfect example of sportsmanship.

As a 3 sport athlete, Paredes has amassed a lot of hardware from his cross-country and track efforts and has played a large part in helping to secure league championship banners in all three sports.

During this year’s fall cross-country season, Paredes won both the Golden West League Individual  & Team Championships.  Regretfully, the spring sports season shutdown cut his senior season track efforts off before they really began, but I am confident Anthony would have been at his best yet.

Some of his awards include:

• 3 yr Varsity XC  Letterman 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20
  • Golden West League Champion Team XC 2019-20
  • GWL All league champion
  • All League runner 2019-20
  • CIF-SS Qualifier award for XC 2019-20
• 2 yr  Varsity Soccer Letterman 2018-19, 2019-20
  • Golden west league championship team varsity soccer 2018-19, 2019-20
  • CIF-SS qualifier Soccer Div 2 2018-19
  • California State Championships 2019 participant Varsity Soccer
  • Great grizzly award 2016/Grizzly team captain award 2016-17 JV Soccer
  • Scholar athletic certificate 3.39 GPA varsity soccer 2019
• 3 yr Varsity Track & Field Letterman 2016-17, 2017-18,  2018-19, 2019-20
  • Orange Coast Championship team 2016-17
  • CIF-SS qualifier Div2 Track 2016-17, 2018-19
  • Varsity Track 1600m Champ 2016-17
  • Student of the month of April 2017

Cross-Country/Track & Field Head Coach Diego Rocha-Rodriguez gushed about Paredes accomplishments, “He wanted to finish the year by breaking the school mile record, competing at the CIF-SS finals and beyond.  Although he didn’t get to finish his high school running career as imagined, he is still raw and has so much more to show.  I have no doubt that he can be an elite runner if that’s what he sets out to do.  Paredes will  be missed by his teammates and coaches.  He wants to continue competing at the college level and I know his impressive talent plus his work ethic will take him far.”

Paredes is currently considering Orange Coast College or Mt. SAC.  He would like to pursue a degree in computer engineering while continuing to compete as a long-distance runner.  Anthony would like to ultimately compete in the NCAA.

His advise to upcoming Grizzlies is to “make the best of the four years you have at high school.”

And shared these words with the Godinez Staff,  “I would like to thank all Godinez Staff and also the Athletic Department for letting me become a scholar-athlete and represent Godinez across my chest in all those tough soccer games and races.”