Gabriella Rodriguez wins award for Elyria Catholic's top female athlete

ELYRIA — Elyria Catholic's girls soccer coach Jason Brunner called her a ferocious competitor.Friday, at EC's annual Senior Distinction Awards assembly, Gabriella Rodriguez was presented with the Ron and Janet Gilgenbach Award for the school's outstanding female athlete. It's been awarded since 1976."It means a lot," Rodriguez said. "I'm really honored to extend this journey that they took and be able to show them that their legacy is heard and people know about it. I'm blessed to receive it just like they did."Ron Gilgenbach was a past president of the Elyria Catholic High School Alumni Association and was inducted into the school's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2010. He passed away in 2013. His wife Janet worked as a secretary in the athletic office when the award was first presented. She passed away in 2011. The Gilgenbach's were huge supporters of Elyria Catholic.There were seven girls that applied for the award. Last year's winner and former teammate, Lexi Rodriguez, presented the trophy.Rodriguez played basketball for four years, earning Lorain County first-team and North Coast Conference second-team honors. She was honorable mention All-Ohio last year. As the only senior on the team, she played an integral part of the Panthers'district championship.She also played soccer for three years, earning All-North Coast Conference honors her junior and senior seasons. She also played volleyball for one year."Gabby is an outstanding young woman," said EC girls basketball coach Eric Rothgery. "She's a tremendous athlete and one of the top students in her class. I'm sure she'll succeed at anything she puts her mind to.""But what really sets her apart is the joy she brings to the game and the sportsmanship she displays every time she steps on the field," Brunner said. "She's an incredible teammate and a natural leader. In my opinion, there's no one more deserving of this award. She serves as an outstanding example for other athletes."Her school activities included Ambassadors for four years and National Honor Society for two. She was in Student Senate three years and participated in the Cash Raffle Squad. She was a member of the Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and Sprit Senate committees for one year. In addition, she served on the Youth Challenge for four years, Empower Sports and the Hickories Blessing House for two. She also participated in Confirmation Speech, Holy Trinity and Rotary Speech.Her parents, Martin and Marlene Rodriguez, were keys to her success in sports and the classroom. "It's been lovely," said her mother Marlene. "It's been lovely watching her grow as an athlete and academically. Elyria Catholic has been really good to her. It makes me really proud.""It was very important to me," said Gabriella. "When I was growing up, they always supported me in everything I wanted to do. Every dream I had, they made sure they would help me the best they could. My coaches, I had the privilege of being taught by them, not just on the field or on the court, but in life as well."Rodriguez plans on attending Bowling Green State University, majoring in exercise science. She'll graduate from EC with a 4.112 GPA."I knew from a young age I wanted to do something to help people," she said. "I found occupational therapy and I did my research and found that BG has a really nice occupational therapy program, and after a couple of visits, I fell in love the campus and decided to go there."Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Ron and Janet Gilgenbach Outstanding Female Athlete Winners 1976 Anna Farrell 1977 Linda Zemanek 1978 Mary Ann Kobb 1979 Patty Diedrick 1980 Mary Farrell 1981 Ellen Borowy 1982 Diane Schmitz 1983 Linda Machovina 1984 Christina Arnold 1985 Carrie Cummons 1986 Niki Boyson 1987 Lisa Horvath 1988 Rebecca Yarish 1989 Colleen Wukie 1990 Lisa Ivkanec 1991 Julie Deeks 1992 Sheila Wilford 1993 Laurie Seward 1994 Angela Schneider 1995 Kim Kenney 1996 Jessica Patton 1997 Jennifer DeChant 1998 Rachel Serazin 1999 Jennifer Ruth 2000 Catherine Geletka 2001 Megan Fiore 2002 Jennifer Thompson 2003 Stacey Laveen 2004 Kileen Lehman 2005 Danielle Bozicevich 2006 Lauren Beck 2007 Paige Samek 2008 Katie Svat 2009 Evann Heidersbach 2010 Zoe Zwegat 2011 Ashley Schuster 2012 Taylor Sustersic 2013 Lauren Wisnor 2014 Danielle Dziak 2015 Sarah Ziegelmeyer 2016 Riley Schill 2017 Samatha Filiaggi 2018 Megan Scheibelhut 2019 Regan Schill 2020 Meghan Jancsura 2021 Alexis Szalai 2022 Annika Bredel 2023 Carter McCray 2024 Isabelle Niederst 2025 Lexi Rodriguez 2026 Gabriella Rodriguez