Toth, Guerra, Leake recognized at Salute to the Champions

Former Fallbrook High School athletes Chris Toth, Bobby Guerra, and Mike Leake were recognized at the San Diego Hall of Champions' annual Salute to the Champions banquet Feb. 16 at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego.

The Salute to the Champions banquet honors the previous year's professional, amateur, and high school stars of the month, the professional and amateur stars of the year, and special achievements as well as inducting current or former San Diego County sports figures into the Breitbard Hall of Fame.

Guerra not only received a High School Star of the Month for May 2015 but was also given a Significant Achievement recognition. Toth was a February 2015 Professional Star of the Month. Leake earned Professional Star of the Month recognition for June 2015.

The Hall of Champions bestows the Significant Achievement honor for outstanding achievement by local athletes. The recipients for 2015 consisted of Guerra, four other San Diego County high school athletes who won individual state titles, and the La Jolla Country Day girls basketball team which captured the state championship.

The first-ever CIF state swim championship was held May 22-23 at Clovis West High School. Guerra, who is now swimming for the University of California, Santa Barbara, became the first boys state champion in the 500-yard freestyle when he won that event in 4:26.35, and his time of 1:37.75 in the 200-yard freestyle placed third. Guerra's time in the 500-yard race became the new state record as well as breaking his own school record, and his time in the 200-yard freestyle also broke his own school record for that event. Guerra was behind for most of the 500-yard race before a 24.6-second spurt in the final 50 yards allowed Guerra to beat the 4:26.68 second-place time of Northgate High School's Eric Van Brocklin.

The 2015 CIF San Diego Section championship meet for swimming took place on May 16. Guerra, who was a Fallbrook High School senior at the time, won both the 200-yard freestyle race and the 500-yard freestyle event at the CIF section meet to qualify for the first-ever CIF state meet the following week and broke his own school records in both events. The swimmers with the top three times in each event qualified for the state meet. Guerra won the 200-yard section final in 1:38.52 and the 500-yard championship race in 4:28.80.

The achievements also earned Guerra a High School Star of the Month award for May 2015. He was the only swimmer among the six High School Star of the Month recipients for that month.

The San Diego Sockers, for whom Toth is the starting goalkeeper, won the Major Arena Soccer League's Pacific Division for the 2014-15 season. The Sockers' February 2015 games included a 7-2 home victory Feb. 7 over the Baltimore Blast in with Toth made 12 saves, a 9-5 road win Feb. 12 against the Ontario Fury which clinched the division championship for the Sockers and included 16 saves by Toth, and a 3-1 victory over Ontario on Feb. 21 in San Diego. Toth, a 2007 Fallbrook High School graduate, joined NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson and golfer Pat Perez as Professional Star of the Month recipients for February 2015.

Leake, who pitched for Fallbrook High School prior to his 2006 graduation, was with the Cincinnati Reds during June 2015. He won all three of his decisions that month and struck out 31 batters while allowing only 16 earned runs and seven walks. He held opposing hitters to a .179 batting average during June 2015 and had a ratio of 0.9 walks and hits combined per inning pitched. Leake was one of four Professional Star of the Month recipients for June.

A selection committee at the Hall of Champions studies statistics and achievements. In addition to collecting statistics, Hall of Champions staff members speak with coaches, and athletic directors in the case of high school athletes, to obtain recommendations. The awards committee reviews the lists of recommendations to select the stars of the month.