Aptos High School is a comprehensive secondary school in Aptos, California,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the

Pajaro Valley Unified School District Pajaro Valley Unified School District is a school district based in Watsonville, California, USA. The Superintendent is Michelle Rodriguez. The District is overseen by a seven members of the board of trustees that meets an average of twice a mo ...

. Aptos High serves the communities of Rio Del Mar, Corralitos, Seacliff, Seascape, La Selva Beach, Buena Vista and Watsonville. Historically, Aptos has been one of the largest high schools in Santa Cruz County, but recently

Watsonville High School Watsonville High School is a high school located in Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, California, and is part of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. The school mascot is Willy the Wildcat. The school colors are black and gold. Watsonville Hi ...

and Pajaro Valley High School have surpassed its enrollment. In addition to standard curriculum, Aptos High School offers video production, computer technology, and various other courses. Some of the music classes, such as guitar, were dropped due to cuts in the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

school budget. Recently, however, music classes such as band and drumline have been reintroduced. As of 2008 Aptos High School has a new Performing Arts Center, where school plays are performed. There are also two gymnasiums, used for multiple sports, such as basketball and volleyball, and baseball. The campus included a popular

disc golf Disc golf, also known as frisbee golf, is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. Most disc golf discs are made out of polypropylene plastic, otherwise known as polypropene, which ...

course for many years, but it was shut down during the 2020 pandemic. In 2010, the Mariners hired Coach Randy Blankenship from Madera to be their new head football coach. Since then, the Mariners football team has been to the playoffs every year. They have won five consecutive league championship and three consecutive section championships. The Girls Cross Country team has won sixteen

Central Coast Section The Central Coast Section (CCS) is the governing body of public and private high school athletics in the portion of California encompassing San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Monterey County, San Benito County, Santa Cruz County and a few pri ...

titles and two CIF State Championships. The Girls Volleyball team has qualified for the section playoffs for the past 26 years in a row. The Girls Track & Field team owns the second longest dual-meet win streak in California history. Between 1996 and 2005, they won 118 consecutive dual meets.

Notable alumni

Trent Dilfer Trent Farris Dilfer (born March 13, 1972) is a former American football quarterback and analyst who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He is best known as the starting quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens during their Su ...

, NFL football player, Super Bowl champion, Baltimore Ravens *

Estelí Gomez Estelí Gomez is a multiple Grammy Award winning musician from Watsonville, California. In addition to her solo touring and recording career, Gomez is a founding member of Roomful of Teeth, recipients of the 2013 Grammy for "Best Chamber Music / ...

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

winning singer *

Brett Gotcher Brett Gotcher is an American long distance runner. Gotcher ran for Aptos High School and Stanford University. At the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships Gotcher finished 64th. At the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 9 (n ...

, professional long distance runner *

Nikki Hiltz Nikki Hiltz (born October 23, 1994) is a mid-distance runner from Aptos, California. Hiltz attended Aptos High School, where in 2012 they won the CIF California State Championship in the 1600 meters. Hiltz is a 6 time NCAA Division I All-Ame ...

, professional runner * Sam Kennedy, NFL football player, Super Bowl champion, San Francisco 49ers *

Jared Koenig Jared Tyler Koenig (born January 24, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. Amateur career Koenig grew up in Aptos, California and attended Aptos High School. Koenig began his college baseball career a ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher,

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Randy Kramer Randall John Kramer (born September 20, 1960) is an American former baseball pitcher. He pitched in all or parts of four seasons in the majors, between and , for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners ...

, (baseball coach) MLB pitcher; professional baseball scout, Toronto Blue Jays *

Lisa Leuschner Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

, professional musician and recording artist *

Greg London Greg London (born December 26, 1966) is an American singer, entertainer and impressionist. After a solo hit show in London's West End, he enjoyed a lengthy residency in Reno, Nevada before announcing his move to the Las Vegas Strip in mid-2010. ...

, American singer *

Donny McCaslin Donald Paul McCaslin (born August 11, 1966) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has recorded over a dozen albums as a bandleader in addition to many sideman appearances, including on David Bowie's final studio album, ''Blackstar'' (2016). Early ...

, professional

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

and recording artist *

Peter Mel Peter Mel (born November 24, 1969, in Santa Cruz, California), is an American professional surfer. Mel began his surfing life in Capitola, California before moving on to Santa Cruz. He is known as a 'big wave' surfer and son of John Mel, a four ...

, professional surfer; BIG Wave-2X Maverick champion *

Marisa Miller Marisa Lee Miller (née Bertetta; born August 6, 1978) is an American model and occasional film actress best known for her appearances in the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' and her work for Victoria's Secret. After a stint shooting with ph ...

, swimsuit model *

Robert Oberst Robert Oberst (born December 20, 1984) is a retired former American professional strongman competitor. He is a yearly competitor of the World's Strongest Man competition and a finalist in the 2013 and 2018 World's Strongest Ma ...

, professional

Strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

competitor *

Jennifer Palmieri Jennifer M. Palmieri (; born November 15, 1966) is an American political advisor and media personality who served as White House Director of Communications from 2013 to 2015 and Director of Communications for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidentia ...

, White House Communications Director *

Jeff Schalk Jeff Schalk (born February 6, 1974 in Santa Cruz, California) is a retired professional mountain bike racer. His racing career began in 2006 when he took hiatus from a career in structural engineering, practicing in San Francisco, California. He ...

, professional mountain bike racer * Carlos Torres, pitcher in the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

organization

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control High schools in Santa Cruz County, California Public high schools in California 1969 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1969

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links