Lamborn, Burroughs are athletes of the year

Travis Lamborn and Kaitlin Burroughs agree on two matters: They were both proud to be Senators and their time at Carson High went by quickly.

Lamborn and Burroughs are the 2006-2007 Sierra Nevada Senior Male and Female Athletes of the Year as selected by the Nevada Appeal. Lamborn and Burroughs are both also eligible to be the overall Sierra Nevada Male and Female Athletes of the Year as selected by participating newspapers in the Sierra Nevada Media Group.

(Other Sierra Nevada Media Group Athletes of the Year are featured on B2). The overall male and female winners are scheduled to be announced next week.

"I definitely got a lot of Senator pride," Lamborn said. "I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, really. It did go by pretty quickly."

Burroughs said school pride at Carson has improved since she's been at the school. "We have a lot more spirit now than we had when we were freshmen," she said. "It went by really quickly."

Lamborn was a member of the varsity wrestling team for four years and started at linebacker for the varsity football team for three years. Lamborn was also one of Northern Nevada's top running backs as a senior and earned all-Sierra League first team and all-Northern 4A second team honors.

With the CHS wrestling team, Lamborn helped Carson win two Northern 4A titles, including this year as a senior. Lamborn, though was unable to break through for a state title himself for his first three years, finishing third at the NIAA 4A State Championships each year.

And guess where he finished as a running back as a senior after rushing for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns: As the Northern 4A's third leading rusher. It's a wonder that Lamborn didn't begin talking in the third person. "There's that third again," Lamborn said. "I've just go a third curse."

But all that changed his senior year when Lamborn broke through and won the NIAA 4A State title at 160 pounds.

"It was undescribable," said Lamborn about winning the state title. "You can't really explain it. It was just overwhelming, all emotions into one.

"I crided. I was happy. Everything. It was a big relief. Finally everything I worked for paid off."

When jokingly asked if he was the slowest tailback in Carson history, Lamborn said, "Probably. But I still didn't do bad. I just ran downhill. I wasn't scared of anybody."

Lamborn maintained a 3.4 grade point average and plans to earn a fire science degree and become a firefighter. He's still trying to decide if he will continue his wrestling career at Northwest Wyoming Community College or at NAIA William Penn in Iowa.

If he attends Northwest Wyoming, he will join three other Carson wrestlers - Kyle Banko, Owen Craugh and Robbie Bozin.

Lamborn credited his coaches, including Carson wrestling coach Tyson Thivierge and his family for his success. He also gave a great deal of credit to his older brother, Brandon. "Every day after work he'd come over adn wrestle me, kick my butt," Lamborn said.

Burroughs played three years of varsity softball, threeyers of varsity basketball and one year of varsity volleyball. As Carson's starting centerfielder, she earned all-Sierra League first team honors as a senior and also earned all-league honorable mention honors in basketball.

Burroughs will attend UNLV and hopes to walk on to the softball team there. She maintained a 3.8 grade point average and hopes to enter into a sports medicine field.

'When I get older I want to be in sports a lot and I though sports medicine would be a good idea," she said.

While she also gave credit to her coaches for her success, Burroughs added her father, John, was a big part of her success as well. "He coached me in so many sports," she said. "He definitely helped."