Caruthers 3-sport star Morgan Trigueiro is SBLive's Central Section Athlete of the Year

(Photos by Samuel Marshall Photo)

Welcome to a continuing tradition at SBLive California – honoring the male and female athletes of the year in every CIF Section.

Because the SBLive crew gets so immersed in specific sports seasons, it is nice to take a step back to pick a section honor on a broader scale.

The criteria isn’t too expansive: The starting point is finding athletes who are all-league/all-state performers. Totality of career is also a factor as is winning. Administrator/coach/fan recommendation plays a role as well.

Enjoy as we honor some of California's top athletes!

It's talked about ad nauseam: out of all the elite high school athletes in California, fewer every year are outstanding in two sports, let alone three.

Mo Trigueiro is known best for her work on the hardwood, where she's one of the top shooting guards and pure shooters in California. Her high-scoring (25.2 PPG) barrages from the three-point line and beyond led Caruthers to the Central Section D1 quarterfinals, and she was named All-State by SBLive, statewide Division 3 player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports, and small school player of the year by PAGMETER.

What not so many people outside the Central Valley know is that Triguiero is also one of the Central Section's most dominant softball players – one who could play it in college if she wanted – and a star in volleyball as well.

So, with that information at hand, you're just starting to get a sense of how uncommon Trigueiro's achievements are in 2023. Here's what especially makes her an anomaly.

In a state that puts out thousands of collegiate female athletes every year, Trigueiro is on a shortlist of candidates for its best three-sport athlete – while sports aren't even the biggest focus in her life.

Her multi-sport dominance was enough to make her the clear pick for SBLive's Central Section Athlete of the Year. Somehow, she did it all while, in her own words, Future Farmers of America (FFA) was her biggest priority, and all while she excelled in the classroom, too. 

According to the Central Section's press release upon naming her its Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Trigueiro "maintained a 4.09 GPA, raised more than $90,000 for the Caruthers District Fair and contributed to other community organizations."

ALL YEAR, EVERY YEAR

On the basketball court, Trigueiro went from averaging 18.6 PPG for the CIFCS Division 3 champion and Division 2 regional quarterfinalist to averaging 25.2 PPG for a Division 1 quarterfinalist and Division 3 regional finalist. While playing a tougher schedule than the previous season, she recorded career-highs in nearly everything besides points as well, including rebounds (4.1), assists (2.6), steals (2.4), field goal percentage (55), three-point percentage (44), made threes (108), and free throw percentage (81). Per Cal-Hi Sports, Trigueiro set 17 new Caruthers records and finished with a career record of 103-19 – again, still just talking about hoops.

Trigueiro attributed her substantial leaps during her last two seasons to expanding her offensive repertoire and shedding the label of a three-point specialist.

"I worked a ton on scoring at all three levels and not just being a three-point shooter," she said. "I got better at creating my own shot and scoring inside the arc, being less predictable."

On the diamond, Trigueiro did the same thing as during basketball – putting up huge numbers while winning championships. Completely on brand, she was the Blue Raiders' top hitter and ace pitcher at the same time. In 2023, she had career-highs in batting average (.620), RBIs (42), runs scored (28), stolen bases (11), and OPS (1.555) to go with 2 homers. She also went 12-5 with a career-best 2.25 ERA for the CIFCS Division 4 semifinalist. This all came after helping lift Caruthers to section and regional championships at the Division 5 level as a junior.

And before she had either of those senior campaigns, she'd already had a career year on the volleyball court. Trigueiro was named first team all-league and the team's offensive player of the year, and helped them win – you guessed it – a section championship.

"Being a three-sport athlete, I wouldn't trade it for the world," she said.

"I don't remember the last time I got a solid week off from sports. Even on my days off I find myself going to the gym."

"There's year-round pressure on you," said Trigueiro. "It's always fun, but sometimes you forget why you're doing it."

That's why she took up volleyball in high school. 

Trigueiro had played t-ball since she was as young as she could remember, and travel softball since second grade, which was also when she started playing basketball. In middle school, she played both sports at the travel level. Then she decided her best bet as an aspiring college athlete would be to stop playing travel softball, both to save wear and tear on her body, and to prioritize basketball. So, with that extra time during the falls, volleyball allowed her to engage with sports in a way that was void of the pressure she felt around basketball and softball.

It also meant that there wouldn't be one season of a school year in which Trigueiro could focus on FFA without juggling a varsity athletics schedule. But it didn't stop her from being on the officer team during all four years.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

"More important to me than sports, FFA showed me what I wanted to do for the rest of my life," said Trigueiro.

"I grew up on a farm my whole life, which is what my dad and  my grandpa did. Growing up we had raisins, and now we also have wine grapes, kiwis, and almonds. But I wasn't sure until high school that I wanted to study animal science and do agriculture. I was born and raised that way, and FFA helped me realize that I want to stick with it. FFA [included] competitions against other communities, animal showing competitions. State and even national levels of competition. And lots of volunteering around the community."

That's why Trigueiro, who started receiving college interest for basketball when she was in sixth grade, now attends Butte College in Chico.

"Not many D-1s and D-2s have agriculture programs," she explained. "I realized a long time ago that I might have to choose between ag and basketball. Basketball isn't forever."

So now, Trigueiro is set to pursue finding a four-year home that meets her academic needs at a junior college with a strong ag track. Based on her senior campaign, Trigueiro is a legitimate NCAA Division 1 prospect who has a chance to be one of California's top JUCO players right away. She got up to Chico in mid-June to get an early start on her first school year and basketball season, and can already tell she's in the right place – a part of Northern California with a handful of similarities to her small hometown.

"Caruthers is super small, the school is super small. There's one main road, no stop lights, not really fast food or anything. That community feel though – I wouldn't have traded it for anything."

MO TRIGUEIRO BIO

School: Caruthers

Sports: Basketball, softball, volleyball

Next step: Butte College basketball

GPA: 4.09

Career highlights and accolades: Central Section Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2022-23), CIFCS Division 5 softball champion (2022), CIF Division 5 regional softball champion (2022), CIFCS Division 3 basketball champion (2021-22), SBLive All-State basketball honorable mention (2022-23), PAGMETER small school basketball player of the year (2022-23), Cal-Hi Sports Division 3 basketball player of the year, CIFCS volleyball champion (2022-23), 1st team all-league in volleyball (2022-23)