Mater Dei’s Ellis, Los Alamitos’ Moore Selected County Athletes of the Year

LeRon Ellis of Mater Dei High School and Kelli Moore of Los Alamitos were honored Wednesday night as the Orange County male and female athletes of the year at the spring meeting of the Orange County Athletic Directors’ Assn. in the Anaheim Stadium Club.

Ellis and Moore received the Clare VanHoorebeke Award and a $500 scholarship awarded by Coca-Cola bottling company.

Ellis, a 6-foot 10-inch center, led Mater Dei to the state Division I basketball title. He was also the leading scorer on the Monarchs’ water polo team and high jumped 6-feet 8-inches.

Ellis, son of former Los Angeles Laker center LeRoy Ellis, has signed a letter of intent with the University of Kentucky.

Moore, a senior, was a three-sport star at Los Alamitos. She was the leading hitter among county softball players with a .557 average this season.

She was 167-1 in singles tennis competition in the Empire League and is the school’s career scoring and assist leader in basketball.

Moore, who maintained a 3.8 grade-point average, will attend Cal State Fullerton in the fall on a tennis scholarship.

The league nominations for the awards:

Angelus--LeRon Ellis (Mater Dei) and Geri Gainey (Mater Dei); Century--Ross Bauer (El Modena) and Susan Hatchett (Santa Ana Valley); Empire--Todd Tomazic (El Dorado) and Kelli Moore (Los Alamitos); Freeway--Darren Ward (Sonora) and Jill Hendry (Sunny Hills); Garden Grove--Thurmon Brown (Bolsa Grande) and Kelly Davidson (Los Amigos); Orange--Chris Lugo (Valencia) and Cindy Gossmer (Magnolia); Pacific Coast--Adam Keefe (Woodbridge) and Mindy Adams (Woodbridge); Sea View--Danny Ontiveros (Saddleback) and Darcy Jones (Newport Harbor); South Coast--Scott Spalding (El Toro) and Ariana Seldman (San Clemente) and Sunset--Mike Henderson (Edison) and Michele Nadon (Edison).