SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis senior cross country and track & field distance runner Cate Joaquin was selected as the Sac-Joaquin Section recipient for the 2022 CIF Scholar-Athlete of the Year award as the state governing body rolled out its year-end accolades in May.

The CIF state-level winners – Fall River's Ryan Osborne and Kingsburg's Kira Wilson – were announced earlier in the month and will be recognized at the State Capitol this Thursday. Osborne, Wilson and the 20 section-level winners each claim a cash award as part of the honor.

Joaquin, a 4.0-plus student headed to study and compete at Georgetown University, continues a highly decorated athletics career at the SJS Masters Meet this weekend. She won Delta League individual titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, then posted runner-up finishes in each of those events at the section Division I championship meet last week at Oak Ridge. Joaquin set school records in both races in two of the most high-profile meets on the calendar this year: a 10:20.97 in the 3,200 at the Arcadia Invitational, and a 4:48.58 in the 1,600 at the Sacramento Meet of Champions.

Joaquin's scholarship award comes on the heels of her winning the St. Francis Booster Club Scholar-Athlete Award last Tuesday.

Prior to her senior year, Joaquin owned a long list of accomplishments, both in athletics and academics. She was the school's first qualifier to the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships, the program's highest finisher (fourth in 2019) at the CIF state cross country meet. In the classroom, she is a National Honor Society and CSF Lifetime Member and a National Latin Exam honoree who will study either finance or accounting at the Hilltop.

Folsom High distance runner Zachary Graeber earned the male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award from the Sac-Joaquin Section. The honor dates back to 1982 and recognizes college-bound high school seniors whose "academic and athletic careers have been truly exemplary and whose personal standards – i.e. integrity, honesty – and accomplishments are a positive model for others."