Riley Gier and Pablo Peña set the standards in their sports at Lathrop High.
And all Shakara Porter did was win, helping three teams on campus
They’re the Spartans’ 2025-26 Senior Athletes of the Year.
Their names will be included on perpetual banners hanging at Greg Leland Gym.
To be considered for the highest of honors for student-athletes at the school, candidates must have attended LHS for at least three years while participating in a sport every year, received at least one varsity letter as seniors, and get nominated by a varsity head coach. Nominees are then measured by the amount of sports played, all-league awards earned and GPA.
Gier and Peña split the Male Senior Athlete of the Year award.
The former goes out as the best distance runner in school history. Gier tops the boys cross country team’s record books with the fastest times on 2-mile, 3-mile, 4-kilometer and 5-kilometer courses. Last fall, he shattered a 16-year-old school, 5k record by 46.7 seconds with a time of 16 minutes, 30.3 seconds during the Rough Rider Invitational in Fresno, placing 17th in the small-school division.
That was during a productive stretch in October for Gier, as he set the 3-mile record two weeks prior while winning the Amanda Garcia Memorial Invitational in Atwater. He then ended the month with a sixth-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference Championships, earning All-WAC honors.
That was just a warm-up for track.
Gier established school records in three events in the spring and qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships in the 800-meter run.
His remarkable postseason began with a first-place finish in the SJS Division IV Finals (1:52.59), and then he placed third at the SJS Masters with a school record time of 1:52.48. That earned him a spot in the state meet in Clovis, where clocked the fifth-best time in the trials at 1:52.48 before medaling in seventh place in the final (1:52.90).
Gier set the Lathrop record in the 1,600 with a runner-up time of 4:18.49 in the Sacramento Meet of Champions, and broke the 3,200 mark in the SJS Division IV Trials at 9:44.59.
He’s also part of the record 4x800 relay, which won the SJS Division IV final in 8:29.63 during this junior year.
Gier and his Co-Senior Athlete of the Year played their parts on the Spartans’ 2025 SJS Division IV championship team. Peña set a personal record throw in the shot put with a fourth-place mark of 47 feet, 2 inches. This past year, he capped his high school career with a 45-04 ½ throw for second place in the divisonal trials.
Peña left his mark on the gridiron.
He was a two-way centerpiece for a program that had its best seasons the past three years. The fullback/middle linebacker is a two-time All-WAC MVP after leading the Spartans to their first two conference crowns. They also reached the SJS Division V semifinals the last two years.
Peña single-season team records his senior year with 1,432 rushing yards, 24 touchdowns and 118 tackles. He’s also going out as the career record holder for carries (505), yards (3,140), total touchdowns (56) and tackles (296).
In December, Peña participated in the Hawaii Tiki Bowl and has been selected to play in the 50th Lions All-Star Football Game this Saturday in Tracy.
A four-year varsity athlete, Porter was part of championship teams in volleyball, basketball and track
Porter was a four-year varsity starter in basketball, earning two All-WAC First Team selections and MVP as a senior. She was a key member of two undefeated championship runs in conference play (2023, 26). A triple-double threat, the scrappy forward finished her career with more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
This season, she averaged 11.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.4 steals while named to the MaxPreps All-SJS First Team. She spearheaded the Spartans’ historic 33-2 season, which ended with a remarkable campaign to the NorCal Division IV final.
In volleyball, Porter played middle for Lathrop’s back-to-back 14-0 WAC finishes. She also ran the sprints for the two-time section championship girls track team.
For participating in all three sports every year at LHS, she was granted an Ultimate Spartan lifetime pass to home games. Porter finished with 10 varsity letters.
