Excitement was in the air as the Diablo Valley College women’s basketball team was honored by the mayor of Pleasant Hill to commemorate their state championship victory against Moorpark College on March 17. At the council chambers, city officials proclaimed April 15 as DVC Women’s Basketball State Championship day.

Mayor Ken Carlson of Pleasant Hill brought the Vikings up to the front of the room and presented the team an award for their accomplishment. Afterward, Coach Ramaundo Vaughn gave a speech with his players right alongside him. Guard Sierra Smith expressed her gratitude towards Vaughn.

“He’s a coach that gets everything possible out of us,” said Smith. “He pushes us to be able to do anything and everything that we want to do because he wants us to be successful.”

Vice Mayor Matt Rinn also went on to express his thoughts about Coach Vaughn as a leader.

“He’s an amazing leader. We’ve seem him out at our community service days and it’s more than just basketball,” said Rinn. “He really tries to get them involved in the community and leadership amongst themselves.”

This championship won by women’s basketball is not only the first in a 42 year span but the first ever for basketball. The last sport to attain such a feat for DVC was baseball in 1977. This is an accomplishment not only for the school but for the city of Pleasant Hill.

“I’m just very impressed with the team and the coach and all the hard work that led to this recognition,” said Council Member Tim Flaherty. “It’s a tremendous honor to the entire community. To be bestowed with these tremendous basketball players and just the dedication they bring to their sport.”

Winning a championship in any sport is incredible, but to be recognized by the mayor and city council is a feat unseen by all other sports programs at DVC.

“I think it’s a wonderful accomplishment,” said Council Member Sue Noack. “DVC gets recognized for a lot of things, but this is probably the first time we’ve been able to recognize an athletic team from DVC in my recent past. That to me is very exciting.”

Rinn is known to be a big sports fan and thought it might be a good idea to honor the Vikings once they secured their championship victory back on March 17.

“I got to thank Vice Mayor Rinn because he’s our sports fanatic and so when he brought it forward, that was it. It was a no-brainer,” said Mayor Carlson. “It’s historic. For our own community to have something like this go down, it’s great. The minute I became aware of it, we’re going to do this. They need to be recognized. They’re a great group of individuals.”