BERKELEY – Three members of the Cal Athletic Communications staff combined to earn five District 8 honors in the 2022-23 Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest, College Sports Communicators – the national organization of strategic, creative and digital communicators in intercollegiate athletics – announced this week. Assistant directors Dean Caparaz and Samantha Sunseri each garnered a win and a runner-up finish, while a story from associate athletic director Jonathan Okanes claimed runner-up status.
 
The Cal staffers swept the Coach/Administrator Profile category, with Sunseri's feature about throws coach Mohamad Saatara – More Than A Leader – earning the top spot. In her story, Sunseri described the motivational and playful yet competitive atmosphere Saatara has created around the throws group. Caparaz wrote Leonard Griffin Inspires In Return To Cal about the positive effect that the hiring of Griffin – believed to be the first Black men's soccer head coach in the Pac-12 Conference – had on the ethnically diverse Golden Bear squad. That narrative tied with a piece by Okanes – who leads Cal's communications staff – as the runner-up in the Coach/Administrator category. Tavi's Town told the story of former lead groundskeeper Octavio Rodriguez, who retired after 40 years of working with numerous teams. student-athletes, coaches and staff at Cal.
 
A Caparaz account of Fernando Andrade titled Relentless Dedication won the General Feature/Blog category. Andrade, now a Cal men's soccer alumnus, strived to make a dent on the world while in Berkeley, and he succeed in doing so through endeavors including a non-profit, a podcast, a blog and his work with the Cameron Institute. Sunseri picked up her runner-up honor with a story on men's swimmer Trenton Julian, also now a Cal alum. In A Son's Desire, A Swimmer's Drive, she relayed the impact that Julian's parents, both swim coaches and former elite swimmers themselves, have had on their highly competitive son, who completed his college career as an NCAA and Pac-12 champion and a 19-time All-American.
 
The Bears' five accolades were the most by any school in District 8.

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