Carlmont's Emerson Barajas earned first-team all-Bay Division honors in three sports this year.
The San Mateo Daily Journal recognized the recently graduated senior as its Girls' Athlete of the Year on July 8.
Barajas competed against San Mateo High, Hillsdale, Aragon, and Burlingame throughout her four-year career in the Peninsula Athletic League. She left a mark in flag football, basketball, and track, finishing with a PAL long jump record and a berth at the CIF State Meet.
Flag football: 108 pulls, four picks
In Carlmont's flag football program, which launched in 2023, Barajas became a defensive force. Her senior stat line: 108 flag pulls on 125 attempts, four interceptions, 16 pass breakups, and just one penalty all season. Carlmont finished second in the PAL Bay Division and qualified for the first-ever CCS Open Division bracket.
"She became a pillar on the team. Whatever side she was on, she was taking care of it. We didn't have to worry about it," head coach Oscar Fabic told the Daily Journal.
Fabic said her sideline-to-sideline play reminded him of NFL Hall of Famer Patrick Willis and current 49ers linebacker Fred Warner. With teammate Amina Mohammed locking down the opposite side, opposing offenses had nowhere to go.
Burlingame's Haleh Ansari won the PAL Bay Division Defender of the Year award; Barajas earned first-team all-division honors.
Basketball: defense-first identity
Barajas never played a JV basketball game after her freshman year, when varsity coach Richard Stephens promoted her to the roster for the CCS playoffs. She averaged 4.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a senior and earned first-team all-Bay Division honors. Stephens said he built his defense around her ability to guard the opposing team's best player regardless of position.
She earned all-tournament honors at two early-season events while averaging 4.5 points per game. Stephens credited her defensive rebounding and tenacity.
Track: a record-breaking first season in long jump
Track may have been Barajas' most dramatic chapter. She jumped 17 feet, 3¼ inches in her first competitive long jump on March 4. By the PAL championships, she set a new league record of 18-1½, breaking a mark that had stood since 2005. She added three-quarters of an inch at CCS to finish third, then matched her PAL record at the CIF State Meet trials, just missing the finals.
She also won the PAL title in the 100 hurdles, running just five races all season. Her progression: a PAL championship time of 15.68 seconds, then 15.50 in the CCS trials, then a personal-best 15.32 for sixth at the CCS finals.
Barajas was part of Carlmont's 4x100 relay team that broke 50 seconds on April 15 with a 48.91 and finished third at CCS with a season-best 48.59.
What's next
Barajas will compete in track at Chapman University, an NCAA Division III school in Orange, California. Her first collegiate season begins in 2026-27.
