Caren Choppelas Horstmeyer, 1980, tennis, basketball, soccer, softball—Not surprisingly, Caren Choppelas Horstmeyer, who had a great high school athletic career, went on to shine in her collegiate and post-collegiate career. At Redwood, Horstmeyer was named to either All League or All Northern California honors all four years that she played basketball. She also garnered All League recognition in soccer (1978, 1979) and softball (1980). Redwood named her its Female Athlete of the Year in 1980.

Horstmeyer’s great basketball skills earned her a four-year ride at Santa Clara University on a full basketball scholarship. She played there from 1980 through 1984, and won MVP honors three years running, from 1982 through 1984. She was also named to the All NorPac Conference team in 1983 and 1984. After her distinguished college career, Horstmeyer played professional basketball in Greece for two years.

But Horstmeyer was good at teaching others how to play the game, and inevitably gravitated toward coaching. Starting in 1989, she coached the women’s team at her alma mater, Santa Clara, where she twice won honors as West Coast Coach of the Year, brought home four conference titles and guided her teams to three NCAA playoff appearances.

The culmination of her career was when she worked as the head women’s basketball coach at UC Berkeley from 2000 through 2005, where she won Pac 10 Coach of the Year honors in 2004.

Caren Choppelas Horstmeyer currently lives in Greenbrae, Calif.