The Boys Swim Team claimed the City Conference title with a 66-point victory over runner-up La Jolla last week The Girls Swim Team finished third behind USDHS and Scripps Ranch.

Team depth was the key to the Boys title, as they did not win an individual event, but did win two relay events. "This group of senior guys has talent, whether in water polo or swimming," said Head Coach Dave Throop. "I wasn’t surprised by the victory, but by how many points. They swam well, and the underclassmen swam really, really well."

The 200 medley relay was won by Matt Landon (backstroke), Matt Digges (breaststroke), Dallas Chase (butterfly) and Chris Brown (freestyle). "That was the fastest time in the County for the event," Throop added. "In past years we have always been solid, but have been week in one of the legs. This year they have dominated all season. Their time of 1:42.33 was the best or close o the best in recent Coronado history. It will be interesting to see how they do this week. They may drop 1 or 2 more seconds."

The 400 freestyle relay comprised of Joey Jankiewicz, Chase, Digges and Landon, also won in a time of 3:22. Throop was pleased with the results. "A lot of our top guys weren’t targeted to swim fast this week. Most of them didn’t have to worry about qualifying for the CIF meet. With the guys, we’re looking to swim faster in each round."

But team depth was what brought the title to Coronado, according to Throop. "We had a finalist in every single event, and sometimes two or three. Depth has been the hallmark of the past couple of championships we have won."

Throop noted the fine effort of sophomore Sean Castillo during the meet. "He swam the 200 individual medley and the 100 back. He placed fifth in the 200 IM in 2:10.37. It was only the second time this year he has done the event and it was a nine second drop in his best time. His 100 backstroke time of 1:01 was a great time for him."

The Girls had some fine individual efforts, including Katherine Burt, who won the 50 free in 25.5 and took second in the 100 free in 55.27. Krysta Chaldekas won the diving title, leading a 1-2-4 finish in the event by Coronado. Kaitlyn Gillingham finished second and Lauren Trueblood finished fourth. All three Islander divers received scores which qualified them for the CIF competition.

Throop noted the efforts of freshman Molly Patrick as being worthy of mention. "She is an up-and-comer. From the prelims to the finals, she dropped 8 seconds in the 100 back. In the 100 free, she dropped 2 seconds from her seed time to her finish time. She came out of the 100 back with 8 minutes of rest and swam her best free time of her short career. It was good to watch her."

This week the CIF Prelims will be held Thursday at 4:30 pm, with the Finals scheduled for 3:30 pm. Both days will be held at Rancho Bernardo High School.

CHS Head Track Coach George Green checks in with an update on the Boys and Girls Track and Field Team. "Senior Katherine Wingert went into the Harbor League finals last week as the reigning champion for the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter runs (basically distances of a half mile, mile and two miles). This wasn’t anything new for her as she has won these three events at the league championship event for 3 years in a row.

This year was different though, as competition was strong from Clairemont’s Judy Jimenez and Crawford’s Nyamouch Choul in the 1600 and 3200 events. In the 800 Clairemont’s Bridie McCarey had bested Wingert in an earlier meet and teammate Beth Wittry had moved up from the 400 to the 800. The final for the 3200 was Tuesday, followed by the preliminary heat for the 800. Finals for both the 800 and 1600 were held Friday.

For the first six laps of the 3200, Wingert and Jimenez traded the lead, with Choul content to sit back in the third spot. Wingert took over for good on the eighth lap and Choul caught Jimenez in the finish stretch. Wingert’s time of 11:47.5 was a personal best by nearly 12 seconds. She needed the improved time as Choul and Jimenez clocked times of 11:53 and 11:54 respectively.

McCarey and Wittry qualified for the 800 finals in Heat 1 of the preliminaries with times of 2:30 and2:35. Wingert went for time in Heat 2 and clocked a 2:21.3 to Choul’s 2:34.3.

Choul took the early lead in Friday’s 1600-meter final going through the 400 in 72 seconds and the 800 in 2:35. The fast early pace took its toll in the last two laps as Wingert took over for good with 500 meters remaining to win in 5:17.6 to Choul’s 5:19.2. Jimenez was a distant third in 5:32.4.

The 800-meter final saw McCarey take the early led for the first 300 meters. After that it was all Katherine as she sped to a personal best time of 2:18.42. Again, she needed a personal best as teammate Wittry passed McCarey on the final turn to place second in 2:20.23 to McCarey’s 2:22.13.

Jake Ruzevick duplicated Wingert’s triple with times of 9:56.6 for the 3200, 4:38.4 for the 1600 and 1:59.6 for the 800. Unlike Katherine, he had no significant competition.

Blake Gorey was third in the 3200 in 10:59.2 and Brad Munns was second in the 800 in 2:04.3. Reid McLean was also a triple winner with excellent marks in the long jump of 21 feet, 7 inches; the 400-meter dash in 50.15 seconds, and the 300-meter hurdles in 40.92.

In the high jump, Adam Munns, jumping off of a sore foot, was content to qualify for the CIF prelims by placing second with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches, well off of his personal best of 6 feet, 6 inches.

Conversely, Jamie Klages was on fire. Her winning high jump effort of 5 feet, 4.25 inches, broke the 25-year old school record of 5 feet, 4 inches, held by Teta Murphy since 1979. High jump Coach Kerry Elders has been working with her on her approach and it appears she has it down, as Elders claims she cleared by bar by 2 inches. Klages also qualified for the CIF in the 100 hurdles with a second place finish in 17.42. She holds the school record for the event with a time of 16.3 seconds, but hasn’t had time to practice it this year.

Freshman Sara Player, jumping off of a pulled hip flexor muscle, was unable to qualify in the high jump, but got in with a bye in the seeding meeting. However, she did qualify on her own in the 300 hurdles by finishing second in 48.85 and she ran a leg on the winning 4 x 400 relay team along with Wingert, Witty and Nila Heurtelou. Their time of 4:08.6 was less than 4 seconds off the school record. Heurtelou also qualified in both the 200 and the 400 with times of 26.35 and 60.2. Wittry advanced in the triple jump with a 32-foot, 10 inch effort. Tuesday, Danielle Eckert advanced in the pole vault.

A notable effort that didn’t make the CIF prelims were David Zodrow’s seventh and fifth place finishes in the shot and discus, respectively. His 38 foot throw in the shot was a personal best. Ashley Houston’s fourth place finishes in both the 100 and 300 meter hurdles; Alexis Castro’s fourth in the shot put; and Mike Mitchell’s eighth place in the 400, were all excellent efforts.

The CIF prelims will be held this Saturday at Poway High School. For more information, please log on to www.IslanderTrack.com.

For the third year in a row, Wingert was named the Harbor League’s Female Track Athlete of the Year. This year, Ruzevick joined her as the Harbor League Male Track Athlete of the Year. It was close, as he beat out teammate Reid McLean by a single vote.

In Coronado Middle School action, Sallie Privett and Ben Enowitz competed at the Mercury Invitational held at Balboa Stadium. Sallie won the Girls Youth 1500-meter run with a time of 5:02. Ben placed second in the Boys Youth 1500 in 4:38 and won the Youth 3000 in 10:05."

The Boys Volleyball Team drew No. 3 seed Santa Fe Christian in their early-week CIF Division IV Playoff game, which didn’t surprise Head Coach Phil Trotter. "The draw was just as I expected. Coronado hasn’t been on the volleyball map and I hope they take us lightly. We are capable of playing really well."

If the Islanders can get by Santa Fe Christian, it will be largely due to the senior leadership supplied by Nick Tellings, Jared Gibson, Carl Lane and Andy Farmer. Sounding a little like Academy-Award winning Actor Robert Donat in the 1939 movie classic "Good Bye Mr. Chips," Trotter noted, "I’ve been telling the lads that that we have taken a big step in building the program. They laid the foundation for future success. Hopefully, the program will continue to grow thanks to their leadership."

As for a scouting report on SFC, Trotter added, "I saw them play earlier in the season and they are very good and have a very good program. That’s what we’re heading for."

Last week, The Boys Tennis Team lost to Otay Ranch by the score of 12-6, which eliminated them from CIF Team title contention. However, the tennis playoffs just take a proverbial deep breath and keep on going. This time it’s the Western League individuals, which will be competed at La Jolla High School.

Head Coach Robbin Adair has made some changes in the lineup and senior Nick Ivarsson will team with junior Alan Hernandez to form one doubles combo, while junior Dan Schneider will pair up with sophomore Robbie Bender. After the Western League tournament, the CIF Individual play will occur next week.

The Girls Softball Team ended Western League play and their season last week with two losses, but Head Coach Ed Shanholtz noted that several of his players had good individual seasons. "Missy Lopez hit .348 for the season and .372 in league play and Farrell Pompa had an average of .351 overall and .314 in league. Jessica Davis-Ricci started hitting the ball well at the end of the season. We corrected a flaw in her swing and the last six games of the season, she started hitting the ball much better."

Defense is important to any team’s effort and Shanholtz acknowledged the effort of Jessica Bridges this season. "Her fielding average was .970 this year, playing first base and catching. She had a fine season."

Competing in the Western League is a challenge and the Islanders finished 4-16 overall and 1-11 in League play. But this year’s squad is very young and figures to improve by next season as a couple of the team members plan to compete on travel softball clubs during the summer.

Dr. Lee Price, the head coach of The Boys Golf Team received some good play from Kevin Mathis and Kyle Worley, who shot 72 and 73 respectively at the CIF Team Tournament last week. Unfortunately the team didn’t advance as a unit.

However, like tennis, there is always another round of playoffs and this week the CIF Individuals will be played, featuring the Top 144 golfers in the County. Five Islanders are in that august group and they are Taylor Hakes, Stewart Harris, Stuart Gallant, Worley and Mathis. The 18-hole prelim round will be played Tuesday at Pauma Valley Country Club in Valley Center. The Top 28 will then qualify for the CIF Finals.

The Boys and Girls Lacrosse Teams both are seeded No. 3 in their respective CIF Playoff Brackets. The Boys received a First Round Bye and host a Tuesday quarterfinal game against La Jolla at 7 pm. A victory over La Jolla, would find the Islanders likely playing at La Costa Canyon on Thursday. The finals are scheduled for Westview High School, Saturday, May 22 at 7 pm.

The Girls play Bishop’s Tuesday at 5 pm in their quarterfinal, forming a lacrosse playoff doubleheader with the Boys at Niedermeyer Field, and are then favored to travel to La Jolla for a semi-final game. The Girls Final is scheduled for Westview High School Saturday at 5 pm.

In other lacrosse news, this time from Coronado Middle School is reported by Emory Chenoweth. "Over the weekend at Carmel Valley Middle School, the Coronado Choctaw, one of two teams from the Island in the California Youth Lacrosse (CYL) league, won the championship.

This group of third through sixth graders defeated the previously unbeaten Rancho Santa Fe Iroquois by the score of 7-4. There was a large Coronado crowd in attendance and they were rewarded by an excellent effort from the Choctaw. This win was certainly a wonderful and exciting youth sports win for our community and particularly for these boys, their parents and friends.

It was also Coronado’s second consecutive league championship and further establishes Coronado’s ranking in San Diego County lacrosse. All told, there are 35 Coronado boys playing competitive lacrosse against teams from throughout San Diego County."

The CHS Baseball Team experienced the highs and lows of interscholastic competition last week as they defeated Clairemont 1-0 May 11 and then suffered a 2-1 extra inning loss to La Jolla Saturday.

The Clairemont game featured a fine pitching performance from sophomore Kevin Couture, who yielded only four hits and two walks in his complete game shutout. Coincidentally, Couture had one of Coronado’s two hits on the day and scored the Islanders only run. Ryan Nunn had Coronado’s only other hit on the day, a double.

The Islanders have two games remaining on their schedule, a home game Tuesday vs. Point Loma and a Friday afternoon home tilt against Mission Bay. Both games are scheduled for 3 pm. The all-important Coaches’ seeding meeting occurs over the weekend, with the playoffs starting early next week.

Finally, CHS Girls Head Basketball Coach Toler Goodwin and Asst. Coach Robin Nixon will conduct their annual basketball camp again this year from June 21-24 at the CHS Gym. The cost for the camp will be $85. For more information, please contact Coach Goodwin at 282-4888.