As the Spring Sports season winds down and the 2003-04 school year reaches its’ conclusion, the Coronado High School sports teams are in various stages of completion of their respective seasons. Some have held their post season banquets, while others are still in playoff mode.

Falling into the latter category is the CHS Baseball Team, which had a very interesting week, first losing to Point Loma 3-2 in nine innings and then rebounding to dominate Division III No. 1 seed Mission Bay by the score of 7-0 Thursday. "In my 10 years in the program, that’s the first time we have beaten them," Head Coach Sam Ceci said. "And maybe it goes farther back than that. They weren’t at their best, but there was a lot of pride on the line individually. The stands were full of scouts. It was a huge win for Kevin Couture. As things turned out, we out-played them in every phase of the game. It wasn’t an important game for them, plus we had everything to gain and nothing to lose."

Ceci was effusive in his praise of sophomore ace Couture, who struck out California State Player of the Year Reggie Bush three times and didn’t allow the likely Round 1 draft pick in the coming Major League Baseball draft a hit in four trips to the plate. "Kevin was spectacular, as good as they come. Kevin also had a big hit with two RBIs. Josh Okerman had a real good game and he was the guy that really stood out at the plate." The Islanders pounded out nine hits, with three of them supplied by Okerman. J.T. Rogan had one hit in two official trips to the plate, but scored three runs. Other hits on the day belonged to Geoff Thorne, Jacques Spitzer, Ryan Nunn, and Max Weinfurtner.

In addition to striking out nine Buccaneer batters, Couture had a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt, and pitched a complete game shutout. All in all, not a bad day’s work.

Saturday the CIF Division III Coaches’ seeding meeting was held. Coronado, with a 16-11 overall mark, and 6-6 in Western League play, plus the big win over Mission Bay, emerged with a No. 5 seed, higher than Ceci thought the Islanders would earn. "We beat the No. 1 seed (Mission Bay), the No. 3 seed (St. Augustine), the No. 4 seed (USDHS) this year. All of the teams in presenting their case for their seed referenced beating Coronado. Nobody in the past ever referenced beating Coronado. That’s something to be proud of."

We’ll spare you the arcane details of the seeding process, but suffice to say that Coronado hosts Steele Canyon in the play-in round Tuesday at Strand Field. Ceci knows they are facing a quality opponent from the Eastern League. "They have solid pitching, with two pitchers who throw hard and throw strikes. They have three kids with serious power and two or three kids who run pretty well. Our take is that if we can put the ball in play, we should have a pretty good chance. It’s going to be a battle. Our problem as always is to be in the tournament to win it, rather than just being there."

And the playoffs don’t get any easier from there. A win over Steele Canyon would earn the Islanders a date with USDHS Wednesday on the road, at 4 pm. A possible win over the Dons would set up a rematch with Mission Bay. "It’s a gauntlet," Ceci described the rigorous playoff schedule. "If we get hot with the bats, anything can happen. If we can get to Mission Bay and have Kevin face them, they will be the ones feeling the pressure."

Toward the end of their playoffs are the CHS Boys and Girls Track and Field Teams. Head Coach George Green checks in with a report. "The CIF preliminaries were held last Saturday at Poway High School to select the Top 9 athletes in each event from each of the two divisions, who will compete for one of three state berths at these week’s finals, also to be held at Poway. This is the time when most athletes hit their peak, and three Islanders did exactly that with style, which also included three school record performances.

Last year as a sophomore, Jamie Klages set a new school record in the 100-meter hurdles, was the Harbor League champion in both the 300-meter hurdles and the high jump, and scored nearly 100 dual meet points to win the Girls’ MVP Award. To top it off, she high jumped 5 feet, three inches at the CIF meet to earn a trip to the state meet as one of San Diego’s Top 3 qualifiers.

This year, due to soccer commitments and injuries, she missed all of the major track invitationals and several dual meets. Going into the Harbor League prelims two weeks ago, her best high jump was only 5 feet even, one of 18 girls in the county to reach that height. In addition, 17 girls had jumped higher.

Prior to the league meet our high jump and hurdles Coach Kerry Elders worked out some inconsistencies in her approach. Klages responded at the league meet with a school record jump of 5 feet, 4.25 inches to qualify for the CIF prelims as one of the top seeds in the event, behind Mt. Carmel’s Lindsey Whetstine at 5 feet, 6.25 inches and Valley Center’s Bonnie Zabinsky, who had come from nowhere at her league meet with a 5-7 effort. Whetstine won the Division I flight with a jump of 5-6, while Jamie took the Division II flight with an astonishing 5-7 jump that added nearly 3 inches to her personal best effort. She’s now ranked among the Top 10 in the state and is one of the favorites to qualify for one of the Top 3 positions that advance to the state meet.

Senior Katherine Wingert’s 1,600-meter time had been stuck in the low 5:20’s since she was a freshman. This is a competitive time, but second tier to the low and sub 5-minute times required for big track meets. It was frustrating to her to see no improvement in her times from year to year.

About 6 weeks ago, a blood test revealed that she was anemic. She was placed on iron supplements and she changed her diet to include red meat. Her response to this new regimen has been nothing short of dramatic!

May 6 she ran 5:11.6 on the CHS dirt track in our last dual meet with Christian High School, to advance to the Top 5 in the county. The at the Harbor League prelims, she ran just fast enough to win the 1,600 in 5:18.1, but she also won the 800-meter run and the 3,200-meter run in personal best times of 2:18.42 and 11:47.5 respectively. At the CIF prelims, she ran away from the field in her heat of the 1,600 to set a new school record of 5:03.82, to best the previous record of 5:05.84 set by Jessica Lunt in 1996.

Two and a half hours later, she won her heat of the 800 in 2:19.74, which placed her second in Division II to teammate Beth Wittry, who won her heat in 2:19.55. Both qualified for the ‘A’ head in the finals, but Katherine will probably scratch the 800-meter final to concentrate on the 1,600.

Later, after 3 hours rest, Wittry and Wingert were joined by Nila Heurtelou and Freshman Sara Player in the 4 x 400 relay event. They just missed the school record time with a 4:06.17 effort, but they moved into the finals. Heurtelou earlier had advanced in the 400 with a run of 60.42 and Player ran the hurdles in 49.28.

Junior Reid McLean can score points in nearly every event he enters. He has high jumped 6 feet, three inches; long jumped 21 feet, 9 inches,; has near 11 flat speed in the 100-meter dash; has clocked 50.15 in the 400-meter run this year, can throw and run the hurdles. At the prelims, he had a bad long jump series, hitting only 20 feet, 4 inches, and a decent 400 time of 50-.41 to qualify in both for this week’s finals.

His best performance, however, came in the 300-meter hurdles, where he won his head with a new school record of 39.50. Since this is one of the top times in the section this year, and the 300 hurdles come after the 400, he’ll drop the latter event in the CIFs to be fresh. Brett Simmons set the previous CHS mark in the event in 199 with a time of 39.92.

Junior Jake Ruzevick ran a slow first lap in the 1,600, but finished the last three laps strong and clocked a personal best of 4:23.44 to qualify for the CIF finals.

Junior Adam Munns advanced in the high jump at 6 feet, four inches, a full 2 inches off of his best effort this year. He has been nursing a sore foot, which seems to be improving daily. He should be in top shape for the finals. His twin brother Brad Munns clocked a 2:03.9 in the 800, off of just 2.5 weeks of training. Brad had been sidelined all season due to an ankle injury sustained during the basketball season."

Just completing their CIF meet were The Boys and Girls Swim Teams, under the direction of Dave Throop. The Girls finished in third place in Division II and the Boys earned a fourth place finish in the same category.

"From where we were at in the prelims, I was surprised that the girls did as well as they did" said Throop. "Krysta Chaldekas took second in the diving competition and that helped by giving us a little bit of a head start. We took third with six swimmers in the finals. I thought we would be lucky to be in the Top 7, so it was a nice little surprise."

Throop said that the girl’s swimmer of the meet was senior Katherine Burt, who finished in second place in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 free. "She was consistent from the prelims to the finals. Her time in the 50 got faster every time she swam, which is really hard to do, especially in the last couple of weeks. She also swam in the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay, which both placed fourth.

Her biggest improvement came in the 100 free, where she was in the low 55’s. She swam a 53.07 in the prelims and in the finals swam a 52.9, which is a modern era 100 freestyle record at Coronado High School. I’m real proud of her."

The best male effort on the team belonged to senior Matt Digges, who took a third place in the 100 breaststroke and participated on two third place relay team efforts. Swimming with Matt Landon (backstroke), Dallas Chase (butterfly) and Chris Brown (freestyle) the quartet posted a 1:41.9, which is close to a school record and the fastest time posted by an Islander team since the early 1991’s.

"The guys all came back and swam faster in all categories, but the people they are competing against, this (swimming) has been their main focus for the past 6 or 7 years. The experience factor is missing with our guys. On the boy’s side, we have some guys with and age group swimming background, but mostly guys who play water polo and also swim."

"In light of not having our own pool, and not being in control of our environment, the kids have done an outstanding job," Throop added. "They are also dealing with the construction at the high school. When you look at where we have finished all three seasons (boys and girls water polo, plus swimming) they are pretty resilient. I never heard one complaint, they just went out and did their job and kept going. They should be commended for that."

The Boys Golf Team under the direction of Dr. Lee Price has qualified three players for the CIF Finals, which will be competed Thursday at Pauma Valley. That means that Kevin Mathis, Kyle Worley and Stewart Harris are among the Top 28 golfers in San Diego County. Mathis, who is seeded fifth, took the path less traveled to earn his spot among the elite at Warner Springs. Mathis, a senior, went out on the par 72 course and shot a 41 for the first nine holes and then shot a 30 on the back nine, to finish with a 1-under 71. "It will take an under par effort to go on," said Price. "The Top 10 in the county advance to the Southern California Regionals."

The Boys and Girls Lacrosse Teams had parallel conclusions to their respective seasons. Both squads earned the No. 3 seed and collectively they hosted a playoff doubleheader Tuesday evening. The Girls dominated The Bishop’s School 14-7, while the Boys took La Jolla apart by the score of 12-4.

Leading the offensive attack for the Islander girls were Julia Schelkun and Lisa Falletta with four goals each, Alexis Castro with three tallies, and single goals by Kelsey Dampier, Dayna Queisser, and Katie Bickert.

Castro, who will letter in tennis, basketball, and lacrosse, plus track and field this year, also had two assists. Late in the game, she sprinted down the field, with Falletta on her left, drew the defense to her, and then passed the ball to Falletta, who found the back of the net for a goal. The play was reminiscent of her hoop days at Coronado, and is a reason why she will be playing Division I basketball at the University of Vermont next year.

The bad news was that the girls, who posted a great 20-4-1 season under Head Coach Jessica Battle, were unable to defeat eventual CIF champion La Jolla High School in three attempts this year. The Islanders drew the Vikings in the semi-finals on the road and their season ended there with a 10-5 loss.

At the Girls Lacrosse banquet held Sunday evening, JV Coach Kelly Steinacher, who guided her team to a record of 11-5-1, announced Brooke Becky as the Most Improved Player; Liz Thaete was Best All-Around Player, and Hope Alexander earned a Coach’s Award.

Coach Battle announced the Varsity awards as: Best Defense – Angela Naple, Best Offense - Dayna Queisser, Most Improved – Alexis Castro, Coach’s Award to Julia Schelkun, and Team Captains – Schelkun and Jade Hughes. Battle also awards to Jessica Kelz and Queisser for being on the varsity for four years.

The Islander Boys LAX squad never let La Jolla get started, as Coronado scored the first six goals of the game. Steve Torkington scored four goals, Kelcey Fisher had three scores, and Trevor Serfass scored twice. Single goals by Chris Leary, Ryan Cummins and Rob Kelly accounted for the 12 Islander goals.

One of the prettiest plays of the game was a three-man fast break featuring passing from Glenn Goebels and Cote Perkins on one of Torkington’s goals. In the fourth quarter, Fisher and Gene Pontes lead a fast break that lead to the goal by Cummins.

The Boys Season concluded with a loss to eventual CIF runner-up La Costa Canyon by the score of 9-5. Head Coach Alex Cade guided the team to a 15-4 overall record. Their four losses came to Torrey Pines and La Costa Canyon, the only two teams to finish the season ranked higher in the State of California than Coronado. Torrey Pines defeated La Costa Canyon 10-5 in the CIF championship game.