The Coronado High School Girls Lacrosse Team’s march for the school’s first championship in that sport ended Saturday evening at Westview High School, as the Islanders fell to the Mavericks of La Costa Canyon High School 10-4 in the CIF Finals. The Islanders’ season fell one game short of perfection, as they posted a 21-1 record, on their way to the first championship finals appearance in the history of the program.

The scoring re-cap of the finals from the Coronado perspective isn’t very complicated as Marissa Nagler scored the game’s first, fifth, tenth and eleventh goals to account for all of the Islander tallies. Despite trailing 5-2 at halftime, and then 7-2 early in the second half, Nagler and the Islanders scored the next two goals to trail 7-4 with 7:14 remaining in the game. The Islanders were on a roll, but the Mavericks scored less than 2 minutes later to ice the victory.

CHS Head Coach Jessica Battle knows that in the game of lacrosse, goals can come in bunches. "You can score five goals in 2 minutes, if need be in lacrosse. When you play a good team, 10 goals is a pretty standard number of goals to allow. Basically in a game like that, you have to expect that the other team will score 50 percent of the time. Our defense did what they needed to do. Angela Naple led the defense, no question about it. Angela, Christine Siefert and Lindsay Naple all played great line defense and then Alex Vido and Sasha Vido played fantastic ‘D’ wing and midfield. The defense played a fantastic game. I’m not upset with anything they did."

"We needed to have the full 11 players on the field bringing their best game," Battle added. I told the team at half time, ‘Ladies, even if you’re down, you can’t get discouraged.’ The offense thought they had lost the game and we can’t do anything."

On their way to the CIF Finals, Coronado defeated Francis Parker in the quarter-finals 14-6. Nagler scored five goals, Hannah Sebenaler scored four, Julia Schelkun added three tallies and Lindsey Negrete completed the Islanders’ scoring with two goals.

The semi-finals saw the Islanders host defending CIF Champion La Jolla Thursday and Coronado defeated their City Conference rivals 8-6 in a well-played game. The contest marked the third time this season that Coronado defeated the Vikings by two goals. Islander Goalie Liz Thaete kicked her game into high gear in the latter stages of the second half, turning away five straight Viking shot attempts, several from close range, to help earn her team their championship finals berth. Sebenaler scored five goals, and Schelkun added two scores, the second of which involved a 50-yard solo downfield sprint and conversion. Nagler accounted for the goal that gave the Islanders the lead they would not relinquish at the 19:05 mark of the second half.

Battle, an aggressive coach and fine player in her own right, plans to ratchet up the Islanders schedule next year. "It hurts us to be in a league where there aren’t more challenges," said Battle of the City Conference. "That’s the nature of where we play. We only had four tough games in conference this year. It hurt us that Torrey Pines and La Costa Canyon wouldn’t schedule us. Next year I’ll pound on their doors. All in all, we had a fantastic season and I’m very proud of the girls."

Last week, CHS Swimming Coach Dave Throop said that he was happy with his team’s progress, as the Boys Swim Team had just finished in third place in the City Conference Championships. Little did he know that the Islander Boys Swim Team would fight their way into second place in the CIF Division II Championships held Saturday at Rancho Bernardo High School. Valhalla won the event scoring 198.5 points, Coronado was second with 130 points, and finished just ahead of La Jolla with 115 points.

The individual star of the show for Coronado was freestyle sprinter Dallas Chase, who won the 100 yard free in 48.02, finished second in the 50 free in 22.07 and swam crucial legs in the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay. The MIT-bound senior swam a 47.6 split on his lap of the 100 free, which is moving along pretty smartly.

"I really liked what Preston Lujan did for us," said Throop. "He finished fifth in the 50 free (22.43) and fourth in the 100 free (49.23) and both were his best times of the season. He also swam in the relays." In addition, Lujan was named Sportsman of the Meet for Division II.

Due to the way swim meets are scored, results in relays are important. Throop hoped the 200 medley relay would perform well and they responded with a 1:40.52, a time that Throop thinks is a modern-era best at CHS. "Sean Castillo swam a 26.9 in the 50 back; Ryan Cooper swam 28.0 in the 50 breast; Lujan went 23.7 in the fly; and Dallas swam a 21.7 in the free. The overall splits were solid all the way around." The performance was good for second place behind Valhalla.

The same four swimmers combined to finish fourth in the 400 free relay, with Lujan (49.4), Castillo (51.2), Chase (47.6) and Cooper (50.7) finishing in 3:19.64. "Cooper was coming out of the 100 breaststroke, the event before the relay and did a great job," said Throop. "They swam four great legs and all were their best times of the year. They put some pressure on the other teams. We only had guys in a couple of events and they scored a lot of points. They did what they needed to do and just chipped away."

Other individual performances of note included Cooper finishing second in the 100 breast (1:01.58) and Castillo’s fifth place in the 100 back (59.02).

The Girls Swim Team’s best result was provided by senior diver Kaitlyn Gillingham, who finished in third place, a nice improvement from her fifth place finish from last year. Molly Patrick qualified in the consolations of both the 50 and the 100 free, while Katherine Maguire qualified in the consolations of the breaststroke. All three of the times turned in by the two athletes during the finals were their best times of the season.

Patrick (55.61) combined with teammates Taylor Clarkson (58.1), Carly Hoshko (57.1), and Lenea Smith (57.3) to win the consolation 400 free relay event. "All four of these times are significant drops in the last 10 days," added Throop. "They probably won by 15-20 yards and each had a real nice time."

Throop continued to be impressed with his team’s overall effort. "I think everyone that had a chance to compete in the last 2 weeks swam one of their top two or three times of the season and probably 90 percent or more were personal records. That’s really unheard of. Across the board, the level of improvement of the kids had was great. Of the 34 athletes who swam in individual events or in the relays, only three had been to the CIF finals before this year, and only seven or eight had been in the prelims. It’s been a good year. They are a very young group and they handled themselves very well over the course of the year."

CHS Head Track Coach George Green checks in with the results of the CIF Division II Track and Field preliminary meet held last week. "It was a good day at the track for the handful of Islander thinclads who managed to survive to the CIF Prelims held at Mt. Carmel Saturday.

At stake was advancement to the state qualifying CIF finals this coming Saturday. The Division I and Division II meets were held simultaneously. The Top 18 athletes out of the combined events advanced by performance to this weekend’s finals, with the top 9 placed in the ‘A’ heat, with the rest in the ‘B’ heat. At the finals, the Top 3 athletes out of the ‘A’ heat for each event will advance to the state meet.

Jake Ruzevick placed a close second in the Division II 1,600-meter run in 4:22.28, and easily won the 800-meter run in 1:58.65 to advance to the ‘A’ heat in both events. Jamie Klages and Sarah Player high jumped 5-4 and 5-1 respectively to advance, with Klages placed in the ‘A’ heat and Player in the ‘B’ heat. Player won the Division II 300-meter hurdles in 45.99 to advance to the ‘A’ heat in that event.

Reid McLean advanced to the ‘A’ heat of the boys 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.79. Although he finished in second place, it was nearly a dead heat, with the winner only .02 seconds in front. McLean also high jumped 6-2 to advance to the ‘B’ heat.

Adam Munns won the high jump at 6-6, and then raised the bar to 6-8.25 inches to try for the school record. It was very close, but the old CHS high jump record still stands.

Sophomore Danielle Eckert is coming into her own in the pole vault event. Her vault of 9-feet, 8-inches was the third best in Division II and a new school record. She had tied Lisa Robbins’ record of 9-6 earlier this year at the Frosh-Soph Championships. She was well over 9-8 and nearly made 10 feet. She will have another shot at 10 feet this weekend in the ‘B’ heat of the pole vault. Ben Enowitz, the only freshman in the 3,200-meter run, was a little off, but got good experience in a big race and finished in 11:16.

At the 4-mile bridge run Sunday, Coronado High School distance Coach Jack Nash won the 50-55 division award with a time of 23:47. Track team senior Kasey Zapatka won the 13-17 division in 24:12. Coronado Middle School 8^th grade runner David Grimes was right there as well in around 25:15, followed by CHS freshman Jose Tijerina in 10^th place. CMS 7^th grader Sallie Privett, placed second in the women’s 13-17 division with a time of 25:25."

Bolstered by a 12-4 victory over Clairemont in Thursday’s final regular season game, CHS Head Baseball Coach Sam Ceci ventured into last week’s Coaches’ seeding meeting with an 18-11 overall record, and a 6-6 record in the tough Western League. In addition, the Islanders finished strong, winners of six of their last eight games.

A total of 15 teams vied for the 12 CIF Division III playoff slots and Coronado emerged with the No. 10 seed. "We had an outside shot at No. 8, which would have given us a home game," Ceci said. "Honestly, we did fine. We had a better record than most, but our schedule this year wasn’t as tough. Being 6-6 in the Western League speaks for itself, but the record of our competition in the tournaments wasn’t as strong as in past years."

As the No. 10 seed, Coronado would normally have faced No. 7 Clairemont in the play-in round. However, since both teams are in the same league, Coronado rotates up to play at No. 6 San Marcos in the first round. After the play-in round, which is single elimination, the eight remaining teams play a double elimination tournament. If the Islanders defeat San Marcos, they will then play No. 4 seed St. Augustine on the road Wednesday.

To provide an overview of how tough Division III is, here are the seeds from 1-12: 1. Valhalla; 2. Mission Bay; 3. Santana; 4. St. Augustine; 5. Madison; 6. San Marcos; 7. Clairemont; 8. USDHS; 9. Steele Canyon; 10. Coronado; 11. Mission Hills; and 12. Otay Ranch.

Although he hasn’t seen the Knights in person, Ceci has scouted San Marcos in the modern way, via the internet. "They run and they are a veteran team with a lot of seniors. There are no lefties on the entire roster and they have four guys hitting above .400. They have some offense, but not a lot of power. They played a pretty tough schedule in the North County, against Rancho Buena Vista and La Costa Canyon. Game time is set for 4 pm."

In their final regular season game, the Islanders banged out 15 hits and earned staff ace Kevin Couture his eighth win of the season against two losses. Blake Spitzer was 3-3 at the plate, including a double, a homer and five RBIs; David West was 2-2 with two walks and scored three runs; Max Weinfurtner was 2-3 with two runs scored; Mike Denson was 3-5 with two RBIs and a double; Couture helped his own cause by going 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Ceci was able to save some wear and tear on his starters by getting the early lead. "We didn’t want to use Kevin too much. We scored six runs in the fourth inning and gave the other guys some work. Hopefully we’ll be ready on Tuesday. We’ve been competing with the best and holding our own."

CHS Alumni Kelley Queisser (CHS ’00) and Megan Brydges (CHS ’00) earned some honors for their contributions to the San Diego State Women’s Lacrosse program. Queisser, the head coach of the team that won the Western Women’s Lacrosse League Division II State Championship, was honored recently as the SDSU Club Sports Coach of the Year. Brydges was named the SDSU Club Sports Leader of the Year. They both played important roles in SDSU’s Girls Lacrosse Team’s perfect 12-0 record this year.

Mike Axelson (CHS ’02) was named to the All Conference Tennis Team for Pacific Coast Conference this year. Axelson played No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles at San Diego City College for City of Coronado Tennis Pro Phil Hopkins for each of the past two seasons. Axelson lettered in basketball and tennis while at CHS.

After defeating Westview 11-7 at home in CIF first round play, the Coronado Boys Lacrosse Team, by virtue of their No. 4 seed, qualified to host Poway in the quarter-finals. Earlier in the season Coronado lost to Poway 5-1, so they knew they were facing a quality opponent.

The Titans entered the game fired up and translated their intensity into a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and an 8-1 lead at halftime. The Islanders won the third quarter, outscoring Poway 2-1, but that was one of the few bright spots of the evening, with the final score being 11-4. Poway advanced, losing in the next round to eventual CIF Champion La Costa Canyon 9-7 in the semi-finals.

Coronado finished the season with a fine record of 17-4

The Coronado scoring was two goals from sophomore attack Pat Murphy and one goal each from junior midfielder Kelcey Fisher and sophomore attack Geoff Worley. Although the team graduates seven seniors, it looks like there is plenty of talent remaining for next year’s team to make another strong playoff run.

Since they were playing one of the best teams in the nation, the result of the Coronado vs. Francis Parker wasn’t surprising. The Islanders lost 25-11, 25-9, and 25-16, which Head Coach Phil Trotter summarized by saying, "Considering who we were playing, the scores weren’t bad. We still played well."

Trotter noted that several of his players had come a long way during the course of the season. "Both of our middles improved over the year, seniors Jack Scott and Alan Cooper. It was a real pleasure to coach our seniors. They are Jack, Alan, Jed Considine, Jonathan Smith, Brady Penn and Mario Batiz."

Looking ahead to next season, Trotter noted that he has only four players returning from this year’s team that posted a 6-13 overall record, 4-2 in the Harbor League. "We’ll have some kids from the JV and we’re going to have to go real young. We’ll have to build a program."

After the CIF Team Tennis Championships are held, high school tennis returns to league individual play. In Coronado’s case that is the very competitive Western League. Despite some good efforts by their players, Coronado did not qualify anyone for the CIF Individual Tournament which is held this week. Robbin Adair provides us with the results.

"In singles, freshman Frankie Harrison lost in the first round; senior Matt Rowan lost to the No. 7 seed in the first round; freshman Evan Wheeler won round one by default and then lost to the No. 6 seed; Mike Holman defeated St. Augustine’s No. 1 player 6-2, 6-4 in the first round and then lost to the No. 8 seed 6-2, 7-5 in round two. Dan Souza won in three sets in round one and lost to the No. 5 seed 6-4, 6-3 in round two.

Over in doubles, Taylor Charter/Zach Oakley lost in round one to the No. 7 seeds; Pedro de la Fuente/Chris Mitchell lost in the first round; Javier Arozarena/Lewis Guess won 6-3, 6-4 in the first round and lost to the No. 2 seeds 6-3, 6-4 in round two. Allan Hernandez/Dan Schneider won 6-1, 6-2 in round one and then fell to the No. 5 seeds 6-3, 6-4 in round two. Our season ends with a record of 7-12 and Coronado finished as the No. 8 team in Division III."

Knowing his team was on the playoff bubble, CHS Softball Head Coach Ed Shanholtz fought the good fight to get his team into postseason play, but the team came up a few wins short. On their way to an 8-16 record, the Islanders defeated two playoff teams including Escondido Charter, which finished with a 19-6 record and Steele Canyon, which made the Division III playoffs with a 13-12 record.

"If we could have won a couple of the last games, we might have made the playoffs," said Shanholtz. "We finished 8-16, which doubled last year’s win output. Five of the seven Western League teams went to the playoffs."

In their final game of the season, junior hurler Kristin Barker held Point Loma to three runs and the Islanders lost 3-0 to the Pointers, in what Shanholtz described as "a well-played game by both teams. We hit the ball and they made some incredible catches. Kristin pitched the whole game and pitched well. We got solid infield defense from third baseman Sara Noceto, shortstop Farrell Pompa, second baseman Lisa Bernardy and first baseman Sara Stillman."

The good news is that there is some help on the JV team, coached this season by Tony Isabella. The JV Islanders went 13-8 overall, 7-5 in the Western League. Some of the squad’s better players included 3B/Catcher Rosie Harris, pitcher Juliet Zimmer and shortstop/3B/Catcher Brandi Bible.

CHS Golfers Taylor Hakes, Stewart Harris and Stuart Gallant qualified for the CIF final round of individual play and finished well, but didn’t qualify to advance to the regionals. Head Coach Dr. Lee Price pointed out the fact that the Islanders were Harbor League champs with a perfect 10-0 record. "It was a successful season."