Mid-May is a hectic time for Coronado High School sports teams. Several teams specifically Swimming, Boys Tennis, Boys Golf, and Track and Field are nearing the end of their playoffs. Others, such as Boys and Girls Lacrosse just started their championship quest, while Baseball and Softball are still a full week away from starting post season play. Boys Volleyball fought the good fight all season long, but fell short of playoff consideration.

So, where to start? Taking a cue from last week’s written offering, we’ll kick off this column with a one-person series of fine individual performances, including a school record that has stood for 23 years. CHS Track and Field Head Coach George Green provides the commentary.

"At the Central League Track and Field Championships last week, it took Islander junior Sarah Player less than 90 seconds to run 600 meters, 400 of which had 18 hurdles in her way. When the smoke cleared from the starting gun, she had tied a school record that was set over two decades ago, had broken her own school record in the 300-meter hurdles, and emerged as the Central League champion in three events.

Tuesday the bulk of the preliminary events were held at Hoover High School, where Sarah won the high jump, the prelims in the 100-meter hurdles, and tied the school record in the 200-meter dash. She joins Tricia Rexrode as the co-record holder for the 200. Rexrode set her record at 220 yards in 1983 and her time was later converted to the equivalent 200-meter mark of 25.6 seconds.

At the league finals held at Patrick Henry Friday, Player literally ran away with both the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles, with personal records in both events. She won the events by 1.8 and 3.27 seconds respectively. Her time of 16.75 for the 100-meter hurdles seeds her in second position for the Division II preliminaries Saturday. Her time of 45.84 in the 300-meter hurdles broke her own school record of 45.96 set at last year’s CIF prelims and makes her the top seed in Division II for this event.

There is video of both of her hurdle finals on the Islander track and field website, which is Islandertrack.com. The only other league champion this year is Danielle Eckert in the pole vault. She jumped 9 feet at Coronado Monday. Also qualifying for Friday’s finals were Neisha Scales in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters; Chelsea Newson in the 800; and Rebecca Waterman in the shot put.

Neisha’s time of 13.2 seconds in the 100 was a personal record. At the finals, she placed eighth overall in a fast group of sprinters. Friday, Newson placed fourth and Waterman was seventh in their respective events. The discus throw was held as a final at Crawford Wednesday. Megan Mushovic joined Player and Eckert in qualifying for the CIF Preliminaries by placing second with a toss of 92 feet, 11 inches.

Two boys advanced to the CIF Prelims. Kasey Zapatka set a personal record in the 1,600-meter run, placing third with a time of 4:43.46. Levi Lozano also set a personal record in the shot put, placing second with a heave of 42 feet, 11 inches. Lozano just missed in the discus throw with a toss of 118 feet to earn fourth place. David Grimes just missed in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:46 for third place.

All right, it’s a bad pun masquerading as a sub-headline, but it’s true. The CHS Swimmers labor in obscurity for much of the year, normally until it’s time for the City Conference meet, which is followed closely by the CIF Division II finals. But the athletes performed well when it counted, according to Head Coach Dave Throop.

"We actually had a really good meet from the prelims to the finals. We had about 90 percent ‘best times’ for the season and about 80 percent ‘personal records.’ They did a really nice job."

Although swimming is primarily an individual sport, team momentum can be established early by good efforts from teammates. In Coronado’s case, according to Throop, two freshmen stepped up to help lead the way. "The highlights from the girls’ side were two really nice swims by Alex Adamson in the 200 individual medley and the 100 fly and by Kathy Bailey in the 200 and 500 free. Both of Alex’s swims were personal records. Kathy set a personal record in the 200. They both did a really nice job and it carried over to the rest of the team."

A large contributor to success in competitive swimming is the ability to ‘taper’ for a big meet. It’s the fine art of training hard and then getting rest, both physical and mental, to allow yourself a chance at a great performance. Some swimmers consistently lower their times by large amounts at the conclusion of the season, while others are looking to shave a few tenths off of their best time.

"This is Molly Patrick’s week to swim well," said Throop of the squad’s sprint freestyler. "Heather Ireland had a nice swim in the 200 free. She rebounded from being sick all week and is right around her best time of the season. She finished fourth in the 100 back. Alana Burgess has dropped almost a full second every time she swam in the last three weeks. She had a CIF qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke, which was nice to see. She has really come on in that event."

Throop continued his overview of the CHS Girls Team. "Lilly Mofia dropped two seconds in the 100 butterfly and made the CIF cut in 1:04.6. This has been a very good group and for them to come into the conference meet and swim fast (in the prelims) and then faster (in the finals) is great. It is a nice culmination of the season for the majority of the kids. The girls placed fourth in the City Conference meet and we think we can push hard for third in the CIFs. We might sneak up on some people."

The CHS Boys are a little deeper from a talent perspective as a team, and as a result finished a strong second behind La Jolla in the City Conference team results. "The boys across the board swam really, really well," said Throop. "Freshman Adam Ratcliffe provided a major highlight in the 200 free and the 100 fly, which were both personal records. For a 14 year-old freshman to perform like that in a clutch environment is a testament to him.

Our medley relay team won the event and that put us as the No. 1 seed in that event going into the CIFs. Sean Castillo swam the backstroke leg in 27.2, which is a personal record; Devin Farrell swam the breaststroke in 31.0; Preston Lujan swam the fly in 25.2; and David Foy swam the free in 23.2. They guys did what they needed to do. They are physically prepared to swim fast this week. Their total time was 1:45.34."

According to Throop, other swimmers who performed well included sophomore Sean Cook in the 200 free, setting his personal best mark by 2.5 seconds and junior Lee Sebring performed well in the 200 free and the 100 back. "We’re looking forward to the contributions of some of the seniors," added Throop regarding the fast-approaching CIF prelims and finals. "The include John Landon, Castillo and Lujan."

Fine performances were turned in by two divers representing Coronado. Senior Jonathan Trost won the diving competition on the boys’ side, while Lauren Corcoran placed third on the girls’ side. Trost won going away, defeating the second place competitor by almost 37 points.

"As I told the group, I was really, really pleased with how they prepared," said Throop. "There is a lot of camaraderie on the team. At this time of the year, you just have to race, let the times happen and swim within your capability. The guys’ goal is to win. Now they go out and race and do what they can."

The Division II CIF preliminaries are Thursday and the Finals are Saturday, both at the Coggan Family Pool at La Jolla High School.

As we surmised last week, the Coronado Girls Lacrosse Team won the No. 2 seed in the CIF Playoffs behind No. 1 La Costa Canyon. Saturday they started on their march through the 16-team bracket with a 13-6 victory over No. 15 seed Mt. Carmel. The Islander scoring leaders included Hannah Sebenaler and Greer Goebels with four goals each and Caitlin Kennedy with three tallies.

You will notice the absence of Marissa Nagler from the listing of the scoring leaders. The senior attack broke her foot in the La Costa Canyon game, and is out for the rest of the playoffs. "A girl fell on her during the game," said Head Coach Jessica Battle. "She got up and she couldn’t walk. We thought it was a sprain, but they had it x-rayed and it was broken."

Nagler’s injury requires a different mindset for the Islanders and a roster shuffle for Coach Battle. "It will put more pressure on Hanna and Greer. We have to have our kids take it (the ball) to the goal (and shoot). That’s what we need from everyone. We called a couple of players up from the JV for their speed. They played a little Saturday and maybe a little (this coming) Tuesday."

Battle noted the fine play of Kennedy, Kindall Caldwell, Angela Naple, Lindsay Naple and Sasha Vido, who scored a goal against Mt. Carmel.

Coronado’s next playoff opponent is Cathedral Catholic. The game will be played Tuesday at 5 pm at home. If the Islanders prevail, they will host the winner of Poway vs. Rancho Bernardo Thursday at 5 pm. The CIF Finals are Saturday, May 20 at Westview High School at 5 pm.

If lacrosse is your sport, then Tuesday and possibly Thursday, there will be Girls and Boys Lacrosse doubleheaders at Niedermeyer Field in Coronado.

The No. 3 seeded Coronado Boys Lacrosse Team did their part to keep the doubleheader scheduling concept alive with an 11-5 victory over No. 14 Granite Hills Saturday morning. Tuesday they host Rancho Bernardo in a 7 pm game. If form holds, they will have to travel to No. 2 Poway for Thursday’s game. Poway an 18-1 winner over Serra, draws The Bishop’s School in the quarterfinals. All of the first three rounds of CIF Lacrosse games are held at the site of the higher seeded team’s field.

Earning the No. 3 seed marked the culmination of a great week for Coronado Boys Lacrosse, as they defeated Torrey Pines 8-7 Monday and followed that up with a 9-7 victory at Cathedral Catholic for the City Conference title Wednesday. The wins provided CHS Head Coach Alex Cade with the ammunition in the coaches’ seeding meeting to earn the No. 3 slot, immediately ahead of Torrey Pines at No. 4. More importantly, it put them in the opposite side of the bracket from No. 1 seed La Costa Canyon. It would appear that Cade’s team is playing some of their best lacrosse of the season, at the right time of the year.

Your Natterer’s son Mike Axelson played tennis at CHS for four years, and it took most of that time span for moi to figure out the post season tennis tournament configuration. It goes Western League Team play, CIF Team play, Western League Individual play, CIF Individual play.

As Head Coach Robbin Adair picks up the narrative, CIF Team play was last week, with Western League individual play on deck. "We beat San Marcos Tuesday 10-8 in a very close match. No. 1 singles player Krishna Samperio and the doubles teams of Chris Mitchell/Matt Oakley and Daniel Grazian/Frankie Harrison, swept all three of their sets, giving us nine points. With the match on the line, our No. 2 Patrick Holman stepped up on the court against their No. 3 and absolutely smoked him 6-0 to give us the win.

Wednesday we got beat by a very tough La Jolla Country Day team, which eventually placed second to La Jolla in the finals. They had three singles players who beat Krishna and swept all nine of the singles matches before our doubles teams had finished their second sets. The doubles were extremely close. Mitchell/Oakley beat the first team in a tiebreaker and Grazian/Harrison lost to the second team 6-4. We abbreviated the match they had already won and that ended our CIF Team Play.

We were seeded No. 6 going into the tournament and we lived up to our seeding. Monday we start the Western League Individual Tournament in La Jolla."

Baseball can be a pretty simple game and last Wednesday the Islanders played well in a 6-3 home victory over Point Loma. As Manager Joe "Skip" Riggins noted in the movie "Bull Durham" in his now famous ‘lollygagger’ speech to his players, "This is a simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball and you catch the ball."

Throwing the ball at the outset of the game was Couture the Younger, better known as freshman Kyle, who pitched 4.2 innings and yielded three earned runs to the Pointers. Ryland Gill hurled the next 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and picked up the win. Sophomore flame thrower Josh Fink retired three straight Pointers in the seventh to nail down the win for Coronado.

Head Coach Sam Ceci summarized the opening and closing pitching efforts. "Kyle was throwing his curve early on for strikes. He only gave up four hits, which is a great effort. Josh looked comfortable and was throwing very well. He did a great job from the start."

Making a complex offensive game look easy, the Islanders effectively put the ball in play, including RBI singles from Ben Thorne, Jake McMahon and David Sand. Jimmy Gersonde, who is now hitting a robust .391 for the season, contributed an RBI triple and an RBI groundout. Benson Lorden contributed two infield hits, and Blake Spitzer lead off the fifth inning with a double and later scored the go-ahead run.

The Islanders played errorless ball and won 6-3. "That was a good game all around," said Ceci. "Every time we needed a hit we got it. Every time we needed to move people up, we did it. Point Loma is a pretty decent team."

Friday the Islanders ran into a hot pitcher in the person of Alex Diachenko of Cathedral Catholic, who threw a one-hitter at Coronado. Diachenko, who will play collegiately at UC Davis next year, won the game 2-0.

Despite a fine start by Couture the Elder (senior Kevin) the Dons prevailed. "We played well," said Ceci. "We didn’t have any errors and we made all of the plays. Kevin pitched well enough to win. Their kid did a very nice job. They beat us, we didn’t beat ourselves. There’s some solace in that. We hit a lot of balls right at them. Things just didn’t fall in."

This week the Islanders play their last Western League game of the season Monday at 3 pm vs. Clairemont. Wednesday they host Kearney at 3:30 pm in a non-league tilt, which also concludes the regular season. The coaches’ seeding meeting is Friday and the CIF Division IV playoffs start next Tuesday. "The Kearney game will be our 29^th game of the season," said Ceci. "In the playoffs, we can play as many as six more. That’s a lot of games for a high school season." The Islanders are now 14-13.

One of the byproducts of a rainy spring is a hectic makeup schedule and that concept applied to the Girls Softball Team last week. They played San Ysidro and picked up a 5-3 win, an effort that pleased Head Coach Ed Shanholtz.

"We played really well as a team. Kelly McCray pitched four innings and Sara Noceto came in and got a save. We played really good defense and only had one error. Christy Mebust was 2-4 with two RBIs; Hayley Kitzmiller was 1-2; Alexis Wright had a triple; and Farrell Pompa was 1-1, she was walked twice, was hit by a pitch, and scored two runs."

Then the Islanders returned to Western League play, but acquitted themselves well. Coronado lost 5-1 to University City. "We played pretty well," said Shanholtz. "Alexis pitched really well, but University City played very well. We had only three hits, but they made plays when they needed to. Noceto had an RBI single in the first inning."

One bad inning doomed the Islanders against Point Loma, according to Shanholtz. "They scored three unearned runs in the inning. Other than that we played pretty solid for six innings. The final score was 7-0. Farrell has been pretty consistent at shortstop. She has really come on. Jessica Davis-Ricci has played pretty solid in right field."

This week the Islanders have another makeup game, this one will be played Wednesday at Green Field in Coronado. Game time is 3 pm. The coaches’ seeding meeting will be Thursday.

"I still think we have a shot to make the playoffs, somewhere between the No. 10 and 16 seeds," Shanholtz opined. "If we could have won some of those games we lost by run, it would have helped us with a higher seed or possibly a home game. The Top 4 in Division IV this year will likely include Francis Parker, Christian, Imperial and Mountain Empire. Overall the Islanders are 6-15 this year.

Last week Coronado Boys Golf Team competed in CIF Team Play in Warner Springs. When the dust had settled, the Islanders had missed the team cut, but Dillon Hakes with a 75 and Stewart Harris with a 77 advanced as individuals. They are competing Monday at Fairbanks Ranch at Rancho Santa Fe.

"We actually played pretty well," said Head Coach Dean Cummings. "We shot a 398, which I thought was a pretty good score. Bobby Senter shot a 79, James Carney shot an 81 and Bryan Reed shot an 86. If you sprayed the ball at all at Warner Springs, the rough is super deep and it’s tough to find your ball. You can alleviate that problem by hitting it straight."

As you might gather from that line of discussion, Cummings is a teaching pro at Coronado Municipal. The individual CIF play Monday will mark the end of the season, for the Islanders, who were Central League champions this year.