One of the best athletic contests of the year occurred Thursday when the No. 3 seeded Coronado High School Boys Lacrosse Team traveled to No. 2 Poway High School for their CIF semi-final playoff contest. Although the Islanders came out on the short end of the 7-6 final score, the game was played at an extremely high level and was closely contested throughout. It is fair to say that there is no love lost between the two programs, both perennially among the best in San Diego County. Coronado’s Geoff Worley started the scoring festivities two and one-half minutes into the contest, with a nifty back-handed, behind the head wrap-around shot and goal from an assist by Cory Couture. Erik Karlsson followed with another tally four minutes later and the Islanders held a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Less than a minute into the second stanza, Pat Murphy provided Coronado with their third goal of the evening. Poway scored a goal at the five-minute mark, which was followed closely by a second Worley score on a laser-like shot on goal from 25 yards out. Coronado’s 4-2 lead at halftime was due to the fact that the Islanders were much more physical than Poway in their style of play. Unfortunately the momentum shifted dramatically in the third period, as Poway became much more aggressive and ran off four straight goals to take a 6-4 lead. As importantly, a Poway penalty for an illegal hit on Coronado’s Kelcey Fisher with 3:46 remaining in the third quarter left the senior midfielder with a deep cut on the chin and on the Islander sideline. Fisher would gallantly return to the Islander lineup later in the game.With 11 minutes left to play, a crucial save by goalie Jake Benzian, when he stopped a Titan shot taken from literally three feet away, seemed to get Coronado back in the game. Shortly thereafter, Worley converted a Poway turnover into an assist for a goal by Couture and Coronado was back to within a one-goal margin. Three minutes later, Poway scored their seventh and final goal to re-establish their two-goal lead. With four minutes remaining, Will Purvis scored on a nice right to left dash across the goal and the Islanders were again within one goal. Fisher returned with 2:45 left in the game, heavily taped across his chin in a man-up situation for Coronado. Several shots on goal by the Islanders followed, but none could find the net, including a fully-horizontal shot attempt by Fisher in the late going.Benzian was masterful in goal for the Islanders, being unofficially credited with 12 saves, including one when he seemingly took the ball out of webbing of the Titan shooter’s stick. The encounter with Poway was set up by a 14-10 quarter-final home victory over Rancho Bernardo two days before. Coronado displayed exceptional stick-handling and passing skills in this contest, zipping out to a 6-1 first quarter lead. The Islanders won virtually every groundball in the first half, which is the lacrosse version of a hustle play. Worley spent most of the game set up behind the Bronco net directing the Coronado offense, a prep version of hockey great Wayne Gretzky’s offensive approach.The Broncos didn’t know what hit them as the Islanders stretched their lead to 8-1 before the visitors ran off four goals to get the score to 8-5. Coronado ran off five straight tallies to answer the Broncos flurry and put the game out of reach. Islander Head Coach Alex Cade was playing the balance of his squad toward the end of the game and the final score was not reflective of Coronado’s one-sided triumph. The scoring highlights included four goals from Worley, three from Karlsson, two tallies each from Purvis and Couture, and one each from Murphy, Jake Christiansen and Jacob Vita. Benzian again had a strong outing in goal with 10 saves. The Islander defense, including Chris Arthur and J.J. Pontes did a fine job in defending Bronco All-American Will Yeatman, holding the senior attack to three goals.

Coronado finished the season with a strong 17-6 overall record, including an 11-1 mark in City Conference and the league title. With seven graduating seniors on the 25-man roster for 2006, the team figures to be strong again next season.

A similar playoff pattern presented itself for the No. 2 seeded CHS Girls Lacrosse Team, as the Islanders pasted Cathedral Catholic 11-4 in their quarter-final contest, before falling to Poway 14-8 in the semi-finals. Head Coach Jessica Battle received some solace from the season-ending game saying, "the team we lost to won the whole thing."No. 3 Poway went on to conquer No. 1 seed La Costa Canyon in the final by the score of 13-9 in the CIF finals. In the quarter-finals, Islander Lindsey Negrete led off the scoring, which was quickly countered with two tallies from Cathedral Catholic. It would be fair to say that Coach Battle wasn’t enamored with that turn of events, calling timeout to address her squad. Whatever she said worked, as Coronado then scored 10 of the game’s next 11 goals, leaving City Conference rival Cathedral Catholic in the swirling dust of Niedermeyer Field. Negrete would finish with three goals; Hannah Sebenaler scored four goals, including three consecutive tallies to conclude the second half; Greer Goebels who directed the Islander offense and played a fine all-around game scored twice; and Hope Alexander scored two goals and showed some nice individual moves on one of her goals in the second half. Sophomore goalie Alyssa Littin was credited with seven saves. The semi-finals were another matter, as Coronado fell behind early to Poway and never caught up. "It was actually a really bad game," said Battle of the Islanders vs. Titans battle. "It is upsetting to go out like that. They (the Islanders) felt like they were beat before the game started, maybe because Marissa Nagler was out (with a broken bone in her foot). The Naples played their hearts out, as did Sasha Vido."Sebenaler scored twice against Poway; Jena Harrison called up from the JV for the playoffs scored twice; and single goals were scored by Goebels; Angela Naple, Lindsay Naple, and Kindall Caldwell. Eight seniors graduate from the Islanders roster of 19 players, but there is some help on the farm. Under the direction of Head Coach Lisa Cherill, a special education teacher at Village Elementary School, the JV squad posted a 14-0-2 record. Harrison, center Kelsey Branch who was also called up to the varsity for the playoffs and Jillian Reidy were the leading scorers for the team. Sandy Shepherd and Branch were the squad’s primary midfielders.

Top defenders included Ally Wolfe, Julia Turpit and Leslie Orell. The team’s goalie, in her first year at the position was Taylor Earnhardt.

Cherill, who played lacrosse at Monmouth University in New Jersey, guided the team to the City Conference title.

Head Track and Field Coach George Green provides us with the latest news regarding his squad’s efforts last week. "Islander junior Sarah Player added a third school record to her growing collection at the CIF prelims Saturday. The previous week she had tied the 23-year-old CHS 200-meter dash record of Tricia Rexrode with a time of 25.6, and bettered her own school record in the 300-meter hurdles in 45.84. With Sarah’s speed and technique in place, we figured she had a shot at Jamie Klages’ 100-meter hurdle record of 16.30 set in 2003. The problem is Sarah had only run this race a few times this year and was just getting her timing worked out. The 100-meter hurdles event is sometimes a crap shoot, with even the best hurdlers going down. There are 10 33-inch high hurdles spaced only 28 feet apart. To run a fast time, you must adjust your stride so you’re taking three steps between each hurdle. Sarah got off to a good start and hit the first hurdle with the rest of the field, but she dragged her trail leg and knocked down the first hurdle, causing her to lose ground. Knocking down a hurdle doesn’t disqualify you, but it does slow you down. She drew even with the pack by the fifth hurdle and then started to pull away. Coming off the last hurdle, she must have dug a spike into the track, because the almost went down about 5 meters from the finish. However, she recovered and lunged across the finish line in first place with a time of 16.24, barely breaking Jamie’s record. That was just the start of a long day. She was also entered in the high jump, 300-meter hurdles, and the 200-meter dash. Unfortunately they were all scheduled at about the same time. In the high jump, she was looking great, and went way over the bar at lower heights, but she had to run the 300-meter hurdles when the bar went to 5 feet. She won her heat in around 47 flat (her legs were flat as well), but it was enough to qualify her for the ‘A’ (fast heat) in next week’s CIF Division II finals. When she came back to the high jump, she cleared 5 feet on the second try. At 5-1, it looked like she had again cleared the height on the second try, but she had brushed the bar and it eventually went down. She also missed on her third try. During this time period, the 200-meter dash was being run, so she couldn’t make that race. Next week at the CIF Finals, she’ll scratch the 100 hurdles to concentrate on the high jump and the 300-meter hurdles. Our only other possibility for the State Meet was Danielle Eckert, whose 11-foot clearance in the pole vault this year is among the county’s best. However, after winning the Central League meet last week, she sprained her wrist at cheerleading practice, which ended her season.

For the boys, Levi Lozano set a personal record in the shot put with a toss of 42 feet, 11.5 inches."

The winners of the race to hold the first post season banquet of the spring sports season were the Boys Golf Team. Perhaps not surprisingly, the affair was held at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course.

The Islander Sports Foundation award for Integrity, Sportsmanship and Friendship went to James Carney. Head Coach Dean Cummings (CHS ’85) awarded the team Co-MVP awards to Stewart Harris and Dillon Hakes.

Head Sailing Coach Jon Rogers announced the recent CHS Sailing Team awards at their season-ending banquet. The Top Gun Award presented to the sailor with the best score in regattas went to Pike Harris; The Jimmer Award to the person who meets the highest standards for the crew position – Mickail Murawski; The Sam Award for the individual who embodies courage, perseverance, and love of sailing to Lauryn Francis; the Most Improved Skipper Award – Alex Wood; and the Most Improved Crew – Nick Gomez-Hall.

The CHS Sailing Team finished the season ranked No. 16 out of 60 sailing programs in the state of California.

"The general them was the older guys did a great job and the younger girls did a great job," said Coach Randy Burgess of the CHS Boys and Girls Swim Team results in the Division II CIF championships held last week at the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool. "The guys finished fourth and the girls finished sixth."The Islanders actually started competing Thursday, when divers Jon Trost finished third and Lauren Corcoran finished fifth in the CIF competition. The divers took different approaches to their respective seasons. "Jonathan was there from the ‘get go’ and enjoyed working hard," Burgess explained. "He was consistent for 11 dives and it was consistency that won him the conference championship. He is a senior and worked really hard this year and is deserving of his Top 3 finish."Corcoran, a junior who also competes in water polo, pursued a more diverse path, according to Burgess. "Lauren successfully split time between swimming and diving. She primarily swims the backstroke, but she swam in several other events during the season." The Boys medley relay started the swimming festivities with a fine showing, shaving three one-hundredths of a second off of their best time this year. Sean Castillo, Devin Farrell, Preston Lujan and David Foy finished in fourth place and the ‘old guy’ (except for Foy who is a junior) element was already in play. Sophomore Heather Ireland finished in twelfth place in the 200 free, but rallied later in the meet with a sixth place finish in the 100 back with a season best time of 1:02.61. "That was a very nice swim for her," said Burgess. In the Boys 200 Individual Medley, Castillo finished fourth in the county in a personal best time of 2:04.09. The time was half a second faster than his previous best time. Lujan swam a 22.70 in the 50 free and 49.98 in the 100 free, both of which were good for sixth place. The exception that proved the rule of the ‘old guys’ concept was freshman Adam Ratcliffe, who won the consolation finals of the 100 butterfly in 56.50. John Landon, who also doubled as a diver for the Islanders, finished ninth in the 100 back in a personal best time of 59.64. Back to the girls’ team, Molly Patrick turned in a personal best in the 100 free, clocking a 54.05, good for fifth place. Kathryn Bailey turned in a fine 5:21.84 for a personal best in the 500 free and an eighth place finish. "She had a very entertaining swim," said Burgess of the freshman. "It was nice to watch. She went out and raced and challenged the girls."The Girls 200 free relay finished in twelfth place and featured swims from Lenea Smith, Sandra Fernandez, Maggie Sosnowski and Alex Adamson. In the Boys 200 free relay, Landon a senior was assisted by sophomores Jacob Smith and Sean Cook, as well as the freshman Ratcliffe to a time of 1:34.64, good for eighth place. The deepest Coronado individual event turned out to be the 100 back, as Lee Sebring finished fifth (57.36), Castillo was sixth (58.28) and Landon was ninth in 59.6. Alana Burgess turned in a personal best time of 1:12.90 in the 100 breaststroke to place eleventh. The Girls 400 free relay of Taylor Clarkson, Smith, Bailey and Ireland finished in ninth, but posted a 3:53.39, the fastest time by a CHS team in the last three years.

The Boys 400 free relay posted a very nice swim. Foy (51.9), Lujan (49.6), Castillo (51.1) and Smith (50.06) combined to capture fourth place in the event.

The CHS Softball Team coached by Ed Shanholtz, finished their regular season with a 4-0 loss to Mission Bay. "We played a pretty good game," said Shanholtz. "Alexis Wright pitched very well, only giving up one earned run. Jessica Davis-Ricci was 2-4, Farrell Pompa was 1-3 and Hayley Kitzmiller was 1-1 with a walk."Shanholtz emerged from the CIF Division IV Coaches’ seeding meeting with a No. 10 seed, out of 16 teams. The Islanders drew a first round meeting on the road with La Jolla Country Day Saturday. "We lost 2-1, but we played great defensively throughout the game," Shanholtz said of the season-ending playoff loss. "We didn’t take advantage of scoring opportunities when we had runners in scoring position. LJCD scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Alexis again pitched very well. She had great command of her pitches and she got great support from her defense."

Offensive production included two hits in three at-bats for Sara Noceto, in addition to a run scored; Pompa was 1-3 with an RBI and a stolen base; and Sandra Cepin was 2-3 with a triple and a stolen base.

The Islanders’ last week of the regular season found them losing to Clairemont 10-8 in a wild and wooly affair. Coronado trailed 6-1 before coming back to tie the game at 8-8. The game featured a homer from Michael Baker-Denson, which matched him with Jimmy Gersonde for the team lead in the "Chicks Dig the Long Ball" sweepstakes. The squad’s two homers and eight triples on the season don’t qualify them for mention alongside the 1927 New York Yankees for offensive power production. Wednesday’s game with Kearney proved to be another mound matter altogether, as six Islander hurlers combined to pitch a five-hit shutout of the Komets for a 4-0 victory. Since the game was declared ‘Senior Start Day’ by Head Coach Sam Ceci, most of the hurlers were upper classmen. Senior Kevin Couture was followed to the rubber by fellow seniors Rylan Gill, Blake Spitzer, Max Weinfurtner, Baker-Denson and junior Chas Marks. Gill was the lone pitcher to throw two innings and Baker-Denson was credited with the win. Sophomore second baseman Jake McMahon was the offensive star of the contest, with three singles, an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Third baseman Danny Cepin had a double, was 1-2 with a walk, and contributed two RBIs and a run scored. Blake Spitzer had the lone remaining Coronado hit. The Islanders scored all four of their runs in the sixth inning. Coronado finished 15-14 overall, and 4-8 in the Western League, good enough for a tie for fourth in one of the toughest baseball conferences in the county. All of that allowed the Islanders to earn the No. 2 seed in the CIF Division IV playoffs. "That was the seed we had hoped for," said Ceci. "We thought we would have a much more difficult time getting it. We have a huge opportunity. The No. 1 seed is Santa Fe Christian and they were 24-1. They’re the real deal. We won’t have to see them until the final game. "To add some depth to the squad, Ceci is calling up JV team members Keith Englehart, Brian Crabb, Stephen Conrad, Tim Leary, Tucker Johnson and Blake Malkemus to the varsity. Johnson may see mound time in the team’s first playoff game this week.

Follow along while we try to re-cap the Division IV 16-team playoff format. Tuesday, the Islanders host No. 15 Army-Navy in a play-in game. The eight winning teams then advance to double elimination play. Should the Islanders win the first game, Ceci expects to see Horizon as the opponent in Wednesday’s game. Coronado will host a playoff game Friday as well. All of this week’s games have a 4 pm starting time.

Sophomore Kyle Pokorny leads an interesting and varied athletic life, as the heir apparent to the starting goalie position on next year’s CHS Boys Varsity Water Polo Team and owners of one of the best arms on the CHS Varsity Baseball Team. Recently Pokorny developed a life-threatening auto immune reaction to ibuprofen called Stevens Johnson’s Syndrome. The illness is extremely rare, looks like a virus, and is quite difficult to diagnose. Soon Pokorny had some stats that weren’t great including eight days in the hospital, three weeks of school missed and 15 pounds lost."The baseball and water polo teams showered him with attention," said Kyle’s mother Tamara O’Brien. "His friends were really supportive. The town came through. It was really quite overwhelming. Only one in hundreds of thousands of people get the illness. Every medical student at Children’s Hospital came in to his room, all of the emergency room personnel and all of the specialists. Kyle stayed positive and kept rallying."

Pokorny will dress for Tuesday’s baseball playoff game with Army-Navy, but won’t see action. If his strength returns, participating in the second week of the playoffs is a possible goal. Kyle, welcome back.