Success on the playing fields of summer hasn’t been confined to baseball in 2006. A select group of Coronado athletes contributed to securing a prestigious youth lacrosse title in a tourney played at Sonoma State last week.

Entitled the ‘Sonoma Shootout’ and run by Adrenaline Lacrosse, the event attracted middle school-aged All-Star boys teams from Los Angeles, Orange County, Seattle, Portland, the Conejos Valley, Arizona and a couple of squads from San Diego. The local two entries were divided between the North County and the South County, with La Jolla serving as the proverbial Mason-Dixon talent line.

Apparently the southern team, directed by Parker Anger and playing under the name San Diego Lax Dawgs, got the better of the talent draft. Coronado-based players included attackmen Eddie Vita and Kyle Runyon; long stick middie Kodie Englehart; and middies Jared Kerr, Kevin Siefert and Sergio Flores.

Or maybe it was the coaching. Head Coach Anger received an assist from Dan Meehan on the sidelines.

"The regular season included six games leading into the tournament," Anger explained. "We went 4-2 in that round. Then we went to the 14-team tournament at Sonoma and played five qualifying games for seeding. We went undefeated with one tie in the seeding games and eight teams made the playoffs. In the first playoff round we beat a team from Oregon, in the second round we defeated the Orange County All-Stars 6-0 and we beat the Arizona All-Stars 6-2 in the finals."

According to Anger, Vita scored two goals and contributed two assists in the championship final and Siefert scored an important goal to help secure the title.

Bet that the Lax Dawgs were in fine physical shape going into the tournament. Lacrosse, which is generally played with three attackmen, three midfielders, three defenders and one goalie at a time, requires frequent substitutions to keep the players fresh, as the playing field closely approximates the size of a football field. Against some of the best talent in the Western U.S., the Lax Dogs went into competition with 16 players.

"We played the regular season with 28 players on the roster," said Anger. "We also had a pretty strong contingent of La Jolla Country Day kids. They were all exhausted at the end of the tournament. Some of the kids from our original roster had scheduling conflicts and couldn’t attend."

Anger predicted that five or six of the players will be competing at either the JV or the Varsity level at Coronado High School next season. For now lacrosse is completed for the summer, with several of the players moving on to football in the fall.

Athletes from the Coronado Navy Swim Association acquitted themselves well at the recent San Diego-Imperial County Junior Olympics. Ken Ireland provides the meet details.

"Marcos Rivas was the Boys 13-14 age group high point producer, as he won at every freestyle distance except the 1,500-meter event. Rivas, who qualified for the Western Zone Championships in every event in which he competed, also helped lead two relay teams to victory. He combined with Paul Guzman, Andrew Ireland and Chris Bernard in the 400 Free Relay; and with Guzman, Ireland and Daniel Zamora in the 800 Free Relay.

Guzman placed second in the 100 and 200 back; the 200, 400 and 800 free; and qualified for the Zone Championships in four events. Ireland was third in the 100 back and fourth in the 200 back; Bernard was fourth in the 50 free, seventh in the 100 back and eighth in the 100 free.

On the girls’ side, Claudia Rivas placed fourth in the 10-and-under 200 free; while Heather Ireland placed eighth in both the 100 and 200 back. The Coronado Navy Swim Club 400 Free Relay in the 13-14 age group finished in eighth place. The squad consisted of Hannah Green, Alex Reidy, Jessica Morean and Yali Salinas. Overall, the club finished the meet in tenth place."

One of the continuing sports-related mysteries of recent years is ‘How come the Aztecs can’t win in football?’ Depending on the season, the same question can be asked of men’s basketball and baseball, but I digress.

Chuck Long, the 16^th head coach at Montezuma Mesa, spoke before the Rotary Club of Coronado last week and brings with him impeccable collegiate credentials. Long, 43, has either played or coached in 15 bowl games and was the winner of both the Maxwell and O’Brien Trophies after his senior year at Iowa. Only a second place finish in the Heisman Trophy balloting to Auburn running back Bo Jackson kept the Wheaton, Illinois native from sweeping college football’s post season awards in 1985.

Long comes to San Diego State directly from holding the Offensive Coordinator post at the University of Oklahoma. Suffice to say that Long has seen what major college football is all about, having contributed as a coach to the Sooners’ national championship in 2000 and tutoring quarterback Jason White to a Heisman Trophy in 2003. When the quiz category is ‘Big Time Football Programs,’ one of the answers historically is ‘Oklahoma.’

As importantly, Long will have considerable help on the sidelines from Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Bob Elliott as well as Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach Del Miller. Both have been through the collegiate wars and helped turn perennial Big 12 Conference doormat Kansas State into a competitive program.

On a 1-10 scale of coaching involvement, put Long down as an 11. He plans to run the Aztec Special Teams (punts, kick-offs, extra point conversions) and will wear a headset on the sidelines. In addition, he will participate in fourth down and even third down offensive play calling. It would seem that you can’t take the offense totally away from the former collegiate and pro quarterback. In our book, that’s a major positive.

From the department of ‘The New Broom Sweeps Clean,’ in a press conference 2 days after his appearance at Rotary, Long revealed that there will be newly designed helmets and uniforms for the team this season. Umm, that hasn’t been the Aztecs’ problem of late. Attracting and retaining Division I level talent who will contribute to winning football games – that has been the challenge.

Not wanting to be pinned down too specifically regarding the talent on his team, the signal caller that threw 74 touchdown passes during his playing career at Iowa said, "One of the strengths of this team is the four good running backs on this team." He later added in his press conference, "We will throw the football and have a balanced offense." Defensively the team will have a three-man front on some occasions, a four-man front on others; they will be aggressive and they will blitz. Reading between the lines, those answers translate to, "I’m not sure exactly what I’ve got on either side of the ball, but we’ll play hard."

After years of harping from the San Diego media that their schedule was too tough, the Aztecs in this writer’s opinion have gone too far the other way. The home games include Texas-El Paso, Utah, Air Force, Cal Poly, UNLV, and Colorado State. Road games are against Wisconsin, San Jose State, Brigham Young, Wyoming, Texas Christian, and New Mexico. Not much for the home fans to hang their hat on there. Finding a tail-gating spot at Qualcomm Stadium shouldn’t be too much of a challenge this year.

Long, possessor of an engaging personality will be hard-pressed to get a winning season out of that 12-game schedule, even though the tough Ohio State and UCLA games of recent years have been effectively scrubbed from the loss column. "We want to win now, that’s our goal," said Long at the Hotel Del Coronado last week. "We want to start winning conference championships. There’s a certain hunger on the team, a certain energy. We can’t wait to get started."

As they say, ‘A Long road begins with a single step.’ Here’s hoping Chuck Long, who has been successful at every level of football, including as a player in the professional ranks, can meet the ongoing Aztec challenge.

A recent note from a loyal reader said that the Coronado Municipal Golf Course’s record round for men had been broken recently. So, who better to confirm that with than Coronado Host Professional Ron Yarbrough?

According to Yarbrough, the course record, which needs to be recorded in a tournament setting, is a round of 63 shot last November in the City Tournament by Gerry Simoni. The women’s club record is 66 and is held by Carrie Campbell-Wood.

From the back or blue tees, the Coronado Muni course plays 6,590 yards long. From the women’s tees, the course measures 5,742 yards. Just in case anyone asks.

With the beginning of the school year fast approaching, so too is the Coronado High School Cross Country season. If you are interested in joining the team or would like to know how to contact Head Coach George Green, go to www.Islandertrack.com for complete information.