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Nado Natterings |
A weekly column by David Axelson |
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Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation
13 June 2007 Issue #23
This week we’ll attempt to wrap up the 2007 awards season for Coronado High
School sports, which featured an inspiring display of endurance from Your Natterer. On the annual “If It’s
Free, It’s For Me” tour, your scribe attended CHS sports banquets on four
consecutive evenings, with two stops each at the Coronado Yacht Club and the
Nautilus Room of the Coronado Community Center. And as far as I’m concerned,
you just can’t beat the breadsticks from Pat & Oscars.
While
the spring sports season has run its course, the column carries on and the need
for information to pass along continues unabated. So, pass the guacamole and please
read on.
Union-Tribune
Spring Sports Awards
It’s
fashionable to bash the U-T, (and I’ve done just that in this column in the
past) but for a major daily city newspaper, “The San Diego Union-Tribune” does
a fine job of covering prep sports throughout San Diego County.
This
past week, the depth of the Coronado High School lacrosse program, both boys
and girls, was reflected in the U-T Spring Sports Awards. For the girls,
juniors Greer Goebels, Hannah Sebenaler and Bria Phillips
earned All-Section First Team honors. Islander seniors Geoff Worley and Erik
Karlsson were both named to the Boys All-Section First Team.
Four
days prior to the All-Section Teams being announced, Worley and Sebenaler were
also named to the All-Academic First Team, which recognizes the combined areas
of academic success and athletic ability. Islander track star Sarah Player earned a slot on the
All-Academic Team in her sport.
Goebels,
Phillips and Worley also earned All-American status in lacrosse last week.
Boys
Lacrosse Honors and Awards
The
first stop on last week’s awards tour was the Boys Lacrosse banquet, which was the most, shall we say ‘informal’
of the four events. The festivities came complete with camera wielding
paparazzi and a cheering section. As the banquet and the awards following were
held outdoors, this was also the most ‘invigorating’ banquet of the week.
The
Varsity Awards as announced by Head Coach Alex
Cade included: The Islander Sports Foundation Award for Integrity,
Sportsmanship and Friendship – Austen
McRae; Coaches’ Award – McRae; Attack Player of the Year – Cory Couture; Defenseman of the Year – Chris Carlson; Leadership Award – JJ
Pontes; Defensive Player of the Year – Jake
Benzian; Offensive Player of the Year – Erik Karlsson; Midfielder of the Year – Jake Vita; and Team MVP – Geoff
Worley.
Other
honors included Couture being named to
the City Conference First Team and Second Team All-CIF; Carlson was named to
the City Conference First Team; Pontes earned Second Team City Conference
recognition; Benzian was named to the City Conference First Team; Karlsson was
named to the City Conference First Team and the CIF First Team; Vita was named
First Team City Conference and Second Team All-CIF; and Worley, who scored 92
points on the season was the City Conference Player of the Year and joined
Karlsson on the All-CIF First Team.
Add
Lacrosse
Although
the Islanders lose 11 talented seniors to graduation, there is help coming from
the Coronado Middle School program next year. Among the incoming athletes who
will carry on the program’s tradition is Kyle
Runyon from CMS, who was named by
the San Diego County Lacrosse
Association as its Most Outstanding Player this year.
CHS
Baseball Recognizes Their Athletes
Due
in large part to the Baseball
Varsity squad posting a 23-11 record and the JV team coming in at 21-6, there
were plenty of kudos to pass around at last Tuesday’s banquet, held at the
Coronado Recreation Center. The 2007 varsity’s total of 23 wins ties the for the most victories in school history.
The
Varsity awards as announced by Head Coach Sam
Ceci included: ISF Award – Chas Marks; Gamer Award- Marks; Most
Valuable Pitcher – All 10 members of the Pitching Staff, including Steven Conrad, Kyle Couture, Bryan Crabb,
Josh Fink, Tucker Johnson, Tim Leary, Benson Lorden, Marks, Justin Parsons and Kyle Pokorny.
The
Coaches’ Award was presented to Steven
Karamoto and the Team MVP was Tim Leary, who led the squad in home runs,
RBIs, hits, batting average, and slugging percentage. He also tied for the lead
in team pitching victories with Lorden at four each.
Leary
was named to the Western League First Team, while Danny Cepin and Tucker Johnson earned Western League Second Team
recognition.
The
JV awards as announced by Head Coach Blaze
Smallwood included: Most Improved – Tylor Hill-Hanson;
Best Pitcher – Brian Karamoto; Gamer
Award – Todd Kelleher; and Team MVP
– Blake Malkemus.
The
JV team was 9-3 in the Western League and finished with a 7-2 record in games
decided by two runs or less. Joining Smallwood on the coaching staff were Bo Blumenthal and Chris Barbera. All three
of the JV coaches, in addition to Varsity Pitching Coach Chris Blanton, are CHS graduates and former multi-sport athletes at
the school.
Also
recognized were the members of the program’s AAU team, a squad which combines
eighth and ninth graders. The Gamer Award was presented to Ryan Shepherd; the Coaches’ Award – Zach Wheeler and the
Team MVP – Jack Nicholson, who hit
.495 for the season.
Baseball
Part II
A
quick note of congratulations to former CHS Head Baseball Coach James Davis, who guided Granite Hills
High School to the CIF Division I title. The Eagles defeated Torrey Pines 3-2
in the final and finished the season with a 28-5 record.
In
1998 Davis lead the Islanders to a 20-9 mark and the Harbor League title. It
was the first league baseball title in the school’s history and capped a 45-37
mark for Davis at Coronado.
Softball
Awards
CHS
Head Softball Coach Marti Bonelli has a future as a
motivational speaker, if she so desires. The CHS Softball banquet was partly a re-cap
of the season just concluded, and part pep rally and inspirational interlude to
prepare the team for next season. At the conclusion of the evening, yours truly
wanted to go out and slide into an opposing shortstop and break up a double
play, Or at
least slap a bunt hit down the third base line.
The
JV Awards as announced by Coaches Tony
Isabella and Jay Kruer included:
Captains – Brittany Penn and Nicole Tesh; Most Improved – Grace Puglisi; Coaches’ Awards – Chantal Perez and Kayti Kozar;
Team MVP – Karly Kachigian.
The
Varsity Awards presented by Bonelli and Assistant Coach Rachel Lozano went to: Captains – Nora Kaminski and Alexis
Wright; Most Improved – Kelly McCray;
Coaches’ Award – Christy Mebust; and
Team Co-MVP’s – Rosie Harris and Sandra Cepin.
Harris,
who was the team’s catcher and lead-off hitter for much of the season, earned
Second Team All-Western League honors.
If
It’s Thursday, It Must Be Track and Field
Focused
on the finish line at this point, the “If It’s Free, It’s
For Me” tour bus chugged into the Coronado Yacht Club for the second time last
week, this time on Thursday for the Track and Field banquet. Pass the taco
chips and salsa, I’m ready to mambo.
Head
Coach George Green always presents a
dazzling array of medals, plaques and trophies to his athletes and all of the
program’s assistant coaches and an occasional outsider (in this case moi) get
up to speak.
As
last week’s Natterings column was subtitled “A Week in the Life of Kelsey Branch,” the CHS Track and Field
Banquet could deservedly be called “The Sarah
Player Show.” Player was among San Diego County’s top performers in five
events this season, including the 100 and 200 meter dashes, the 100 and 300
meter hurdles and the high jump. For her efforts, she was named the CIF
Division II Girl Track Athlete of the Year, the first time a Coronado athlete
has been so honored.
Among
the All-Time Coronado High School records she set this year were the 100 and
200 meter dash and the 100 and 300 meter hurdles events. In addition, Player
was the Central League Girls Track MVP. Player, a senior who will attend Cal
Berkeley next year, was also named the winner of the ISF Award for Integrity,
Sportsmanship and Friendship.
Her
male counterpart was junior Kyle Brown,
who set two school records himself, in the 100 meter dash and the triple jump.
Brown also came within a fraction of an inch of breaking the school long jump
record, the longest one on the Islanders’ books, set in 1936 by Ralph Mitchell.
Senior
Danielle Eckert, who is also the
reigning Miss Coronado, was honored for her school record in the pole vault (11
feet, three inches). Sallie Privett, who won the Central League titles in the 800,
1600 and 3200 meter runs was honored as Rookie of the Year. Coaches Awards were
presented to Eckert, Ben Enowitz, Neisha
Scales, David Grimes and Kenny
Twomey. Enowitz was also presented the ISF Award for Boys Track.
Danielle Gillberg,
Adrianna Davies and Briana Giorgione were all presented
with Frosh Power Awards, emblematic of their fine freshman campaigns.
Another
Trip Around the Track
Proving
that the Track season may slow down, but truly never stops, two Coronado track
athletes performed well at last week’s USA Track and Field Association meet.
First was fifth grader Abigail Callahan,
who is the granddaughter of former Coronado Mayor Pat Callahan.
Callahan
the Younger won the Midget Girls Division High Jump event, which qualifies for
the USATF Regionals to be held June 24th.
“This
kid is a diamond in the rough,” said CHS Head Coach George Green. “She was the least experienced jumper in the field
today, but the jumper with the most natural talent. This was her first real
meet and she won in a jump-off against a kid who was a head taller.”
All
of that is well and good, but Callahan really wants to learn how to pole vault,
an event coincidentally taught at the high school level by, you guessed it,
George Green.
Speaking
of the pole vault, the aforementioned Danielle
Eckert won the pole vault in the same meet with a vault of 10 feet, 6
inches, qualifying her for the Las Vegas USATF Regionals.
Swimming
and Diving Team Awards
The
CHS Swimming and Diving Awards
banquet was held recently and we have the listing of the honors and awards that
were distributed. The JV Awards for Girls and Boys (in that order) were: Coaches’
Awards – Megan Meloche and Asante Sefa-Boakye; Most Improved – Anna Vanuga and Anthony Salvatore;
Most Valuable - Hilary Hansen and Brennan Casey.
The
Varsity Awards as announced by Head Coach Dave
Throop included: Most Valuable Diver – Aly
Rodgers; Team Captain – Lee Sebring;
Coaches’ Awards – Kathryn Bailey and Carly Hoshko, Jackson Hummeldorf and Jackson
Crow-Mickle; Most Improved – Hillary
Estrada and Tommy Schofer; Most
Outstanding – Kelly Ronimus and Andrew Ireland; Most Valuable – Molly Patrick and Sebring.
Alumni
Water Polo Event Slated for July 1
The
CHS Water Polo Program is holding
their Annual Men’s and Women’s Alumni Water Polo games Sunday, July 1. The
men’s game will start at 4 pm and the women’s game will commence at 5:30 pm. The
games will be held at the Coronado Aquatics Center on the Strand. A barbecue
and pot luck dinner will be held afterwards at Glorietta Bay Park.
To
compete in either game, please contact Aquatics Program Director Randy Burgess at 619-851-9733 or via
E-mail at rburgess@znet.com.
July
4 Recreational Activities
In the past couple of editions of
this column, we have presented information regarding the Independence Day 15 K Run and 5 K Run/Walk. To review, the races
start at Tidelands Park at 7 am. Event proceeds benefit the Islander Sports
Foundation as well as
Fees to enter the race are $25 with the price increasing to $30 after Friday, June 22nd. Day of event registration is $35. Entry fees include a colorful commemorative t-shirt for all participants. Both races feature a flat and fast course. To register for the event, please go to www.kathyloperevents.com or call 619-298-7400 for additional information.
However,
if swimming, not running is your thing, you might consider attending The 49th Annual Coronado Rough
Water Swim, which will be held at Central Beach, with the course laid out
northwest of the main lifeguard tower.
If
you are a particularly adept runner, you could perhaps compete in both events,
but that might be stretching the point a bit.
The
first event is for youngsters and is the 250-yard swim at 8:30 am, followed by
a 400-yard swim for 12 and under swimmers which begins at 8:45 am. The mile
swims for various age categories begin at 9 am, with the Open Swim slated for
9:30 am.
This
year’s event is being conducted by the Coronado
Navy Swim Association. They can be reached at ocean92118@yahoo.com. The
entry fees range from $20 to $40 depending on when you register and the event
in which you are entered. Registration for the Rough Water Swim is being
handled by active.com.