Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

11 June 2008 Issue No. 23

This week’s column is an awards-themed piece, which reflects some of remarkable efforts put forth by Coronado High School student-athletes during the spring sports season. Since athletics are an extension of academics, our first recognition will be reserved for the CIF All-Academic Teams. We’ll run through several of the team awards and conclude with the names and sports of the 10 athletes who earned All-CIF Honors this year.

CIF All-Academic Teams

To successfully earn a slot on the Hall of Champions Breitbard All-Academic Team, you must have combination of athletic ability and success in the classroom. The awards are given without respect to the CIF division in which the student’s school competes.

Leading the way in this category was Dillon Hakes, who was named captain of the Boys Golf All-Academic Team. Hakes, a senior with a 3.92 grade point average, will attend Penn next year. In theory he will see his brother Taylor Hakes, who plays golf at Yale, around various and assorted golf courses in the Northeast next season.

Leading the way for a single Coronado team with two All-Academic Team members was Girls Lacrosse, which contributed both Greer Goebels (4.20) and Bria Phillips (4.17) to the team. Cory Couture was named to the Boys Lacrosse squad (3.73), with Jacob Smith (4.35) earning a berth on the Boys Swimming Team. Baseball’s Mason Mills (4.25) was the lone junior at CHS to earn All-Academic Team recognition.

Boys Lacrosse Awards

The Islander Boys Lax season culminated in an appearance in the CIF Finals, a first for the program under the direction of Head Coach Alex Cade. Fittingly, team members earned many post season accolades.

The team awards announced by Cade included: Team MVP – Cory Couture; Attackman of the Year – Olivier Schmied; Defenseman of the Year – Ryland Stanley; Midfielder of the Year – Cole McLean, Coaches’ Award – Jack Christenson; Most Improved – Kramer De Laurentis; and the Islander Sports Foundation Award for Integrity, Sportsmanship and Friendship - Curtis Perkins.

Couture also won the Bill Parry Award and was the City Conference Player of the Year. Also named to All-City Conference Teams were: Schmied, Stanley, McLean, Christiansen, Perkins, Jonny Poe, Daniel Nevitt and Jackson Cusick.

Boys Golf Honors

At the risk of making this sound like a script in progress for ‘The Dillon Hakes Show,’ the senior was named Boys Golf MVP for the third consecutive season by CHS Head Golf Coach Dean Cummings last week. Hakes, who advanced to the State Tournament this year, also received a certificate from the State CIF in recognition of that achievement.

Connor Pompa was named the winner of the Islander Sports Foundation Award. The team as a won the Central League title and qualified for CIF play.

Trivia Question

Your Natterer attended four post season banquets spread over a seven-day time frame recently. What was the common culinary thread that ran among the four evenings?

CHS Softball Honors

Head Coach Marti Bonelli helped lead a resurgence in the CHS Softball program this season. At last week’s banquet, she announced the following Varsity Awards: Most Improved – Brittany Penn; Coaches’ Award – Jessica Adair; MVPs – Rosie Harris, Sandra Cepin, and Briana Feist; Team Captains – Brittany Bible, Nora Kaminski, Harris, Penn and Alexis Wright. Named to the All-Western League Second Team was Wright, a senior.

The Junior Varsity Awards were presented as follows: Most Improved – Blaire Jennings; Coaches’ Award – Bailey Haines; MVPs – Alanna Pompa and Rachael Bible; and Team Captains - Chantal Perez, Kayti Kozar and Grace Puglisi.

Islander Baseball Awards

The CHS Baseball Awards Banquet included representatives of the three levels of baseball played at the high school, which include Varsity, Junior Varsity and an AAU or developmental team for younger players. Combined, the three teams had a total record of 59-21, for a winning percentage of .738.

Leading the way with a record of 26-8 (.765) was the Islander Varsity, which was both the Co-Western League winner and the CIF Division IV champ. Head Coach Sam Ceci, Assistant Coach Jerry Brown and Pitching Coach Chris Blanton announced the following team award winners: Team MVP – Tim Leary; Coaches’ Award – Mason Mills; Pitcher of the Year – Bryan Crabb; Gamer Award – Jake McMahon and ISF Award Winner - Leary. It was the second consecutive Team MVP Award for Leary, whose two-year varsity batting average at Coronado was an outstanding .420.

Other post season accolades earned by Coronado players included: Western League MVP – Leary; All-Western League First Team – Leary and Mills; All Western League Second Team –Alex Rowan, Crabb and four-year letter winner Kyle Pokorny; All Western League Honorable Mention – Justin Parsons and McMahon

The JV awards as announced by Head Coach Matt Fischer and his Assistants Tom Kelleher and Chris Barbera included: Coaches’ Award – Levi Knox; Gamer Award – Garrett Smerdon; Most Valuable Pitchers – Brian Karamoto and Austin Hunter; and MVP – Patrick Toomey. The JV concluded their season with a mark of 20-6.

Girls and Boys Swimming Honors

Head Coach Dave Throop relayed the winners for the CHS Girls and Boys Swimming Awards, which include the following for the Girls Squad: Most Improved – Michelle Carroll; Coaches’ Award – Hillary Estrada; Captains – Alana Burgess and Heather Ireland; Most Valuable – Kelly Ronimus and Ashley Young.

The Boys Awards were bestowed upon the following athletes: Most Improved – Jackson Hummeldorf; Coaches’ Award – Tommy Schofer; Captain – Sean Cook; and Most Valuable – Rex Butler and Andrew Ireland.

Notable in the awards was the fact that all four MVPs from this year’s Girls and Boys Teams are sophomores this season.

Boys Volleyball Honors and Awards

Steve Merrill was the Varsity Boys Volleyball head coach in 2008 and announced the following award winners at the team’s recent banquet: Team MVP – Nolan Woodhouse; Most Instrumental Award – Nick De Marco; and Coach’s Award Winner – Will Holder.

JV Head Coach Don Woodhouse presented the following awards: Team MVP – Wade Zolla; Most Improved – Colin Pewtress; and the Coach’s Award– Taylor Moore.

Trivia Answer

All four gatherings featured Mexican food for the attendees, which suits Your Natterer just fine. I continue to pursue a tradition, now in its second decade of “If it’s free, it’s for me.” Your scribe highly recommends the guacamole at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course. The dip is heavy on the avocado and the chips on the side compliment the taste nicely.

CHS Alumni Honored At 62^nd Annual S.D. Hall of Champions Dinner

Two members of the CHS Class of 2004, Tommy Corcoran and J.T. Rogan were honored recently by the San Diego Hall of Champions for their contributions to intercollegiate athletics.

Corcoran, who played water polo and basketball at CHS, was honored for earning All-American honors for playing water polo at USC. The senior 2-meter player helped the Trojans to a second place finish in the NCAA tournament and scored 20 goals last season.

Corcoran was earned second team honors as a junior and as a sophomore, but was named to the All-American First Team following the conclusion of this senior year.

Rogan, a three-sport athlete at CHS (football, basketball and baseball) just completed his junior season as a running back at USD, where he helped clinch a share of the Pioneer Football League title. Rogan led the Toreros in rushing for the third straight year, with his third consecutive 1,000 yard rushing season. In 2007 he finished with 1,021 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Oberwager Earns Scholar-Leader-Athlete Award

Islander Ricardo Oberwager has been named a scholar-leader-athlete by the Walter J. Zable/San Diego Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Oberwager played running back and defensive back at Coronado, while earning three varsity letters in football and two in lacrosse.

Ricardo was a two-time All-Central League First Team selection as a running back. He was elected team captain for his senior season and was named MVP by his teammates. As a junior, he was elected his team’s Most Valuable Back, after receiving the Heart of an Islander Award as a sophomore. In addition, he was named a Prep Pigskin Player of the Week by KUSI Sports.

In addition to earning a 3.66 grade point average, Oberwager volunteered with Amor Ministry, a group which traveled to Mexico to build houses. He is also an active member of his church youth group.

All CIF Athletic Recognition

At the outset of this column we listed the six Coronado scholar-athletes who made CIF All Academic Teams. Four of those same six Islanders also earned All CIF Honors in their sport.

Bria Phillips and Greer Goebels were named to the All-CIF First Team in Girls Lacrosse, having made both squads.

They are joined on the All-CIF First Team by Hannah Sebenaler, who has the added distinction of being the CIF Girls Water Polo Player of the Year during the winter sports season. Junior Melissa Humphrey was also named to the All CIF First Team for her efforts in Girls Lax, giving the Islanders four spots on the 11-member team. Alyssa Littin earned Second Team All CIF honors in Girls lacrosse.

CHS Boys Lax supplied Cory Couture, to both the All Academic and All CIF First Team. CHS Linkster Dillon Hakes also earned membership into both select groups.

Also earning All-CIF First Team Honors were Tim Leary in baseball and Jonny Poe in Boys Lax. Poe was one of only three juniors in San Diego County to be named to the All CIF Team in lacrosse. Olivier Schmied earned Second Team All CIF Honors in Boys Lacrosse.