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Nado Natterings |
A weekly column by David Axelson |
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20 May 2009 Issue #20
The
finish line for the
CHS Track Team Qualifies 12 Athletes for CIF
Prelims
Islander
Head Track Coach George Green describes the action from last week’s
Central League track meet. “Last week the Central League track prelims and City
Finals were held at
The
primary purpose of the championships is to advance athletes to the CIF prelims
this Saturday at
The
top two finishers in each event, athletes whose marks meet a CIF automatic
qualification standard, and athletes whose marks at the league finals were
among the top 18 finishers in the division (in Coronado’s case Division II)
advance to the CIF prelims. At the end of competition Friday evening, the
Islander track squad advanced 12 athletes to the CIF prelims and came away
with four individual titles, with two each won by Sallie Privett
and Cassie Callahan.
Tuesday's
action started with the girls' 3,200-meter finals in which Privett and Adie
Davies posted impressive first and second place finishes with times of
11:37.8 and 11:51.8.. Both Privett and Davies met all three conditions to
advance but Privett will scratch from the 3,200 meters at CIF to concentrate on
the 1,600 and 800 meter runs.
In
the 1,600-meter run held as a final event Friday Privett, Annie Lovering,
and Davies went 1-2-3 as a group in rather impressive style, way out in front
of the pack, with Privett posting a time of 5:16.30, Lovering 5:17.08 and
Davies 5:18.88. All three advance to the CIF prelims because Davies' time was
under the qualification standard of 5:24.19.
In
the girls' 800 meters on Tuesday, we qualified five runners for the finals in
Privett, Davies, Nicole Davies (Adie's freshman sister), Katie
Centeno and Natalie Pettee. At the finals there was really no way to
compete with
In
the boys' 800 meters,
In
the 300 hurdles,
In
the 100 hurdles Olivia Lilligraven placed third but didn't advance.
Callahan also won the triple jump with a leap of 31 feet and placed second in
the long jump with an effort of 14 feet, 11 inches. Yvonne Wood placed
seventh in triple jump with a leap of 28 feet, 3.5 inches and was eighth in the
long jump with an effort of 13 feet, 4 inches. Bridgid Twomey qualified
for both the long and triple jumps on Tuesday but couldn't make the finals
because of a prior commitment.
Giorgione,
although not moving on in the hurdles, placed second in both the high jump and
pole vault to advance in both of those events. Also advancing in the pole vault
was Will Bartsch who placed second with a vault of 12 feet on Friday.
In
the girls' 400 meters, Sadie Gimber was sick all week, but was able to
run in the finals because prelims weren't needed as there were only nine
entrants in the event. Still, not feeling 100 per cent, she placed by finishing
second to Hoover's San Diego Section leader, Vanessa Houston, with a
personal best time of 59.56 to advance as the second overall Division II seed
in the county.
Michael Gasparro
advanced to Friday's finals in two events clocking 53.83 in the 400 meters and
24.46 in the 200 meter dash. On Friday he was third in the 400 with 54.12 and
sixth in the 200 in 24.65. In the boys' 100 finals on Friday Charles
Westbrook placed fourth in 11.85 followed by Andrew Smith in the
seventh slot. Smith also ran the 200 on Friday placing a step in front of
Gasparro in fifth place with a time of 23.87. Lauren Bower placed fourth
in both the 100 and 200 prelims on Tuesday but just missed advancing to
Friday's finals.
We
had three entries in the boys' 300-meter hurdles but none made it to Friday's
finals. Julian Martinez, Nate Ferraco, and Chris Pittner ran game
races, but this was their first year running the event and just need a little
more practice. In the boys' shot put prelims on Friday Scott Phillip
placed seventh with a throw of 37 feet 11 inches, but elected to not throw in
the finals.”
CHS Swimming Competes in City Conference
Event
A
similar format followed for the CHS Swim Team, as they competed in the
City Conference championships last week. The Boys finished in second place and
the Girls finished in third place, with the times and order of finish important
in the competition to advance on to the CIF prelims this week. Head Coach Dave
Throop provides the report.
“The
Boys 200 medley relay team of Andrew Ireland (backstroke), Francisco
Heredia (breast), Adam Ratcliffe (fly) and Rex Butler (free) won
the event in a 1:39.14 by :10 over La Jolla. The time and finish could be a
precursor for the CIF Championships in that event as well. The 400 freestyle
relay of
In
addition to the above,
Schofer swam well in the 200 (1:50.15) and 500 freestyles (5:00.05) while
Ratcliffe (54.03) and Josh Williams (58.06) scored for the team in
the 100 fly. Jackson Hummeldorf swam well in the 200 individual
medley (2:08.60) and turned in a 1:05.35 in the 100 breast. Michael
Aguilar
(2:04.55)
and Francisco Heredia (2.07.79) competed well in the 200 IM.
The
girls contingent swam well and finished in third place for the team
standings. In the 200 free Kelly Ronimus placed second with a time
of 1:57.13, while Kathryn Bailey (2:06.51), Michelle Carroll
(2:08.31) and Natalie Stringer (2:10.36) all swam well in the same
event. Hannah Green swam extremely well dropping multiple seconds
from her previous best times in her two events, the 200 individual medley
(2:21.29) and the 100 breast (1.12.48). Ashley Young and Maddie
Murphy swam the 50 free in 25.23 and 26.03 respectively and the 100 free in
54.76 (Young) and 56.81 (Murphy).
All
in all, the teams performed well. We had some great individual
performances and some good races, and we look toward the CIF prelims on Wednesday
to swim faster and hopefully qualify as many people as possible for Saturday's
CIF Finals.
CHS Baseball Takes Two from Mission Bay
If
the Nike ad campaign from several years ago is true and ‘Chicks dig the long
ball,” then the members of the CHS Baseball Team may have trouble
getting dates to prom. Heading into last week’s play only Ryan Shepherd
had hit a homer and that was against the hapless Crawford Colts. But last week
when faced with must-win games to stay in the Western League pennant race, the
Islanders responded with two wins and their bats came alive.
The
first game of the two-game set was a home tilt against the Buccaneers, who have
won more CIF titles over the years than you can count. In this game, won by
Coronado 4-0, the Islanders had six hits, which is a slugfest by recent
Coronado offensive standards, with Hunter Ralph going 2-3 to account for
the squad’s only multi-hit game. Sean MacDonald contributed two RBIs,
Ralph had one and runs were scored by Keith Englehart, Justin Parsons, Ralph
and pinch runner Bryan Karamoto.
But
the big story was the outstanding pitching effort from senior right-hander Kyle
Couture who pitched a complete game shutout, scattered five hits and struck
out 12 Buccaneer batters. In the process, Couture lowered his ERA for the
season to a dazzling 1.52 and improved his record to 7-0.
“Mission
Bay is significantly down from where they have been for the 10 years I have
been coaching,” said Islander Head Coach Sam Ceci. “But they played
pretty well. The first game was closer than the score might indicate. Kyle was
in command the whole way Tuesday.”
Thursday
Coronado traveled to Mission Bay, which has a much smaller playing field than
the Islanders Park and the Islanders took that opportunity to bust out the
bats. The Islanders pounded out 10 hits, with 10 players having one hit each.
But the headline for the game were the two Big Flies, one each from MacDonald
and Parsons, doubling the previous Coronado home run output for the season in a
single game.
Coronado
prevailed 5-1 as pitcher Bryan Crabb yielded only one run in six innings
to earn the victory, while Mason Mills pitched the seventh inning to
earn the save. Crabb’s record is now 6-4, which compliments a very nifty 1.66
ERA.
As
the Islanders were taking the measure of Mission Bay, University City was
defeating Western League leader Cathedral Catholic 10-6. The loss by the Dons
lessened their lead over Coronado to one game with two games to play. The
league schedule maker added some gravity to the situation, as the Islanders and
the Dons conclude the regular season against each other this week. Tuesday
Coronado plays at Cathedral and the Dons make the trip south to Coronado
Thursday. Both games have 3 pm starting times.
“We
definitely have something to play for,” said Ceci of his team. “To win the
league, we have to sweep them, which will be a pretty tall order. One win would
be really beneficial for us for seeding purposes (in the Division IV CIF
Playoffs). This week is really huge. We would love to win the Western League.
If we swing the bats, we have a chance. I know they (Cathedral) will.”
CHS Boys Volleyball Spikes Their Way Into
Division IV Playoffs
Quietly
and without much fanfare, the CHS Boys Volleyball Team won their final
Central League game against Madison in straight games last week. At week’s end,
the Islanders were rewarded with an appearance in the CIF Division IV Playoffs.
Wednesday Coronado (7-6) will travel to Mater Dei Catholic (7-17) for a 7 pm
game.
According
to Head Coach Adam Lockwood, the Islanders won their match against
Madison in rather routine fashion. “We won in three straight and we were able
to get everybody into the game. It was a good team effort, but we didn’t have
to play fantastically well to win.”
The
big match of recent weeks was a re-match with Lincoln, who topped the Islanders
on a controversial call in their first meeting. But this time the Islanders
prevailed in a tight five-game match, led by Cotter Stacy. “Cotter has
played real well the past couple of weeks,” Lockwood said. “And Chris
Maskevich is coming along pretty quickly.”
Lockwood
provided a brief summary of the season. “We were 7-5 in league and we beat the
teams we should beat. Clairemont and Hoover beat us twice and Lincoln once. I
thought we had a chance against Hoover the second time we played them. The win
over Lincoln was probably our best win of the season. There were a total of 17
teams going for the 12 playoff spots in Division IV.”
Girls Lacrosse Wins Twice Last Week
If
Westside Lax.com is accurate, the high flying CHS Girls Lacrosse Team,
currently 15-3, should emerge with the No. 2 seed when the CIF Playoff seeding
is announced Wednesday.
Last
week the Islanders did nothing to dissuade the somewhat mysterious CIF seeding
committee’s deliberative process, as they defeated Patrick Henry 13-5 and then
defeated long-time rival La Jolla 12-10.
Briefly,
let’s return to the playoff seeding discussion. Lacrosse is the lone team sport
in the CIF San Diego Section which does not have divisions. It’s everybody in
the same pool, so to speak. Huge schools often compete against adversaries with
much smaller enrollments. Thus Coronado, a school with a little under 1,100
students competes against La Costa Canyon (2,548 enrollment) and Rancho
Bernardo (2,851).
Westside
Lax.com ranks defending CIF Champion LCC No. 2 in the state and Coronado is No.
3. Other possible competitors for high seeds from San Diego County include No.
8 Scripps Ranch, No. 11 Rancho Bernardo and No. 12 Torrey Pines. St. Ignatius
Prep from the Bay Area holds the No. 1 state ranking.
According
to CHS Head Coach Jessica Battle, it may not matter where the Islanders
are seeded. “The semi-final and final games are going to be neck and neck. The
opponent doesn’t matter. We have a psychological thing with La Costa Canyon and
I would rather wait until the end (championship game) to play them. We should
be No. 2, but we lost to Rancho Bernardo early in the year and they may put us
third.”
Back
to last week, multiple goals from Coco O’Brien, Jillian Reidy, Michaela
Guerrera, Melissa Humphrey and C.J. Fisher paced the Islanders to victory
over Patrick Henry.
The
more interesting game came Friday night when the Islanders faced La Jolla, in
what may be a rekindling of a recently dormant rivalry, if the closeness of the
score is any indication. “We didn’t play poorly,” Battle said of her team. “La
Jolla played exceptionally well. O’Brien and Reidy had four goals each, while
Humphrey had three. Guerrera had a goal as well. Our defense played well and
was like a basketball game, with the action fast paced back and forth. Kirsten
Krock played really well at D-wing for us.”
Coronado
will host their first round playoff game Saturday, possibly in the morning. The
final game time and opponent have yet to be determined.
CHS Boys Golf Sends Two Linksters to CIF
‘Really
close’ can be defined by the distance that Coronado finished out of the running
for the 16th and final slot in the CIF Team Golf Championships this
year. The Islanders finished in 17th place, missing the
championships by roughly one missed putt per match over the course of the
entire season.
But
if that is the bad news, then the good news according to Head Coach Randy
Coutts is that Islanders Connor Pompa and Alex Valle qualified
for CIF play as individuals. Pompa had a slightly better stroke average
per nine holes than Valle, but the latter won more medalist honors in Islander
matches this season than Pompa. By either measure, both rightfully made the
CIFs.
Back
to the bad news briefly, Coutts, Pompa and Valle get to spend a large chunk of
their day Wednesday at the Warner Springs golf course, which is a long ride in
a Cadillac (even longer in a school district van) from Coronado. “Both Connor
and Alex have a chance to advance,” said Coutts of his two players. If they
qualify, the trio will be back at Warner Springs next Wednesday as well.
“It
was a good year and a fun year,” said Coutts of his team’s efforts. “We have a
good squad coming up from the Coronado Middle School program. Several of those
kids are a year away from varsity competition and they are already playing
well. We have a lot of kids coming up from the eighth grade.”
Girls Softball Falls to University City
Last
week the Coronado Softball Team fell to Western League champion
University City 7-2, which is no disgrace as the Centurions will also likely be
the No. 1 seed in the CIF Division III playoffs which begin this week.
“Kayla
Englehart had a triple and Brianna Feist pitched well,” said
Islander Head Coach Tony Isabella. “They threw their No. 1 pitcher
against us and we still had four hits. Our girls are starting to play some good
ball. We played a good game defensively, but it was a pretty routine loss. We
finish our league schedule Tuesday at Mission Bay.”
The
CIF seeding meeting will be held Thursday and the Islanders, who compete in
Division IV, will have a play-in game Friday, probably at home. Should Coronado
win, they will then advance to an eight-team, double-elimination tournament
playing down to the CIF champion.
Congratulations to NCAA Champs from Coronado
We
don’t normally venture too far afield from CHS sports in “Nado Natterings,” but
the recent NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships, held in
Water Polo Add II
Saturday,
May 30 at 6 pm, the USA Women’s National Water Polo Team, will host the
Canadian Women’s National Team in a FINA Women’s World League preliminary match
at the
Tickets
are available at the USA Water Polo website and cost $7 for adults and $5 for
children. If web shopping isn’t your thing, tickets will be available at the
door and will cost $10 for adults and $7 for children. Buy your tickets now to
see world class water polo in
Water Polo Add III
Word
comes from CHS Boys Water Polo Head Coach Randy Burgess that there will
be a boys water polo clinic put on by current Division I Men’s Water Polo Head
Coach Jack Kocur Friday May 29 and Saturday May 30 at the
The
clinic is open to all returning high school boys water polo players in
For
additional details regarding the clinic, please contact Coach Burgess at
522-8907, Ext. 2804.