Islander Girls Lacrosse leading scorer Coco O’Brien was at it again last week, as the senior scored three times to help lead her team to a road win at Patrick Henry, by the score of 15-3. Head Coach Jess Battle described the second meeting between the two clubs as a “team effort.”

Battle continued to say, “We were able to play everyone. Mollie Privett did really well and Cory De Marco had a good game. Goalie Meganne Weissenfels had a great game. Michaela Guerrera also had three goals for us.”

Then it was on to Thursday’s home game with Cathedral Catholic, which had a similar result. O’Brien scored five goals and the Islanders came out on top 13-5. Weissenfels had another nice outing in goal, this time with 12 saves to her credit. Scoring support came from Niki Kruger, Anna Turpit and Alex Reidy, all of whom had multiple goal-scoring efforts.

This week arrives with two events of note. It will be the first full week of practice for junior center Kaitlyn Couture, who has missed the season thus far with a fractured bone in her foot. Battle described Couture’s playing style as “tenacious,” which may actually be an understatement.

The other event is an Islander home game Tuesday night at 7 pm, when Coronado hosts Scripps Ranch for an important City Conference game. The Falcons have essentially replaced La Jolla High School as the sole challenger to Coronado for the league title. The previous game between the two teams, played at Scripps Ranch, saw Coronado emerge with an 8-7 victory. This meeting determines the league championship.

Battle is looking forward to challenging the North County lacrosse powerhouses that the Islanders saw early in the season, before her team was at full strength.

Islander Softball Squad Wins Twice in Central League

The CHS Girls Softball Team had a laugher and a nail biter in Central League competition last week, but won both games. Their first outing was a 9-0 home win over Lincoln, which featured a 10-strikeout effort from Islander hurler Bree Feist, who as luck would have it, was also the Coronado hitting star. Feist was 2-4, including a homer with two runs scored. Shannon Julius, Rachel Bible, and Olivia Nebo all had two hits and at least one RBI.

“Lincoln is a very good hitting team and they were aggressive at the plate,” said Islander Head Coach Tony Isabella. “We played a very good game defensively.”

The nail biter was a road game at San Diego High School, which saw Coronado jump out to a 4-0 lead, trail 8-5, take a 10-8 lead and eventually hold on to win 10-9. Isabella used three pitchers, including Anik Ribera, Lakota Abdalla who was just promoted from the JV and finally Feist, who pitched the final two frames and earned the victory.

It was bombs away for the Islanders as Kayla Englehart was 2-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Alanna Pompa led off the top of the sixth inning with what Isabella described as “a towering homer to right center field. It was a beautiful shot into the teeth of the wind.” Jessica Adair was 3-3, with a sacrifice bunt and a crucial steal of third base in Coronado’s sixth inning rally. Ribera, Englehart and Julius all scored twice each.

Coronado currently has an overall record of 8-3 and is 6-1 in Central League play. The Islander’s lone league loss is to Madison, which is undefeated in league play. This week the Islanders have a big home game Tuesday when they host Our Lady of Peace at 3 pm. Thursday Coronado plays at Hoover.

CHS Swimming Team Posts Fine Mid-Season Times

Islander Head Swimming Coach Dave Throop provides a report on his team’s recent competition, which included some good times from his athletes. “We swam against University City Friday at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center.  In an anticipated result, the competition was more among the Islanders and their teammates than with the Centurions, which allowed some race pairings of equal ability in hopes of swimming fast times.

On the Boys’ side, Tommy Schofer swam a time of 1:55.90 in the 200 free, holding off teammate Lex Aponte who swam a 1:56.73 and Garret Eyer who posted a time of 1:59.14.  Andrew Ireland swam a 47.77 100 free, his best mark of the season so far.  In a close competition, Rex Butler was touched out for second place with a time of 48.06 in the same race, while Van Burgess swam a good 51.02.  

Braydon Hummeldorf swam a nice 200 individual medley with a time of 2:13.20.  In the 100 fly, Josh Williams swam a 59.48 while teammate Garrett Sabesky swam a 1:01.96. In the 100 back, Ireland swam a controlled 56.75 and the 100 breast was won by Sabesky in a time of 1:06.12, while Hummeldorf was second with a 1:08.63.

On the Girls’ side, Savannah Marston dove and earned a score of 155.40 to win the event, followed by teammate and younger sibling Miranda Marston's 125.23 to score the first 10 points of the meet.   In the 200 free, Maddie Murphy led off the race in a furious pace to hold on for the win in a time of 2:06.70, with Natalie Stringer chasing her down and just running out of real estate in a time of 2:07.22. Hannah Green paced to a 2:08.34 for third place.  

Cathy White swam a nice 1:08.33 in the 100 fly, while Ashley Young won the 100 free in an uncontested time of 56.46. Kaylee Ginnane placed second with a nice 59.46 and Stringer swam to a third place finish in a 1:00.08.  Sidney Hoshko led all swimmers in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:08.91, while White was second in 1:09.68 and Lauren Carroll completed the sweep in a 1:09.82.  

We host Cathedral Catholic on Wednesday at the BBMAC. With Cathedral as one of the other challengers in both the Conference and in the CIF's, it should give us an idea of who will swim what events.  The meet should have some good races, and we will train through the week regardless of the meet on Wednesday, with the anticipation of a showdown in May.”

Islander Track Squad Competes with Hoover

Last week the Islanders hosted Hoover in a track meet and Head Track Coach George Green provides the details. “The Girls' Track Team had an easy win over Hoover last Wednesday by the score of 88-26.

Now that the season is half-over and we've had a chance to see the strengths and weaknesses of the other Central League teams, it appears the Islander girls have a very good chance to win the league championship. That will be all but determined this Thursday when we have a double-dual meet with the other two undefeated teams in our league, Clairemont and Lincoln, at Lincoln.

Clairemont has a good distance and mid-distance team as well as some decent jumpers, while Lincoln a few good sprinters, jumpers and throwers.  Neither is strong in all events however. Our girls, on the other hand, are balanced with at least one "point getter" in every event and in some events, like the hurdles and horizontal jumps, we're very deep.

In the Hoover meet we had four girls over 14 feet in the long jump, including Cassie Callahan, Olivia Lillegraven, Stephanie Hamilton, and Alexandra Evans, with Yvonne Wood and Brittany Hallawell right behind in fifth and sixth place.  Maddy Danielson won the 100-meter hurdles with Lillegraven, Callahan and Danielle Swanson a step back. These four have been trading places in this event all season.

Danielson also won her specialty, the 300-meter hurdles, in 48.97, followed by Callahan in 50.17. Evans, who tried the long jump for the first time, also won both the shot put and discus throw. Hoover's top athlete, De'Nisha Spruill, won both the triple jump and high jump but Callahan and Wood took the second and third places in the former event, while Briana Giorgione and Hallawell took the second and third places in the latter. Spruill also won both the 100 and 200 sprints with Lauren Bower and Giorgione placing second and third in the 100 and Wood second in the 200. Do the math and you'll see that Spruill scored 20 of Hoover's 26 points.  Giorgione also set a personal record in the pole vault at 9 feet, 8 inches, which puts her among the top dozen female vaulters in San Diego County.

In the longer running events, sisters Adie Davies and Nicole Davies, finished first and second in the 800 meters with great times of 2:25.2 and 2:26.6 respectively.  Sallie Privett, Annie Lovering, and Meg Sweeney swept the 1,600 meters, with Privett and Sweeney saving energy for an invitational event (see below) on Saturday. Last years’ Division II 400-meter champion, Sadie Gimber, is coming into form with a 60.33 clocking, followed by freshmen Elise Umansky and Ashley Engleman in second and third.

The CHS Boys Track Team was outnumbered by the Hoover squad, but still managed to keep it close enough to be interesting with a final score of 72-49.  Andrew Smith turned in a time of 11.67 while winning the 100 meters and came back later to place second in a near photo-finish with Hoover's Dame Ndiaye in 23.33. Adan Santin was third in the 100 and second in the long jump behind Smith.

Aryan Shay had a nice double by winning the 1,600 meters in 4:44 and the 800 in 2:06. In the pole vault Will Bartsch came very close to clearing 13 feet for the first time, but had to settle for 12-6. Up and coming freshman Stavros Markakis, throwing the shot for only the second time in a high school meet, threw a little over 34 feet. That mark was good enough to qualify him for the Frosh/Soph championships May 1.

On Saturday Privett, Adie Davies, Sweeney, Danielson and CMS student-athlete Abigail Callahan (Cassie's sister) entered the UCSD Triton Open. This is a college meet with open registration that allows anyone to enter. Athletes are placed in events by submitted marks without regard to the age of the athlete. It's a great way for high school (and some talented middle school) athletes to get a taste of the ‘big time.’ 

Davies started off the day with a personal best time in the 1,500-meter run of 4:56.97, good enough for fourth in her heat. In the next heat Sweeney pulled away from the pack to win with a time of 5:07.96. Privett ran a personal best in her heat of the 800 while winning with a time of 2:18.97 which ranks her around sixth in the county.

Danielson had never run the 400 meter hurdles because the high school distance is only 300 meters. That additional 100 meters makes a huge difference and the 400-meter hurdles is considered one of the toughest sprint events in track. In her heat, that final 100 meters is where she took the lead to win with a time of 67.07 which was the top time of all high school athletes at the meet. Finally, Abigail Callahan just missed clearing 5 feet, 4.25 inches in the high jump which would have been personal best. Her 5 foot, 2.25 inch clearance tied her with all of the high school jumpers competing.

Coronado High School Sailing Team Update

CHSST Head Coach Jon Rogers provides an update on the Silver Fleet Championships, which were sailed two weekends ago. “Fourteen teams attended PCISA Silver Championships, hosted by Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club in San Pedro two weekends ago and sailed at "Hurricane Gulch," a premiere Southern California windsurfing and kite boarding spot.

The wind was primarily in the high teens for most of the event, reaching 20 knots at times. 
CHSST placed fifth overall with two freshman skippers, Patrick Powell and Chuck Eaton. Crewing for them were Jenny Melnick, Morgan Bower, Katie Dowling, Greg Coumes and Ryan Nies.

Twenty-eight races were completed over two days and represented the final Silver event for 2010 season. However the CHS sailors will continue to train and assist the CHS Gold Team in preparation for Nationals in Greenwich, Connecticut May 7-9.

Islander Boys Golf Tees It Up Three Times Last Week

From a Central League perspective, last week was a tough one for the Coronado Boys Golf Team, as they lost twice to Crawford, which clinched the league title for the Colts.

The week started on the bright side, with a 217-279 dismantling of Madison, with Brian Turley earning medalist honors at Coronado Municipal with a 37.

The following day Coronado hosted Crawford, with the Islanders coming out on the short end of the score 212-217. Islander Alex Valle was the medalist, carding a 39.

Thursday the two squads met again, this time at Rancho Bernardo Country Club and Coronado closed the margin to three strokes, but fell 214-217. Valle and Jake Schwartz shared medalist honors with one of the Crawford linksters. “We had two great matches and its good, friendly competition,” said CHS Head Coach Randy Coutts.” The two teams like each other.”

Coutts estimates that Coronado, which missed last year’s CIF playoffs by a stroke average of one-tenth of a point or less, is roughly two strokes better than their scoring average from last year. Normally prep competition is scored over nine holes, but to get ready for the playoffs, Coutts will have his team play 18 holes against St. Augustine and Patrick Henry Wednesday at the Sea and Air Golf Course.  “I think our kids will do well with 18 holes. Once they get on a roll, they just have to be consistent.”

CHS Boys Tennis Now 5-7 for the Season

There were a couple of bright spots for the CHS Boys Tennis Team last week, but the (pun alert) net result was two losses for the Islanders in Western League play last week. (Don’t forget to tip your waitress. I’ll be here all week.)

The first match of the week was a 10-8 loss to St. Augustine, but No. 1 singles player Greg Lyon was ‘en fuego’ winning his three sets 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0. At No. 2 singles Sean Lee (Lyon and Lee are basically interchangeable atop the Coronado lineup) won two sets 6-3 and 6-0. Robbie Cattell at No. 3 singles won a set at love. The No. 1 doubles tandem of Luke Hoffman/Kyle Koshland won one set at love and Grey Halpin/Brad Matheus won a set by the score of 7-6.

Thursday Coronado hit the road for a match at Scripps Ranch and the Islanders came out on the short end of a 13-5 result. Lee and Lyon (see, they are interchangeable) won two sets each, with Koshland/Hoffman winning once.

“I’m proud of the boys so far,” said Head Coach Leslie Koshland. “Lately we haven’t had a lot of wins, but the scores have been close. It’s a tough league, but the kids are keeping their cool.”

This week Coronado travels to University City for a Tuesday match and then they travel to La Jolla High School Thursday to face one of the perennial powers in San Diego County prep tennis.

Boys Volleyball Falls to Clairemont

For a reason not fully understood by Your Natterer, Clairemont has always had good Boys Volleyball teams, and this year is no exception. Over the years the Chieftains have risen and fallen in almost every other sport, but volleyball seems to be a touchstone of their sports offerings.

Since this is one of the better boys’ volleyball teams of recent vintage at Coronado High School, Thursday’s home match between the two schools seemed like it should be a good one.  An unusually large Islander student turnout materialized in the gym to watch the contest.

The first game was close, with the score tied 10 times and the lead changing 11 times. Trailing 16-13, Coronado went on a nice run with a kill shot from Chris Maskevich earning the Islanders a point on the side out. That effort was followed by an ace from David Rodriguez, a kill shot by Will Cumming, and another ace from Rodriguez. Coronado followed with two more points highlighted by another kill shot from Maskevich. When the smoke cleared, the Islanders held an 18-16 lead. Throughout the run, the Islanders seemed focused and benefitted from the setting of Jake Nicholson.

Coronado made another run to take a 22-18 lead, but Coronado would score only one point the rest of the set, which was sandwiched by two three-point runs from the Chieftains. The Islanders lost the first game 25-23 and seemingly the air rushed out of Coronado’s collective balloon.

In the next two games, both won by Clairemont by the scores of 25-19 and 25-20, the Islanders had six service errors in each game, for a total of 14 for the match. Essentially Coronado yielded 14 points to a good team, in a match they had a chance to win.

In game two, Clairemont ran off six straight points to take a 6-2 lead and never trailed again. In game three, the Islanders closed to within 13-12 and then  21-20 before the Chieftains scored the last four straight points to close out the match.

This week the Islanders travel to Madison Tuesday for a 3 pm contest and then host Crawford on Thursday at 3:30 pm.

Islander Varsity Sports Medicine Team Takes Fifth in State Competition

In addition to leading the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team in scoring this season, senior Coco O’Brien also found time to finish in fifth place out of hundreds of students, at the Sports Medicine Competition in Los Angeles that was held recently.  The competition consisted of a 100-question written exam and a practical test. 

In addition, the following students combined to take fifth place overall for Coronado High School as a team. The competitors included: Tamara Penticoff, Caroline Dineen-Carlson, Dylan Gouthro, Meganne Weissenfels, Jack Nicholson, Niki Kruger, Caroline D’Amico, Olivia Lillegraven, Coco Abrantes, Abel Yldefonso, Marcos Cepin, Patrick Pugeda, Antonio Ramirez, Sean Baker, and Hilary Hansen.

Virtually all of the team members are student-athletes at Coronado High School. Other schools that competed included: St. Augustine, St. Francis, Agoura, Arcadia, Bonita, Christian Brothers, Crenshaw, Downey, La Canada, Notre Dame, Palm Springs, Palmdale, Redondo Union, Rosary, South Pasadena, Temple City, Valencia, Venice, and Woodside Priory.

The Sports Medicine Team is under the direction of CHS Head Athletic Trainer Connie Martinez.

Coronado Pop Warner Football and Cheer Sign-Ups

The first round of sign-ups for Pop Warner Football and Cheer will be held in the Coronado Community Center Abalone Room from 8:30 am to 1 pm this Saturday, May 1. Follow-up registration dates include Saturday, June 12 and Saturday, July 10.

Registration fees are $170 per athlete, with the charge being $125 for each additional child from the same family. Also, Parent Night will be held July 22 at Spreckels Park from 5:30-6:30 pm. For additional information, please contact Bob Weissenfels at rdweisse@aol.com.

Coronado Little League Game Report

Joe Maggio turned in a report on a recent Majors League game between the Yankees (6-6) and the Tigers (8-5), which the Yankees won 4-2 in 10 innings. The early portion of the game included a fine pitching effort by Demetrios Chaconas, an unassisted double play by Jackson Accetta, and a sliding catch in right field by Patrick Wamsley.

This game had everything, including bad weather, as it light rain started in the sixth inning. Yankee hurler Ryan Meoni pitched five great innings, an effort that included striking out eight Tigers. Pitcher Jack Harris was equal to the task for the Tigers.

In the bottom of the 10th frame, Andy Serno, who is the youngest player in the Majors, singled up the middle. Meoni then hit a walk-off, two-run homer for the Yankees, to make the final score 6-4.