Playing your best as the season is about to wrap up is always a positive sign and the Coronado High School Boys Golf Team did just that last week, shooting their best team score of the campaign as they defeated Santa Fe Christian 198-213 at Morgan Run.

Last week at this time, it appeared that one or more teams from outlying areas of the CIF San Diego Section were going to touch out the Islanders for the last spot in the Division II team playoffs. However the pesky detail of not supplying their scores from throughout the regular season got in the way and Coronado was allowed to take the last spot.

“The kids took it as an affront that they had to play their way in,” said Head Coach Randy Coutts. “They looked the other team in the eye and thought ‘we have nothing to lose’.” Leading the charge by the Islanders was Alex Valle, who earned co-medalist honors with a 38. Brian Turley and Jake Schwartz followed closely with matching rounds of 39 and Jordan Oval shot a 42.

The big breakthrough was supplied by Nick Spear, who shot a 40, his best round of the season. “Nick has figured it out and he has a lot of confidence right now,” said Coutts. “He has become a better player. Our freshmen, Oval and Spear, have developed and become good players.”

Coutts also praised Valle for his round. “Alex stepped up and did his job. He’s consistent, which is good to have. He’s a senior and helping the team make the Division II playoffs is a nice sendoff for him.”

Monday the team, which includes senior Nick Milburn, will head to Warner Springs to play a practice round on the CIF course. The Division II or smaller schools tee off Tuesday morning, with the Division I schools playing in the afternoon. “We played the course during spring break,” said Coutts. “Everyone except Spear has seen the course before. If the kids don’t get overwhelmed, they will be all right. It will be a real test to see where we are.”

To continue play after Tuesday’s first round, the team as a whole will have to finish either in fourth or fifth place to compete in the second round. If the team doesn’t advance, individual Islanders can continue to compete if they make the cut. Coutts said cut was a 77 last year, and the number may be even lower this year.

In the playoff with Santa Fe Christian, six players played nine holes each, with the best five scores combined to make the team score. In the CIF playoffs, six players play 18 holes each day, with the best five scores counted.

Islander Swimmers Compete in City Conference Finals

CHS Head Swim Coach Dave Throop provides an overview of the Islanders success in the City Conference Finals held last weekend. “The CHS Boys finished in second place, just behind champion La Jolla.  We swam well in prelims and re-qualified many of our initial entrants into the championship and scoring portion of the meet.  

The only negative which factored into our scoring was that in the prelims Rex Butler was disqualified in the 50 free for a false start.  The potential difference in points was 17, which if returning CIF champion Rex Butler had been allowed to swim the event, the points he may have scored could have been the difference.  

Individual champions were Brennan Casey in the 50 free in 22.47, Butler in the 100 free in 47.53, and Andrew Ireland in the 100 back in 53.19.  Casey and Butler teamed along with Van Burgess and Tommy Schofer to win the 200 free relay in 1:29.48, while Andrew, Rex, Van and Tommy teamed up again to win the 400 free relay in 3:15.49.  Looking forward to the coming CIF meet, we think that our lineup is solid and we should be in the mix for the CIF championship with La Jolla, Mt. Carmel and of course there will be the surprise unknown team who'll perform well.  

The CHS Girls finished in third place behind champion Cathedral Catholic and runner-up Patrick Henry. We had a couple hiccups in the early part of prelims and started slowly, but as the meet progressed we swam faster and raced well.  

In the finals, Ashley Young won the 50 free as our only individual winner in 24.89, with Kelly Ronimus and Maddie Murphy tying for third in 25.77. The combination of Murphy, Ronimus, Young and Hannah Green won the 200 free relay.  The same combination of swimmers also placed second in the 400 free relay.  

We are looking forward to the CIF meet, to see how many girls we qualify.  I would anticipate that Cathedral and Mt. Carmel are the front runners. But in the past, we've seen that a couple of strong individual performances, followed by scoring well in the relays, can get a team right into the mix. We hope that is our fortune.  

While the City Conference meet scores the Top 16 swimmers in two fields of eight, a finals and consolation heat, the CIF meet scores only the Top 12 swimmers.  Cathedral, as does Coronado on both the boys and girls teams, scores most of their points with the championship heat points, while La Jolla scored a lot of points in the consolation heat.  In other words, Cathedral's top heavy in points and should maintain their advantage, while La Jolla gets their depth points from swimmers who may not compete in the CIF meet.  

We have an even mix of points from both heats, but we do score a majority of our points in the championship heats rather than the consolation heats and there is a demonstrative difference in the total points acquired.  

Both guys and girls prelims are Thursday afternoon, with a 2:30 pm start. The CIF Finals are Saturday afternoon beginning at 3 p.m. Both phases of the meet are held at the BBMAC, with Division I beginning Wednesday and their Finals on Saturday morning.”

CHS Girls Lacrosse Posts 3-0 Week

CHS Head Coach Jessica Battle noted last week that the Islanders game with girls lacrosse upstart Santa Fe Christian would be, um, a battle. And it was with the Islanders prevailing 9-8 at home. The close result lends further credence to Battle’s theory that the field for the 2010 CIF title finds “eight or nine teams neck and neck.”

The Islanders went on a five-goal scoring fest at the beginning of the second half, only to have SFC run off four straight goals of their own. The Islanders had enough left to hold on for the victory. Michaela Guerrera and Kaitlyn Couture scored three goals each. Single goals came from Coco O’Brien, C.J. Fisher and Alex Reidy.

County powerhouse La Costa Canyon was next on the docket and the Islanders prevailed 13-11. “We were ahead 7-5 at the half,” recounted Battle of the game against the defending CIF champions. “We scored a goal and they scored three to make the score 8-8. Then we went on a three-goal run and wound up winning 13-11.” Couture and Guerrera each scored three goals and added an assist. Lauren Maack and Reidy scored twice each with an assist. Single goals came from Anna Turpit, O’Brien, and Fisher. Goalie Meganne Weissenfels was credited with nine saves.

The La Jolla final was 13-8 and according to battle, “was an ugly, awful game. There is no reason we should have won by only five goals. Coco O’Brien played great, scoring five goals.”

So, you might ask, where are the Islanders (9-0 in the City Conference, 17-2 overall) in the grand scheme of things as the playoffs approach at the end of next week? Coronado has one regular season game remaining, with Cathedral Catholic, on the road Tuesday at 6 pm. They have clinched the City Conference title, with the Islanders holding a two-game lead over Scripps Ranch.

“We’ll probably be seeded second,” said Battle of the playoffs, which begin Friday evening. We lost to Torrey Pines badly (13-3 on April 1) and they can’t seed us first.”

The playoff schedule will be a home game Friday night, a home game Saturday May 22, a semi-final home game Tuesday, May 25; and the CIF Finals at Rancho Bernardo Thursday, May 27.

For the first time, the CIF Boys and Girls Lacrosse championships won’t run concurrently. The change was made so that there is no longer a conflict for players wishing to attend the Women’s Lacrosse Nationals.

Islander Softball Closing Fast on Central League Title

CHS Softball played twice last week and didn’t yield a single run in their two Central League victories. With one Central League game remaining with San Diego High School, the Islanders have a one game lead in the standings. To put it another way, the Islanders have captured at least a tie for the Central League crown.

In Coronado’s first game, Head Coach Tony Isabella dispatched Alanna Pompa to the mound and the junior hurler pitched a no-hit, no-run game as the Islanders won 10-0 in five innings. “Our defense stepped up and preserved the no-hitter for Alanna,” said Isabella. 

Hitting stars included Rachel Bible, who was 2-2 with two RBIs including a triple and Shannon Julius who was 3-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Then it was on to Lincoln High School, which is Isabella’s alma mater. “It was fun to go back, but it was a bittersweet victory.” The last portion of that thought is attributable to the final score, which found Coronado winning 19-0 in five innings. Bree Feist had eight strikeouts in pitching the shutout and gave up only three hits. In addition, Feist went 4-5 at the plate with three RBIs.

Bible and Pompa were both 2-3 with an RBI; Julius was 2-5 with two RBIs and a double; senior Grace Puglisi was 1-3 with two RBIs; and Jodi Adair hit a three-run homer over the center field fence. “Jodi is a sophomore and played very well at shortstop for us the whole game,” Isabella added.

But the big bat belonged to Anik Ribera, who was 2-3 with five RBIs. “Anik’s first home run was hit so hard, it sailed across Imperial Avenue,” Isabella said. “At our field, it would have landed on the running track around the football field. It was the longest ball I’ve ever seen hit in high school. Her second homer was a grand slam to right center field. I can’t say enough about her hitting.”

With the CIF softball seeding meetings coming Thursday, Isabella said that the Central League rep is recommending a No. 2 seed for Coronado. “If that happens, it will be a great tribute to the girls and the coaching staff. Our first playoff game should be a week from Saturday (May 29). We’re looking forward to being league champs and going into the playoffs.”

Track and Field News

CHS Track and Field Head Coach George Green opens his report with a pithy remark about our colleagues at the large local paper and then details the exploits of his team from last week.

“In the off-chance that you missed the results in the “Union-Tribune” sports section that were splashed across the inside rear page in 6-point type, I'll recap last week's Track and Field action.

The various league track and field championships were held during the week with prelims early in the week at various locations and all finals on Friday at Cathedral Catholic.

No team championships were at stake because, at this point in the season, track becomes mainly an individual sport with the finals serving to determine the event champions and who will advance to the CIF preliminaries. The Central League prelims were held at Lincoln Tuesday.  The Friday meet is also called the City Conference Championship because, in addition to the Central League, the Western and Eastern Leagues were there as well. This makes for a long day but it's necessary to run everyone in the conference on the same day and at the same place. This is because one component of the CIF qualification process is how well an athlete performed at the league finals, compared to everyone else in their conference.  Only the top two finishers out of each event and those whose performance meets a CIF qualification standard are guaranteed one of the 18 spots per event at the CIF finals.

When the last runner crossed the line at around 8 pm Friday, the Islanders had crowned four league champions and advanced nine athletes to the CIF prelims

In the ‘league champion’ category were juniors Sadie Gimber, Maddy Danielson, and Aryan Shay, all of whom set a personal best time while winning their respective specialties.   Gimber's time in the 400 was 58.99; well below the CIF standard of 61.01. Danielson clocked 47.50 in the 300 hurdles, also well-under the CIF standard for that event of 48.99. Earlier in the day she clocked a personal best time of 17.36 seconds in the 100 hurdles, so she goes to the CIF prelims in both hurdle events. 

Shay had a great duel with Clairemont's Eamonn McCarey and pulled away for the win with a personal best of 2:01.02 to McCarey's 2:02.75. I look for Shay to be under two minutes by the CIF finals.

 Our fourth league title came in the girls' pole vault, as both the Islander's Briana Giorgione and Clairemont's McKenzie Johnson cleared 9-3 with Giorgione taking the Central League crown based on fewer misses. In the boys' pole vault Will Bartsch cleared a personal best height of 13 feet 3 inches. He had a couple of close misses at 13-9 (the current school record) but had to settle for second place to Clairemont's Brian Huff who did clear 13-9. Still, Bartsch's height advanced him to the prelims by both place and by beating the CIF standard (which is 12-9).

We advanced two runners in the girls' 3,200-meter run. Adie Davies advanced by both place and standard (second place with a time of 11:43) and Meg Sweeney placed third, but her time of  11:49.30 was under the CIF standard of 11:53.44. Freshman Ashley Engleman placed fifth but didn't advance.

Davies also advanced in the 1,600 meters by placing third with a time of 5:17.11 which was around 5 seconds under the standard. Both Sweeney and Annie Lovering may yet advance in the 1600, as both are high in the alternate list. Nicole Davies could advance in the 800 for the same reason. Sallie Privett advanced in the 800-meter run, as did sophomore all-around athlete Alex Evans, in the pole vault. Evans also placed seventh in the shot put.

In the realm of personal bests and great efforts, Andrew Smith made it to the league finals in three events and produced respectable marks of 11.86 in the 100, 23.44 in the 200, and 19 feet 5 inches in the long jump. There's a chance he'll scratch into the meet in the 200 because he's the fourth alternate. Male sprinters tend to drop-out from injury and for, um, academic considerations. Finally, sophomore Will Funk cracked the magic 5-minute barrier in the 1600-meter run with a 4:57.1 clocking.

For everyone else the season ended with league prelims or league finals. However there were some good performances even though they didn't advance. Freshmen Samantha Kirk and Elise Umansky showed good speed, with Kirk clocking 13.73 in the 100 and Umansky 64.06 in the 400. Sophomores Olivia Lillegraven and Lauren Bower had busy days with the former placing fifth in the 100 hurdles in 18.3 seconds; third in the long jump with 14 feet, 4 inches; and sixth in the triple jump with a jump of 29 feet, 7 inches.

Bower placed sixth in the 100 with a time of 14.1 seconds, as well as fifth in the long jump with 14 feet, one and one-half inches.  Junior Yvonne Wood placed seventh in the triple jump with a jump of 29 feet, 5 inches, as well as eighth in the long jump. Giorgione, in addition to winning the pole vault, shared the third place spot in the high jump with Brittany Hallawell.  Up and coming freshman pole vaulter Jack Gold soared over 9 feet, 3 inches for fourth place.  Carlos Montes, Joseph Bruno, Michael Cerdinio, Kyle Schaff and Cristinia DeScisciolo ended their season in the 1,600 prelims on Tuesday but all either set personal records, or were close to their best times. The season also ended for Freddy Smith, Jorge Rodriguez and Stavros Markakis in the shot put and discus throws, but they had great seasons and scored a lot of points for the boys' team.

The CIF prelims will be at Mt. Carmel this Saturday, with the finals at the same site the following Saturday.”

Boys Volleyball Concludes Season on High Note

Entering the CIF Division IV Playoffs with the No. 7 seed, the CHS Boys Volleyball Team hosted a first round match last week with Escondido Adventist. Coronado emerged with a straight-set win by the scores of 25-16, 25-23 and 25-14.

Will Cumming got the match off to a good start for the Islanders with a kill for a side out. Chris Maskevich followed shortly with another kill for a side out, and then served for three straight points and Coronado led 5-2. The teams traded points for a while, Cumming later serving for thee points and Nick De Marco serving for three more to make the score 24-15. A well-placed quick set from Jake Nicholson for a Maskevich kill completed the first game.

The second set was a challenge for the Islanders as they saw a 4-1 lead evaporate when Escondido Adventist ran off seven straight points. The teams traded points before David Rodriguez ran off four straight serves for an 11-10 Coronado lead. The Hawks battled back and held a 23-18 lead when De Marco had a kill to earn a side out and Rodriguez served out the match with six consecutive points. Nicholson had two kill shots in the run, as did Kevin Clay and Coronado won 25-23.

Midway through game three, Maskevich served for five straight points to make the score 18-12 and Cumming later served for six straight points, including a kill from the back row and the 25-14 win. Sean MacKenzie had a kill on game point to complete the sweep.

Friday night the Islanders traveled to No. 2 seed Santa Fe Christian, with Coronado falling 25-19, 25-17 and 25-13. Head Coach Steve Merrill said his club, “Played their best game all season,” against SFC. Merrill mentioned the contributions of Maskevich who dominated the net, De Marco who had several digs, and Rodriguez, who was “outstanding.”

Islander Boys Tennis Wins CIF Playoff Match

Traveling to El Centro isn’t high on the list of things Coronado athletes enjoy doing, but the CHS Boys Tennis Team made it work for them last week. The Islanders won 12-6 and that was with two of the singles matches being forfeited so Coronado could get back home at a decent hour. ‘Decent hour’ in this case was 9 pm, with a match against Western League foe La Jolla on tap for the following day.

Greg Lyon and Sean Lee both won the two singles matches they played, before the two strategic forfeits. The doubles teams of Luke Hoffman/Kyle Koshland and Scott Samperio/Chip Fisher won two of their three sets. Brad Matheus/Grey Halpin swept their three sets.

Wednesday arrived pretty early and that afternoon Coronado trundled off to La Jolla and emerged on the short end of a 17-1 loss. Lyon won the lone set for Coronado.

This week the Islanders are enrolled in the Western League Tournament. According to Head Coach Leslie Koshland, Lee and Lyon will compete in singles. The double teams that will compete include Hoffman/Koshland, Matheus/Halpin, Fisher/Sean Koshland and Samperio/Cody Webster. The Islanders will have to advance well into the Western League brackets to qualify for the CIF Individuals that will be held next week.

CHS Baseball Drops Pair to League-Leading Cathedral Catholic

Last week the Islander Baseball Team had a tough schedule, and their assignment was to play two games against Western League leader Cathedral Catholic. The Islander lost 3-0 at home Wednesday and 11-4 on the road Friday.

Wednesday the Islanders (8-17 overall, 2-7 Western League) received a good pitching effort from sophomore lefty Jake Meloche, who yielded three earned runs and eight hits over six innings. “Jake kept the game within reach,” said Head Coach Sam Ceci. “Jake pitched tough in a losing effort. A couple of key hits here or there and we could have been in the game. We had two or three good scoring opportunities, but we couldn’t get it done. It was a well-played game. You are going to lose some of those kinds of games, especially to the league leader. Zack Wheeler made a couple of nice catches in the outfield.”

The Islander offense totaled four hits, including a double from Wheeler and one from Tyler Brownell. Wheeler is still leading Coronado with a .385 batting average and 12 stolen bases. Meloche now has a 1.80 ERA.

Friday the Islanders jumped out to a 3-0 lead before falling 11-4. “The wheels kind of fell off at the end,” said Ceci. Shortstop Patrick Toomey had the lone multi-hit game for Coronado, going 2-3 with a run scored. Kyle Teachout and Wheeler had the lone extra base hits, as both had doubles in the contest.

This week Coronado hosts Point Loma Monday, travels to Point Loma Wednesday and then has a make-up game with University City on the road Thursday. The Islanders, due to their strength of schedule, will qualify for the CIF Division IV Playoffs. The post-season seedings will be announced Saturday, with the play-in game slated for Tuesday, May 25.

Islander Sailing News

Head Coach Jon Rogers provides an update on the CHS Sailing Team and their trip to the Nationals. “The CHSST followed up its State Championship with a sixth place finish at last weekend’s High School Nationals in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The Top 18 teams in the United States sailed 21 races each in fierce conditions, with winds over 20 knots and temperatures dipping into the 40’s. The team can be very proud of how they competed and how they represented their school and community.

Congratulations to the Nationals Team of sophomore Esteban Forrer; juniors Hans Henken and Kaitlin Dunphey; and graduating seniors Morgan Bower, Alexa Cavalieri, Karisa Chapa and Philip Lozier, who have been an awesome part of CHSST for many years. All the sailors, supporters and team volunteers will be recognized at our annual banquet May 22.”

CHS Sports Alumni News

San Diego State pitcher Bryan Crabb (CHS ’09) was injured Friday night in a game played against Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. Crabb was struck by a line drive on the side of his head, and sustained a minor skull fracture. Crabb was scheduled to remain in the hospital through Tuesday, and will return home with his father Greg Crabb, who was in Provo for the game.

Although he won’t be able to play for the balance of the current season, a full recovery is expected for Crabb. “He’s a tough kid and I’m sure he will come through this okay,” said Crabb’s high school coach, Sam Ceci. “He’ll bounce back and have all summer to deal with it. Hopefully he won’t suffer any ill effects from the injury.”

Crabb was on the mound in the CIF Division IV Championship game against Christian High School his junior year in 2008, when he was hit with a line drive on the shin. Crabb remained in the game, kept his composure and helped lead the Islanders to the 5-1 victory. It remains one of the gutsier performances I have seen from an Islander athlete.

On a brighter note, the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Finals were held over the weekend at San Diego State. It marked a reunion week of sorts as four CHS water polo players participated in the event. Alex Adamson played for Michigan, while Katie Estrada, Morgan Ronimus and Hannah Sebenaler all competed for UCLA. The NCAA championship team for 2010 is USC.

Coronado Youth Softball Awards

Coronado Youth Softball recently presented their post season awards. The first is the 8-and-Under Good Sport Award, which was presented to Anna Jipping. The award was established in 2007, in honor of Doug Weisbarth, who dedicated 20 years of service as a coach, umpire, and Little League District 32 director for softball. This award is presented to the player who best displays superior sportsmanship, enthusiasm, team play, loyalty, honesty and respect for the game.

The 10-and-Under award is called the Debbie Kruer Memorial Award and was established in 2006. This year’s winner, recognized for her superior sportsmanship, perseverance, honesty, enthusiasm, team play and respect for the game, is Brynn Umansky. Kruer dedicated many years to being a team parent and softball supporter.

The Betsy Vernetti Award, established in 1999, is named in honor of Mrs. Betsy Vernetti, a past Little League president and Board Member, who was instrumental in establishing the softball program in Coronado. This year’s award goes to Bridget Winn in the 12-and under division. She was deemed to best demonstrate superior sportsmanship, loyalty, honesty, enthusiasm, team play, and respect for the game.