Last week several Coronado High School spring sports teams saw their 2010 season conclude, while other sports continue their post season play into this week. Baseball, the last of the spring sports to begin their playoffs, started their post season Tuesday.

CHS Head Swim Coach Dave Throop begins our playoff coverage with a report on the CIF Division II Swimming Preliminary and Championship Events, which together with the Division I Prelims and Finals were all held at Coronado’s Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex.

“Going into the CIF Division II Prelims, the team felt pretty good about our opportunities, based upon the performances in the City Conference Finals.  We figured we could re-qualify a number of guys and girls and felt that with a couple adjustments to our relays, we could be in contention for the championship on the Boy’s side and would have a chance to finish among the top three or four teams in the Girl’s competition.  

In the CIF prelims, we swam alright. Not great and not poor.  However, the meet was faster than I had anticipated in a few areas. There were some athletes from other schools who performed really well, and squeezed a few of the Coronado swimmers out of re-qualifying.  Every year we have individuals who swim well and we counted on the unknown in order to be in the chase. However, with the meet being faster and with Coronado fielding a number of athletes new to that level of competition, we found ourselves short of our initial goal of having as many people as possible in the Finals. 

After the prelims, we discussed that as competitors, if one falls short of one goal, we find a new challenge to try and overcome. Another point of focus was that in the Finals we just needed to try to beat out the others in our respective heats of six competitors, either in the consolation or championship heats.  I believe the message was well received, as we competed well in Saturday's finals.  

Individually, Rex Butler and Andrew Ireland swam to expectations while Tommy Schofer, Garrett Sabesky, Ashley Young, Maddie Murphy and Kelly Ronimus all raced well.  Butler won the 50 freestyle championship with a time of 20.81, and won the 100 free in 45.81, setting a couple of CIF San Diego Section Division II and CHS records in the process.  

Andrew Ireland won an event he didn't train for, but at the last moment wanted to race, the 200 free. He swam the event in a time of 1:42.30 which is off his CHS record set last year of 1:39.92.  He also won the 100 backstroke in a time of 51.34, setting another CHS record in the process.  

Teaming up with Brennan Casey and Tommy Schofer in the 200 freestyle relay, Butler and Ireland helped the team win the relay in a new CHS and CIF All-Divisional record in a time of 1:25.97, which broke the previous record set in 1993 by Mt. Carmel High School.  Butler had an awkward finish to lead off his leg and was clocked in a 21.02, while his actual time was probably between two-tenths and three-tenths of a second faster than that time. Andrew sped to a 20.91, with Casey swimming a personal best 21.90 and Schofer finishing with a personal best time of 22.30.

The splits are from hand-held times, while the recorded record is from automatic digital timing.  Rex, Andrew, Tommy and Van Burgess teamed together to win the 400 free relay in a time of 3:11.17 which was 1.07 seconds slower than the Division II record set last season by Butler, Ireland, Schofer and Mike Aguilar.  

Ireland led off the swim in a time of 46.87, with Burgess swimming a personal best 49.22, Butler turned in a 45.7, and Schofer finished with a 49.3.  The team won the event by an almost 25-yard advantage over the rest of the field.  

For their efforts, Ireland and Butler finished with two individual and two relay championships each, and along with their teammates all posted All-American automatic qualifying times in the free relays.  

On the girl’s side, Ashley Young finished fourth in the 50 free with a time of 25.03, and fifth in the 100 free with a time of 54.27. Young teamed with Kelly Ronimus, Maddie Murphy and Hannah Green in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and  the relay squads raced well.  In the 200 free relay, which finished fourth, Maddie split a 25.66, Kelly a 25.4, Hannah a 26.5 and Ashley a 24.6.  In the 400 free relay which finished seventh, Murphy swam a 56.95 with Kelly swimming a 57.4, Hannah swam a personal best 57.6 and Ashley swam a 55.2.   

This was the conclusion of the high school endeavors of nine senior girls and six senior boys who finished the swim season. To take a long view, it has been a very uniquely rewarding opportunity to work and mentor so many outstanding aquatic athletes.  I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them all, and their successes have been a great joy to watch and be a part of over the past four years.

All the athletes have great opportunities to participate at their respective college programs in either water polo or swimming and all have very bright futures in front of them. I'm very thankful for their efforts and the opportunities and support Coach Randy Burgess and the CHS administration have afforded me.”

CHS Track and Field Advances Six Athletes to CIF Finals

While the CIF Swimming prelims and finals are held during the same week, the CIF Track and Field competition spans two weekends. CHS Head Track Coach George Green provides an update on the Prelims and a look ahead to the Finals.

“At the CIF Track and Field preliminaries held at Mt. Carmel High School last Saturday, six Islanders advanced to the CIF finals this coming Saturday, which will also be held at Mt. Carmel. This is notable because only the top nine athletes in each event in the two divisions (Division I for large schools and Division II for smaller schools) survived the elimination process that began with league prelims two weeks ago. Everyone from CHS that I expected to advance did so.

At stake is a podium position, where each of the top six finishers will be awarded one of the coveted CIF medallions. Each of our advancers has a shot to medal and a few are in the hunt for a finish among the top three. Leading this list is last year's CIF Division II champion in the girls' 400-meter run, Sadie Gimber. Sadie won her elimination heat with the second-best Division II time for the day of 59.81 seconds. Since this is nearly a second slower than her 58.99 trip that got her to the finals, she's one of the favorites in her specialty.

Our advancing pole vaulters Will Bartsch and Briana Giorgione are among the top three seeds. Both had personal records in the prelims with Giorgione topping the bar at 9 feet, 9 inches and Will soaring over 13 feet, 6 inches. Will's vault was especially noteworthy because he cleared 13-6 by what appeared to be six inches or more and knocked the bar off at 14 feet (the next height) on the way down. Coronado's school record is 13-9 set in 1994 by John Bakker.

Maddy Danielson is also one of the top three favorites in her specialty, the 300-meter hurdles. In her heat at the Prelims, it appeared she'd win, but she had to stutter-step over the final hurdle and finished a close second. Even so she ran a personal best time of 47.46 which seeds her in third place for this weekend. She also advanced in the 100-meter hurdles, where she's seeded eighth.

Also doubling is Adie Davies in both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs.  She has a good shot at the podium in both events. However, running two taxing distance events in the same day is pretty tough. The 1,600 meters is the second event of the day and the 3,200 is next to the last. We'll have to see how Adie's day at the finals plays out.

Meg Sweeney also qualified in the 3,200 meters, but Meg will run only that race. Her best time set at the Central League Finals places her among the top six in Saturday's race.

We qualified both a boy and a girl in the 800-meter run in Sallie Privett and Aryan Shay. Sallie was just running to advance, but Aryan went for it because the 800 is a very deep event and he knew he needed to run under two minutes to qualify for the finals. Six weeks ago Aryan thought his event was the 1,600 meters, but after doubling back in the 800 at one of our dual meets, he ran around 2:04. Compared to his 1,600 meter time (around 4:40) his 800 time was far superior. So we decided to switch his specialty to the 800 meters. He's dropped his time in every race since the switch. He ran 2:01.02 to advance to the prelims out of the league meet, but his time of 1:58.79 last Saturday was a breakthrough.”

Islander Girls Lacrosse Reaches CIF Semi-Finals

Competing in playoff games on back-to-back days didn’t seem to be much of a challenge for the No. 2 seed Islander Girls Lacrosse Team, as they smoked San Dieguito Academy 18-2 in the first round.

In what was a portent of things to come, Islander Michaela Guerrera scored 13 seconds into the game and assisted on a Coco O’Brien goal 75 seconds later. The score was 13-0 at the half. San Dieguito scored back-to-back goals mid-way through the second half, but the game was long over at that point.

O’Brien had four goals and assisted on four others, with Guerrera winding up her evening with three tallies and an assist. Kaitlyn Couture, who dominated the draws (think hockey face-off) that are held after each goal, also had a hat trick. Anna Coumes scored twice and single goals came from Alex Reidy, Lauren Maack, Anna Turpit, Brianna Clifford, Taylor Tyer and C.J. Fisher.

Reidy was apparently ‘playing possum’ in the Islanders first game in case any scouts were in the stands from CIF quarter-finals playoff opponent Santa Fe Christian. Against the Eagles, Reidy scored the first two goals of the game on her way to a total of six in the game.

The Islanders scored the first eight goals in the game, and held a 9-2 advantage at the half. Coronado then ran off the first five scores in the second half to hold a 14-2 lead. The final score was 16-7, but it wasn’t nearly that close. O’Brien and Couture both posted hat tricks, with Guerrera notching two goals. Caroline Carlson and Turpit added single goals to the winning effort.

“We played exceptionally well,” said Head Coach Jessica Battle. “That’s what Coronado lacrosse is about. O’Brien did great in both games, just getting open, getting feeds and finishing. Guerrera was tremendous in both games and Turpit did great. Our goalie Meganne Weissenfels did well Saturday and had some great saves.”

Next on the horizon is a Tuesday evening matchup with Scripps Ranch, a member along with Coronado, of the City Conference. The teams have played twice already this season, with Coronado winning both games by one goal.

Beating the same team three times in a season is a challenge and Battle is relying on her defense including Lainey Mebust, Cory De Marco and Clifford, as well as Weissenfels in goal, to carry the day. “Offense wins games and defense wins championships,” said Battle. “The Scripps game will be a match.” Tuesday’s home game with Scripps Ranch begins at 5 pm.

Should the favored Islanders win, they will face the winner of the Torrey Pines vs. Poway semi-final Thursday evening at 7 pm at Rancho Bernardo High School in the CIF title game.

CHS Boys Lax Wins First Round Game

Saturday, when the Girls Lacrosse Team played in the quarter-finals at 7 pm, the CHS Boys Lacrosse Team had their first round game at home at 5 pm. The results were much the same as noted above, as Coronado spanked Grossmont High School 17-1. The Islanders were leading 14-0 at the half and Grossmont scored their lone goal with 1:54 left in the contest.

An interesting plot twist to the game was that roughly a half dozen of the Foothillers hit the bricks at halftime, because they had their prom Saturday evening. Since the game in the second half was played with a running clock, the contest concluded at 6:30 pm. Unless cummerbunds are more complicated now than they were in my high school days, the mini Foothiller exodus could seem to be best described as a premature exit.

But I digress.

Coronado won so handily that they deployed three goalies in the contest. Starter Peter Zeller was followed by Andrew Ovrom, who in turn was succeeded by Reis Stanley. Ovrom had the somewhat unique effort of having a couple of saves in goal and scoring a goal as well.

Ten Islanders scored in the contest, with hat tricks coming from Jack Perkins and Kodie Englehart. Two-goal performances came from Kyle Runyon, Chris Banks and George Bailey.

Single goals were scored by Eddie Vita, Kevin Siefert, Jacob Lujan, Sergio Flores and Ovrom. Alex Bookout contributed two assists.

This is usually the spot where we have the head coach of the team provide some insightful analysis on his or her team, regarding the past game, the future game or both. However, CHS Head Lacrosse Head Coach Alex Cade has not returned a single weekly phone call all season long, including this Monday morning’s outreach effort, so we’ll have to pass.

Tuesday at 7 pm, the No. 3 seeded Islanders (13-6) host No. 6 seed La Jolla Country Day (15-3) in the quarter-finals. If form holds and Coronado prevails, as does No. 2 seed Torrey Pines in their game with Otay Ranch, Coronado will be on the road at Torrey Pines Thursday at 7 pm. The CIF Finals are May 29 at 7 pm at Del Norte High School.

CHS Softball Falls to La Jolla Country Day in Division IV Playoffs

It was a positive week, followed by a surreal playoff game Saturday morning for the Islander Softball Team. The week began with Coronado dominating San Diego High School 12-0 in 58 minutes to win the Central League championship. The first time the two teams played, the Islanders had to rally to earn a 10-9 victory.

This time Coronado pitcher Bree Feist, who recently agreed to play next season at NYU Polytechnic in Brooklyn, NY, took matters into her own hands. She threw a no-hitter and struck out seven Cavers. According to Islander Head Coach Tony Isabella, San Diego was not able to hit the ball out of the infield. “Bree was on fire and she was untouchable,” Isabella added.

Hitting stars included Feist with two triples and two RBIs in four trip to the plate; Olivia Nebo, who went 2-3 with an RBI; Anik Ribera who had two doubles in three official at bats, with two RBIs; Shannon Julius who was 3-3 with a triple; and Bailey Haines who was 1-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Isabella credited the entire infield for their fine defensive play during the contest.

Saturday morning the Division IV play-in game featuring No. 5 seed Coronado and No. 12 seed LJCD began at 10 am under a gray sky, with windy conditions. Isabella had anticipated a higher seed, but the good news was that the Islanders (15-4, 13-1 in league) were at home for the first game. Moreover, Coronado was on an 11-game winning streak heading into the playoffs.

Feist hit the second hitter in the LJCD lineup in the helmet, when the hitter ducked into the pitch. The batter scored on a double two hitters later and LJCD was off to a 1-0 lead.

However, the hitter who was hit by the pitch could not continue to play as she developed headaches. The Torreys, who had brought only nine players to the contest, had to play the balance of the game with eight athletes, opting to deploy two outfielders.

This set up a rules debate in the stands and on the field,  as to how the now-vacated second slot in the batting order would be treated. The umpires ruled that the next time the original spot in the order came up, one and only one out would be charged for the balance of the game. According to Isabella, who among other pursuits is also a softball umpire, this was an incorrect ruling. An out should have been charged in the fourth inning (which it was), in addition to the fifth and seventh innings (which were not).

The game umpires had a long day. They missed an infield fly rule call later in the game, and missed a ruling on a grounder down the third base line, which was called foul, but was touched a good two feet into fair territory. All of that plus the fact that the Torrey pitcher was employing an illegal addition to her wind-up, the surreal element of the game continued throughout.

The Islanders countered with three runs in the bottom of the first on a walk to Feist, a single from Nebo, and a single from Kayla Englehart. Later in the inning Rachel Bible contributed an RBI single, the first of her three hits on the day in four official at-bats. With the rally, Coronado took the lead 3-1.

La Jolla Country Day scored three runs in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. But with three innings remaining, there was plenty of time for a Coronado rally. The Islanders scored in the fifth on a double from Nebo, a walk to Ribera, and a single from Bible to tie the game 4-4. La Jolla Country Day scored in the sixth to go up 5-4. Although they had two base runners in the sixth and one in the seventh, Coronado couldn’t push across another run and lost 5-4. 

Feist yielded only three hits and struck out six Torrey hitters. Coronado had seven hits, but couldn’t string enough offense together in any one inning to mount a big rally to put the Torreys away. “We had enough hits to win the game, but we just didn’t do it this time,” said Isabella. “We were probably due to have a bad game. I am extremely proud of all of the girls.”

The game marked the final appearance for senior Co-Captains Feist, Julius and Jessica Adair, as well as fellow seniors Bible, Haines and Grace Puglisi.

CHS Boys Tennis Season Concludes

The Islander Boys Tennis Team went into the Western League individual competition knowing they would have to post strong results to make the CIF Individuals this week. Unfortunately all four of the doubles teams entered by Head Coach Leslie Koshland lost in the first round.

Singles players Sean Lee and Greg Lyon fared better. Lee won his first round match before falling to the No. 7 seed. Lyon won two matches before losing to the overall No. 1 seed.

The team had a good season, despite competing in the brutal Western League. They won a first round CIF team match at El Centro two weeks ago.

Islander Baseball Team Earns No. 7 Seed in Division IV

The Islanders (9-19, 3-9) concluded their regular season last week by going 1-2 in Western League play. They started the week with a 6-4 win over Point Loma, with pitcher Toby Talampas earning the victory. Ryan Shepard had the lone multi-hit day for Coronado, going 2-4 with a double, a triple, a stolen base and a run scored. Others scoring runs included Zack Wheeler, Austin Denson, Kyle Teachout, Tyler Brownell and Garrett Smerdon.

Then the Islanders played at Point Loma and fell 8-2. Steve Preciado, Denson and Brownell had two hits each. Wheeler and Preciado scored the lone runs for Coronado.

Thursday was the Islanders’ final regular season game, a make-up of a postponed contest from earlier in the season at University City. Coronado fell again 8-2. Pinch hitter Jack Nicholson, a senior who has been injured virtually all season, contributed a hit. The other three base knocks were turned in by Shepard, Denson and Talampas. Hunter Ralph and Hank Taylor scored the Islander runs.

Saturday the Division IV Playoff pairings were announced and Coronado emerged with the No. 7 seed, and will therefore host their play-in game Tuesday at 3:30 pm against Horizon.

If Coronado wins over the No. 10 seed, they will play their first round game Wednesday at Santa Fe Christian. If Coronado can get past the play-in game, they are then embroiled in a double-elimination tournament which would culminate in the Finals to be held June 6 at Tony Gwynn Stadium at SDSU.

On a baseball-related note, CHS Head Coach Sam Ceci reported over the weekend that he has been in touch with former Islander Bryan Crabb (CHS ’09), who now pitches for San Diego State. Crabb was injured in a game at Brigham Young University 10 days ago, when he was struck in the head with a line drive.

Ceci said that Crabb, who sustained a minor skull fracture, is recovering well and though dizzy at times, is improving rapidly. The SDSU baseball season has one game remaining and Crabb won’t be medically cleared to play for another couple of weeks. Crabb completed a fine freshman season with the Aztecs, starting 13 games, compiling a 4-5 record and a 3.89 ERA in 71.2 innings pitched.