Coronado High School Head Track and Field Coach George Green provides a season-ending wrap up for his team and highlights their foray at the San Diego Section CIF meet. “We had eight individual event finalists at the CIF Track and Field finals held last Saturday at Mt. Carmel vying for one of the six top spots in the Division II competition.  All eight got to climb the podium and one of those athletes set a school record and four set personal best marks in their events.

The school record was set in girls’ triple jump by freshman Madeline Hopson, who added over a foot to her previous best with a mark of 36 feet, 5.5 inches. Normally school records are set in increments of an inch or two. As Madeline has been learning this complex event under the expert tutelage of our horizontal jumps coach, Karla Martinez, she’s been increasing her personal best distances weekly in both the long and triple jumps by leaps and bounds (ouch).  Saturday’s effort got her the third place spot in Division II. She wound-up her frosh season ranked 10th in the county, in a very strong field, and fourth in the state out of all freshmen. Her final mark this season was nearly three feet over the old school record of 33 feet, 6 inches, set in 2002 by Beth Wittry. 

Senior Aryan Shay finished his season by placing fourth in the 800-meter run with a personal record of 1:58.35.  Fellow senior Meg Sweeney also ran her best time in the 3,200-meter run in 11:39.80, also earning her fourth place. Freshman Lauren Bartsch placed sixth in the girls’ pole vault with a personal best of 9 feet, 9 inches. She was the only freshman who advanced to the pole vault finals in either division. Her brother, Will Bartsch, was out with a hamstring injury for most of the season, but came back to place fifth in the boys’ pole vault with a 13 foot, 2 inch leap. Obviously he’s not 100 percent back as Will holds our boys pole vault record of 14 feet even, set last year at this event.

Although not posting personal records, both Nicole Davies and freshman Sierra Smith climbed the podium with Davies placing fifth in the 800-meter run and Smith placing sixth in the high jump. Our girls’ 4 x 400 meter relay team didn’t quite make the podium, but it marked the final meet for two great seniors, Maddy Danielson and Sadie Gimber, who ran with Davies and sophomore Elise Umansky. We probably would have had a 200-meter medalist but our top girls’ sprinter Ale Bruyere was sick all week and in no shape to compete, so we scratched her Friday.

So that’s it for this season. The girls’ team, fortified with the best group of incoming freshmen I’ve seen at Coronado High School, won the Central League championship with a 6-0 record. For thousands of photos, including a YouTube video of Hopson’s Triple Jump record, full results of all meets, and a cross country signup form, visit our website at IslanderTrack.com.

Track and Field Honors and Awards

With the CHS academic calendar shortened by one full week in 2010-11, the rush was on last week to hold the spring sports awards banquets. The Track and Field program was no exception and here are their award winners: ISF Award – Meg Sweeney; Comeback Athlete of the Year – Nicole Davies; Coaches Awards – Yvonne Wood and Maddy Danielson; Freshman Standout Awards – Logan Lister, Chris Leary, Ale Bruyere, Chad Faul, Sierra Smith, Lauren Bartsch, Katie Brooks and Kendall Cromartie; Top League Performance – Abigail Callahan; Girls MVP – Madeline Hopson; and Boys MVP – Aryan Shay.

Islander Baseball Reaches Final Four of CIF Division IV

With the CIF Track and Field Finals concluded, the lone Islander spring sport still competing is the Islander Baseball Team. Last week Coronado won three of their four games and are one of four teams left standing from the original 12-team, CIF Division IV Playoff bracket.

If you are seeded between Nos. 5-12, the CIF Baseball Playoffs begin with a play-in game. The Islanders were ‘granted’ the No. 5 seed and had to travel to No. 12 seed Mountain Empire last Tuesday to begin their defense of their Division IV title. Mountain Empire won the Citrus League East title and by CIF custom the school was granted a first round home game.

Never mind the whole ‘strength of schedule’ concept or the fact that Coronado competed in the Western League, one of the toughest circuits in the county. No matter, the Islanders won 12-4. The Islanders pounded out 11 hits, a total which featured multi-hit efforts from Luke Gillingham, Tyler Brownell and Jake Meloche. Gillingham contributed five RBIs, Brownell had two and additional RBIs came from Freddy Schlichtholz and Garrett Smerdon.

On the pitching side, Kyle Teachout, Dylan Campbell and Justin Aden combined to hold the Red Hawks to four hits, with Campbell earning the victory.

Once Coronado won their play-in game, they started play in the double-elimination portion of the playoff format. First up was No. 4 seed and Western League rival Madison last Wednesday. The two teams had split their two conference contests,, with the War Hawks defeating Coronado at PETCO Park and the Islanders prevailing in the return game at Madison. The Islanders won this one 4-2 in nine innings, with Gillingham pitching and yielding only two runs in 6.1 innings and Meloche earning the victory in 2.2 innings of shutout relief pitching.

Gillingham, Brownell and Smerdon accounted for six of Coronado’s seven hits, with the Islander runs being scored by Campbell, Austin Denson, Robby Weissenfels and Schlichtholz.

Gillingham, Smerdon and Teachout were credited with the team’s RBIs.

So far so good and Friday it was off to the campus of Alliant University where No. 1 seed Francis Parker plays their home games. Parker saved their staff ace, lefthander Kendall Lindley for the game and Islander Head Coach Sam Ceci countered with sophomore lefty Schlichtholz, who got off to a shaky start. Schlichtholz gave up two runs in the first inning, but settled down for innings two through four and kept the Lancers guessing.

In the top of the fifth inning, Coronado sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs. With one out, Mason Copp had a single and a stolen base; Andrew Toomey reached on an error and stole second and Smerdon drove in two runs with a single and then took second on an error. Gillingham drove in Smerdon with an RBI double. Meloche reached on an error and Denson singled to move Meloche to second. Schlichtholz helped his own cause with a double, driving in pinch runner Ryan Halvorson. When added to their run scored in the second inning, the Islanders now led the Lancers 6-2.

Parker rallied against Meloche, who replaced Schlichtholz in the bottom of the fifth. Battling a floating and inconsistent strike zone from the home plate umpire, Meloche faced eight Parker hitters and five scored. Parker now had a 7-6 lead, which held up for the final two innings.

With a tough loss handed to them, 18 hours later the Islanders were at Grossmont High School to once again face Madison, this time in an elimination game with the loser’s season completed. “It was a good game, although it got nasty at the end,” said Ceci of the fourth game between the War Hawks and the Islanders this year. “Denson started and he was up to the task. We battled and got ahead. We were up 5-1 in the seventh and Madison came back. Gillingham came in and did just fine. He got a ground ball, hit a batter and had two strikeouts. He sucked it up and got it done. We almost gave it back.”

Gillingham earned the save in the 5-4 victory over Madison, Denson was credited with the win and the Islanders were alive to fight another day. Schlichtholz was the hitting star of the contest for Coronado, going 3-4 with a homer, two RBIs and a run scored. Copp had a double, a walk and two RBIs in three trips to the plate. Schlichtholz’s homer sailed over the left field wall. “That’s quite a task at Grossmont,” said Ceci. “It’s a small yard, but the wind blows in from left field. The wind usually eats up balls hit to left field.”

When the dust cleared, undefeated Parker and Coronado with one loss remain alive in the top half of the double-elimination Division IV bracket. Undefeated La Jolla Country Day and Christian with one loss remain in the bottom half of the bracket. Coronado must now defeat Parker Tuesday at 3:30 pm and Thursday at 3:30 pm to advance to the CIF Division IV Finals which will be played Saturday, June 4 at 10 am at SDSU’s Tony Gwynn Stadium. “We can play with them,” said Ceci of Parker. “We need to continue to hit and make plays.”

Coronado’s Lister Advances to State Golf Regionals

With a bit of self-correction, technically the CHS Boys Golf Team joins the CHS Baseball Team as still being alive among the spring sports, as Andrew Lister qualified to compete in the CIF State Golf Regionals Tuesday in Pasadena. The Texas A&M-bound senior finished in a tie for sixth in the CIF San Diego Section tournament last week, shooting 73-73 to finish two over par at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course, the site of the CIF event.

As a team, Coronado finished fifth in Division II after being four strokes out of second place after Tuesday’s first round. La Jolla Country Day won Division II, followed by La Jolla, St. Augustine, Francis Parker and Coronado. As Coronado Head Coach Randy Coutts said, “We were in the ballpark.”

The Coronado golfers acquitted themselves well, with Brian Turley shooting 80-83; Cole Summers shot a 77-82; Jordan Oval shot an 82-88 and Nick Spear carded an 88-87. Turley had a bit of a medical misfortune as his collarbone popped out of place on the second hole Thursday and it didn’t return to normal until the 11th hole.

Pin placements Thursday were made tougher than on Tuesday, which combined with the windy conditions sent the second day scores higher than the first day’s. Coutts, who campaigned to bring the CIF event to Coronado Muni, thought some of the pin placements were tough, but that the course rewarded the best golfers with the best scores. A total of four golfers were under par for the event, which is about right for an elite tournament featuring some of the best amateur talent in the nation.

“The golfers loved the views and the putting greens were perfect,” said Coutts of the Coronado Muni course last week. “People loved it here and I think they’ll come back. The Coronado High School golf program would like to thank host Professional Ron Yarborough, Golf Course Director Roger Miller and the whole team at the golf course for their efforts. They did a great job and the course was beautiful.”

Thursday the team held their Awards banquet. The awards as presented by Coutts included: Team MVP – Lister; ISF Award – Turley; Most Improved – Spear and Rookie of the Year – Summers. The team received medals emblematic of their Central League championship.

Islander Boys Volleyball Honors and Awards

CHS Head Boys Volleyball Coach Shawn Patchell announced his team’s award winners recently for the 2011 season. They included: Team MVP, Central League MVP and ‘King of the Beach’ - Jake Nicholson; Most Improved – Andrew Orozco; ISF Award – Jason Fielder; Coach’s Award – John Nettleton; and Junior Varsity MVP – Yoshi Dension.

“We gave beach volleyballs to the team members to inspire them to play on the beach, since beach season has officially begun,” said Patchell.

CHS Boys Tennis Awards Announced

Varsity Boys Tennis Head Coach Leslie Koshland distributed her program’s awards at their recent banquet, which included the following: Varsity Co-MVP’s – Greg Lyon and Sean Lee; Most Improved – Weston Breay; ISF Award – Brad Matheus; and the Coronado Tennis Association’s Senior Award – Grey Halpin.

The Junior Varsity awards went to: Most Valuable – David Cuban; Most Improved – Nic Beall; and the CTA Sportsmanship Award – Hayden Deitrick.

Boys and Girls Swimming Honors and Awards

Now it’s over to swimming where Aquatics Program Director Randy Burgess and Head Swim Coach Dave Throop distributed awards to the Boys and Girls Swim Teams at their post-season affair.  The Varsity Awards included: Most Valuable – Cathy White, Tyler Roth, Garrett Sabesky and Vandon Burgess; Most Improved – Jaicey Tyler, Katy Gauvin, Putnam Browne and John Hill; Coaches’ Awards – Morgan Karney, Israel Dedina and David Carroll; Team Captains – White, Shelby Couture, Braydon Hummeldorf and Burgess.

For the Junior Varsity, awards were presented to: Most Valuable – Christian Hoppe, Cheyne Merrill and Isabella Cuellar; Coaches’ Award – Sam Wisotzki and Grace Karney; Most Improved – Javier Gomez, Melanie Carrillo and Jasleen Espindola-Melendre.

Girls Lacrosse Awards

By acclamation the No. 1 team in the state and the CIF San Diego Section Division II champions, the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team held their post-season banquet last week. Head Coach Jessica Battle announced her award winners as: Most Improved – Caroline Carlson; Unsung Hero – Cory De Marco; Coaches Award – Michaela Guerrera and ISF Award – Kaitlyn Couture.

In related news, CHS senior Lauren Maack was named one of the “San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Athletes of the Week last week. Maack will play lacrosse at San Diego State University next year, which will be the program’s first season at the Division I level. Maack scored 80 goals during the 2011 season, helping the Islanders post a record of 20-1.

According to MaxPreps.com, Maack’s 80-goal season ranked No. 37 in the U.S. and No. 16 in California. Maack’s senior teammate Couture scored 55 goals and was ranked No. 45 in the state, while fellow senior Guerrera scored 45 goals and was ranked No. 65 in the state in scoring. With a potent scoring trio like that, it is little wonder the team finished the season atop the state rankings.

Lacrosse Success Starts at Grade School Level

The 2011 Coronado Youth Lacrosse (CYL) 3 and 4th Grade Islanders squad capped off another tremendous championship season recently at Coronado’s Niedermeyer Field. The Islanders took home the California Youth League title in thrilling fashion, winning a 6-5 overtime battle against the Rancho Santa Fe Rockets Sunday, May 22nd.

Late game overtime heroics came from All-CYL attack Jack Outlaw, who netted the sudden death game-winner after a great assist from Islander teammate Ryan Herman to finish off the Rockets.  Zach Jackson also helped the cause by scoring the opening goal of the first half.

While the Islanders offensive unit would ultimately finish the game, it was the Islander’s defense that kept them in the game. Islander goalie Joe Walsh (CYL All-Star, CYL Goalie of the Year) held strong in goal, stopping 17 of the Rockets shots, including three in overtime. In front of Walsh was a strong defensive unit led by Andrew Bell (CYL All-Star, CYL Defensemen of the Year), James VanDerLinde, George Farley and Steven Jackson who all stood tall in stopping the Rockets offensive onslaught during the overtime period.

The Islanders midfield unit was led by CYL All-Stars Cole Quinlan and Casey Harris, who both suited up despite being plagued illness throughout the championship. “I’m proud of the way my guys played this weekend,” Head Coach Chase Pettebone said. “We had some players who were sick, we had some guys injured and they still managed suit up and play hard. They were all warriors. To me, that just shows that they were willing to battle through any obstacle put in front of them and they had the hearts of true champions.”