The South Coast League continues to be a merry-go-round of excitement.
The Dana Hills, Trabuco Hills, and Capistrano Valley girls cross country teams have seemingly shaken up the county rankings every week for the last month.
Saturday, it was the Dolphins’ opportunity to crash the party. Alyssa White, Sienna Serrao, Sarah Meng, Leila Keyvan and Camille Perkins all crossed the finish line in a span of 15 seconds as Dana Hills topped Orange County Championships champion Trabuco Hills, 234-280, in the Division 1 & 2 Sweepstakes at the Mt. SAC Invitational
Dana Hills becomes the third team from the South Coast League to be ranked No. 1 in the county this season. The South Coast League Finals will be at Irvine Regional Park next week, and the Dolphins, Trabuco Hills and Capistrano Valley will be in contention for the team title. …
Canyon’s girls are in contention for the Crestview League crown thanks to senior Nikki Zielinski and sophomore Sara Leonard. Both runners have vastly improved this season, setting significant personal records in competition this year.
Both finished in the top five at the Orange County Championships, and Zielinski added to her success with a seventh-place showing in the combined Division 1 & 2 featured race Saturday at the Mt. SAC Invitational. …
The El Toro and Brea Olinda boys teams won their sweepstakes races in the Mt. SAC Invitational.
Outside of the featured heats, several county teams excelled in their varsity-level divisional races. Mission Viejo’s boys defeated Simi Valley, 58-71, in Division 2.
On the girls side, Simi Valley topped the Diablos, 61-72. Villa Park’s Kimberlee Haefelee won the race in 18:23.
In Division 1, Valencia’s boys thwarted Paloma Valley, 47-105, behind junior Jesus Moreno’s first-place finish in 16:02.
Huntington Beach won a Division 1 heat, 52-118, over San Clemente. Tritons senior Connor Dunne was the individual winner in 15:43.
– ANDREW TURNER, Contributing writer
BOYS WATER POLO
Capistrano Valley’s boys water polo team, a contender in Division 3, is nearing two impressive milestones.
Senior Austin Sechrest needs only two goals for 400 in his career. His 398 goals are a school record.
Coach Steve Yancey is eight victories shy of 500 for his career, which includes his successful run with San Clemente.
Sechrest could reach his milestone today when the Cougars (14-10) play host to San Juan Hills in the Sea View League.
Foothill coach Jim Brumm earned his 500th victory earlier this month. …
Fountain Valley played in its eighth one-goal game last week when it edged Marina, 10-9, in the Sunset League. “My kids are going to give me a heart attack,” Barons coach Eric Perales said in a text message.
Fountain Valley is 7-1 in one-goal games. The Barons (15-9, 1-2) play surging Huntington Beach, coming off a third-place finish at the North-South Challenge, in the Sunset League on Wednesday. …
The Steve Pal Memorial in Orange County and the Northern California’s Memorial Cup are this week’s top tournaments. Foothill, Corona del Mar and Orange Lutheran are among the teams in Northern California. El Toro, Villa Park and county top-10 newcomer Beckman are in the Pal tournament. …
Cypress finished second to Don Lugo at the Central Orange County tournament Saturday at Garden Grove.
– DAN ALBANO
GIRLS GOLF
Savanna coach Mike Willey uses the school’s girls golf team to build better softball players.
“You know, I never thought of it that way,” Willey said, “but that is a really good way of putting it.”
Willey coaches the golf and softball teams at Savanna, and he regularly looks to the diamond to fill out the roster for the girls golf team. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
By exposing softball players to a sport which isn’t second nature to most of them, Willey said, it teaches the girls how to deal with adversity. That comes in handy in the spring when the Rebels are battling for the Orange League softball championship.
“I wanted to show them something unfamiliar,” Willey said. “All these girls have seen in softball is success. Golf teaches them how to perservere.”
For most of the softball players, Willey said, their previous experience with golf involves putting through the windmill at Camelot. But the Rebels clearly are quick studies.
For the 17 years that Willey has been coaching golf and softball, the Rebels have finished first or second in the Orange League girls golf standings.
This fall, Kristin Worley, Karlee Rivera, Amber Andresen(cq), Celeste Rodriguez, Maricela Egan and Mikayla Avina helped Rebels go unbeaten and win the league championship for the second year in a row.
Becasuse the girls went so deep into the CIF-SS softball playoffs last spring, Willey decided not to have a summer golf program. The girls started this season shooting a team score of 285, but the Rebels have since shaved roughly 50 strokes off that score.
“I am very proud of the team, and very satisfied with how much we have improved,” Willey said.
– DAMIAN DOTTORE
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
The flow of Orange County girls volleyball talent to Stanford continues with Aliso Niguel’s Kathryn Plummer recently commiting to the university.
Stanford currently hasfive players from the county on its roster – Hayley Hodson, Kelsey Humphreys, Payton Chang, Halland McKenna and Grace Kennedy.
“It is a great location and great academic school, that’s really important to me,” Plummer said. “I love the coaches, and the girls just seem like they have it figured out. They’re a great group of girls.”
Last season, Plummer helped the Wolverines to their first CIF-SS title. With the graduation of Lindsey Ruddins, Plummer has adjusted her role this season.
“This year, with a different team, I have to demand the ball even more in tough situations, and I’ve embraced it,” she said. …
Corona del Mar, Mater Dei and Newport Harbor will compete this week in the two-day Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
– DAMIAN CALHOUN
GIRLS TENNIS
With league individual finals being played throughout the county this week, this week’s CIF team rankings serve as the best indicator of the top-four seeded squads in each of the five girls tennis divisions will be when playoff brackets are released next Monday.
Corona del Mar finished the regular season as the No. 2 ranked team in Division 1 poll, meaning the Sea Kings will likely be placed on the opposite side of the bracket from Peninsula, the two-time defending CIF champs.
In Division 2, Sage Hill capped off an unbeaten Academy League campaign with a 14-4 win over St. Margaret’s last week. The Lightning have climbed to the No. 3 spot in the divisional rankings.
Valencia was the only other county school ranked among the top four teams in its division. The Tigers have had a stranglehold on Division 3’s top slot since the season’s inception.
Official brackets will be released next Monday afternoon. Wild-card round matches will be played next Tuesday, and first-round action begins Nov. 4.
– KENNY CONNOLLY
