Track, Field & Tournament Thursday (10 April)

Track and Field
Cabrillo
It was slightly surreal, a St. Joseph home meet held at Cabrillo HS. But that is what happened on Thursday as the Knights home track was under repair. St. Joseph certainly had no problems making themselves at home, as their domination of the field events led to a sweep of all four contests. The boys lost 55-81 (JV 61-70) and the girls lost 57-79 (JV 55-72).

Boys Varsity Winners:
4 x 100 relay unit (45.07)
Miguel Ortiz (mile 4:35.63 & 880 2:04.53)
Masimo Beeson (440 54.00)
Greg Watson (100 10.15 & 220 23.53)
Ben Li (2 mile 10:16.03)
4 x 400 relay #1 (3;38.88)

Girls Varsity Winners:
4 x 100 relay (52.91)
Genae Harrington (100 12.00)
Diamonne Mitchell (220 27.62 & Long Jump 16-7)
Kendall Reynolds (Triple Jump 35-2 & High Jump 5-2)

Boys JV Winners:
4 x 100 relay (49.94)
Armando Torres (mile 5:02.9 & 880 2:16.8)
Zane North (110 H 18.78 & 330 H 48.15)
Johnny Hernandez (2 mile 11:08)
4 x 400 relay #1 (4:03.50)
Joe Hernandez (High Jump 4-6)
Marko Marrero (Triple Jump 33-9.5)

Girls JV Winners:
4 x 100 relay (58.31)
Taylor Wagonseller (100 12.80)
Jennifer Hudson (330 H 58.47)
D. Brown (220 29.84)

Lompoc
It was a very tired group of coaches clustered in Tom Blanco's domain at LHS, after a long day and a longer bus ride back from Templeton. Coach Warrick summed up the meet - "the kids ran well, they just ran faster". Both boys & girls teams lost, but there were some bright spots for both squads. Masson Blow won the Long Jump (c. 20-1), Triple Jump (c. 43-7), and 200 Meters (c. 22.8). Chelsea Cassulo won the Shot Put (c. 38-2), Discus (c. 111 ft.), 100 M Hurdles (c. 17.12), and was 2nd in the 100M (c. 12.76). The coaches also mentioned Megan Wales approaching a PR in the 400 M (c. 1:01.8, 3rd), and a good all-around meet by Milton Royster.

Boys Golf

Cabrillo On Monday, the Conquistadors easily defeated Santa Maria on the Saints own turf. Results are incomplete, but the final score was estimated as being 228-257. Individual scorers for Cabrillo included Jeff Martin (41), Drew Langston (c.45), Joseph Pensabene (46), Perry Naughton (48), & Aaron Hay (50). Mike Morgan's score was unavailible.

Lompoc On Wednesday, Lompoc was clubed by the St. Joseph Knights 224-263. Chris Blystone led the Knights with a 39, and all five St. Joe scorers were under 50. Individual scores for the Braves were: Brent Van Dyke - 50, Alex Stone - 56, Brian Magann - 49, Abie Luna - 55, Tyler Grossi - 53, and Tyler Grossini - 69.

LPL Tournament #4 @ Templeton
Thursday at the Hunter Ranch Course, the Eagles hosted the LPL after missing the previous tournament at the VCC. Santa Ynez [Shean 72, Colvin 74] put on a show and ran away with the title, posting a 393. The other team scores (in order) were : St. Joseph 409 [Blystone 73], Templeton 427, Morro Bay 434, Cabrillo 473, Lompoc 484, and Santa Maria 517.

Individual scores for Cabrillo: Naughton 84, Hay 97, Pike 118, Langston 93, Morgan 100, Pensabene 99. And for Lompoc: Van Dyke 86, Stone 93, Magann 102, Luna 93, Grossini 110, and Grossi (unavailible).

Auto Sports

The Ford/AAA AutoSkills Competition

Two Lompoc High School students, Alberto Vasquez & Josh Taninowitz, have qualified for the State level finals of this prestigious competition.
Each instructor in the state is allowed to nominate 10 students for testing, with their top two scores constituting the team score. The top 10 team scores in the state advance to the state finals. Each state has a single competition except California which is split into two regions. The locals are training for the SoCal Championships (9 May @ Irwindale Speedway), by traveling on an almost daily basis to Vreeland Ford in Buellton which has provided new vehicles for them to practice on. The top teams in each State/Region advance to the National Finals this Summer in Dearborn, Michigan. The written & "hands-on" tests are generally considered to be at ASE qualification level.

Womens Golf

The Matador Spring Invitational

Earlier this week, LHS grad Julia Heath and her cohorts with the Cal-Poly Womens Golf Team won the 10th tournament championship in school history, the second one this year. Granted, the program only started eight years ago, but this group of players is clearly moving the program to an entirely different level than previous ones.
In the first round Heath, for the second straight tournament, "struggled", shooting a 79 on the 6,018 yard, par 72 Tierra Rejada Golf Course at Moorpark, CA. . But her teammates, with Hannah Brabb (75) leading the way, posted one of their better overall efforts to date and were tied for 2nd, two strokes (312) back of the leaders from Portland.
Round number 2 was a bit different, Julia dropped her score to 73, Brabb carded the only sub-par round (70) of the tourney and the Mustangs scored the lowest round total in school history (295) for a seven stroke victory over the host Cal St Northridge Matadors.

Brabb, the Medalist by three strokes, posted a 145 (75,70) total. Heath was 7th at 152 (79,73), Stephanie Yocum tied for 14th with a 157 (76 ,81), Maddy Fletcher tied for 19th at 159 (82,77), and Miquela Pendleton was 23rd at 162 (87,75). Competing as an individual, Kelly McEachern tied for 46th place 170 (82,88). There were nine teams and 60 golfers in the field.

Tuesday's 295 total broke the school record by one stroke and the 36-hole 607 total tied for 4th on Cal Poly's chart.In addition, Brabb's 70 tied the school record (Rebecca Norris 2003 & Maddy Fletcher earlier this season). While Brabb's 145 total is also one stroke better than the previous 36-hole record.

Sixty golfers (nine teams and 15 extras) competed in the event.

Next up for the Mustangs is the Big West Conference Championships on April 21-22 at the Tijeras Creek Golf Course in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Boys Tennis

Cabrillo
Varsity [3-5 LPL] Won @ Morro Bay 12-6
Ben Brady swept three sets at No. 2 singles and Andrew Shewell and Ryan Anderson swept 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles for the Conquistadores.
JV: No Information availible. -- el stato

Clutch Pitching Down the Stretch

Adrianna Segura handcuffs another Pirate.



The Lompoc baseball & Cabrillo softball teams both needed and received clutch pitching performances to win, while Cabrillo baseball just needed someone to finally shut the door.

Softball

Cabrillo Varsity [10-6, 3-0]
"This was one of the sweeter ones" Head Coach Doug Meeder remarked after the Conquistadors 5-4 victory over the Morro Bay Pirates, "We've won ten games, and some of those were good teams - but this was a real quality win". It was particularly nice because, as Coach Meeder put it, "We lost to them twice last year. We went up there and embarrassed ourselves, and then they beat us here with a come from behind win".
Cabrillo faced a similar possibility on Tuesday, and errors were the problem. They had staked the visitors to a three run lead (2 unearned), got one run back in the third, and roared to a 5-3 advantage with four runs in the fourth. But in the top of the 5th inning they gave Morro Bay an opportunity by loading the bases with Pirates that shouldn't have been there.
At that point, stalwart sophomore starter Adrianna Segura (now 7-1) took over. She did what she usually does and rose to the occasion, getting out of the inning with only one run scoring, and shutting Morro Bay down in the next two innings. Meeder especially liked her performance in the top of the seventh - " I've seen a lot of situations like that where you get a walk or a blooper and that starts something, but Adrianna went out there and it was grounder, grounder, pop-up, and lets go home." [Story]

Four Cabrillo players went 2-3 at the plate: Alyssa Abayari (run scored), Kelly Brown (double, single, and run scored), Shelby Kuhlman ( a 3-run homer, 2 runs scored), and Levena Linderholm (1 RBI). Alex Pino walked and scored a run. The game represented the first action behind the plate for Linderholm. One of last year's stars, the senior catcher had missed most of the season to date due to injury, with only limited action in the recently completed Arroyo Grande Tournament - including some time at second base!
Cabrillo travels to Templeton on Friday (4:00 pm).

JV The first day of the Cabrillo JV Tournament was held on Saturday. Each of the eight teams involved played two games. Cabrillo defeated Santa Maria & Righetti (who beat Templeton) and Lompoc lost to Paso Robles before beating Carpenteria (who lost to Atascadero). On Saturday, 5 April, Cabrillo will play Atascadero @ 3 pm; Lompoc will play either Santa Maria or Templeton at 11:00 am.

Baseball
[Story - scroll down after jump]

Lompoc Varsity {5-10, 1-1}
The Braves struck early versus the Santa Barbara Dons and held on with some more of that clutch pitching late. They put up a quick three runs in the first inning on doubles by Chris Mallory (1 RBI) and Scott Aguailar (2 RBI), and were up 3-1 in the top of the fifth when the Dons cut the lead to one when a sacrifice fly to left brought home a runner from third. It would be the first of three consecutive innings in which Santa Barbara would get a runner to third base with just one out. Starter Ryan Bower (6 innings, 2 earned runs, 8 hits, no walks, 2 strike-outs) managed to stop the bleeding , and get out of the inning. However, he was called upon to do it again in the top of the sixth. A hit, a steal, and a sacrifice put the runner on third - one out. Bower got out of the inning with a fielder's choice (on a dropped pop-up) and a groundout. Dalton Rouleau, who relieved in the seventh, also faced life with a runner on third base. With one down, he surrendered a walk and a double to short center. An intentional walk loaded the bases, but a strike-out, and a pop-up ended the game. Rouleau went one inning gave up one hit, 2 walks, and struck out two.
Besides the two doubles, Lompoc only had one other hit, a single by Brandon Alonzo, and three walks, two tallied by Kevin Ericksen. Alonzo, C. Mallory, & Ericksen all scored.

[NOTE: Through 100 innings this year Lompoc pitchers have given up 91 runs (59 earned), 120 hits, only 30 walks (but 18 hit batsmen), and struck out 61.]
On Friday, Lompoc heads to Morro Bay, at 3:30 they play.

JV The Junior Varsity went 2-1 in the recent Righetti JV Tournament. They were thumped 10-0 by Righetti, beat Paso Robles 9-7 by holding off a Bearcat surge at the end (5 runs in the 7th), and reportedly defeated Cabrillo by a score of 10-6.


Cabrillo Varsity {7-8, 2-1}
The Conquistadors were cruising, up 13-0 on Morro Bay with Aaron Naputi looking for the complete game shutout. When errors on back-to-back plays (the second easily a double play ball if properly handled), followed by a double over second base, allowed the Pirates to score a run. They put five on the board before the Conq's were able to get off the field at the end of the game. Cabrillo had scored early (7 runs in the 1st), combining some timely hitting with numerous errors, walks, and hit batsmen provided by the Pirates. But a win is a win and the hosts took this one 13-5.

Naputi gave up four hits in his six innings work and was also a force at the plate. He had 3 RBI's while going 3-4 with a walk, single, double, and triple. The homer that would have completed the cycle went instead to Brian Engler (his first) in the 2nd inning, he scored two runs to go with his two RBI's.

Boys Tennis

Cabrillo

Varsity The strenth of the Conquistadors this year has been doubles - a fact never more in evidence than on Tuesday when they used a 9-0 sweep in doubles to offset a 3-6 deficit in singles and defeat Santa Maria 12-6 at thwe CHS courts.
The Andrew Shewell / Ryan Anderson duo lost only 3 games (6-2,6-0,6-1) in sweeping three sets. Jordan Daniels / Arjun Ayyer (6-4,6-3,6-2) and Casey Owens / Jose Flores (6-1,6-3,6-0) also swept.
In singles,the Saints German exchange student Daniel Borcharding dominated, sweeping all three of his sets 6-0. Eric Wang (2) and Ben Brady won sets for Cabrillo.
JV At Santa Maria, the formula was different but the result was similar - Cabrillo won 10-8. Alex Hibbs, Ray Moreno, and Franky Calderia each won two singles sets. The doubles struggled a bit. Ricky Cummings / Ryan Brady won a set. Matt Stumreitter / Dan Garmendia won one set and lost another in a tiebreaker. The big news, however, was that the David Terrones / Jeff Rodriguez pairing lost their first set in league play (6-4). The loss improved their focus apparently - they won the next two 6-0, 6-0 .

Lompoc

Varsity The St. Joseph Knights rode roughshod over the Braves at the Dave Bickmore Courts on the LHS campus. In the midst of the 16-2 shellacking, the lone bright spot for the Braves was Alex Jensen - and even he faltered. Jensen dropped a set he had led to Jake Ezez 5-7 , before scoring Lompoc's only two points with 6-1 and 6-0 wins over Joseph Fisher Ortiz & Rafa Ferriera respectively. The doubles teams of Anthony Yang / Kyle Thumm [6-7 (8-10)] and Joel Martin / Jesus Abrego [6-7 (2-7)] each lost tiebreakers to the combo of James King / Broderick Cooper.

JV From Coach Jim Steffey:

"St. Joe's clearly had more match experience and it showed in the final results. Out of the 12 matches contested, we won three. Both of my singles players, beat a very good number three singles player from St. Joe's. The good news is my JV players are winning the matches that they should win (if that makes any sense). They continue to show improvement, and are starting to hit 'winning shots,' vs waiting for the opponent to make mistakes.

My number one doubles team of Gabriel Hernandez and Edgar Solis won vs. the number three team from St. Joe's, and were competitive against the number two team (unfortunately, Gabriel suffered a knee injury early in the set, and St. Joe's exploited that weakness for the remainder of the match. . . I'll have to wait for later today to see the extent of Gabriel's injury, after he visit's the trainer, Coach Blanco).

It looks like we will be finishing the season with only 6 (out of 9) players. Winning matches will be difficult because of the points that we have to forfeit. I told my players, however, that I am going to be looking at the matches that we actually compete in to determine our success. I will keep you posted. I am looking forward to a much more competitive second round."

Wyatt Peterson 4-6,0-6,6-2
Carlos Diaz 2-6,3-6,6-3
Hernandez/Solis 1-6,3-6,6-2
Chris Aldama/Devin Day 2-6,2-6,2-6

Golf

Lompoc The Braves boys golf squad had contests on successive days to start the week. They traveled to the Morro Bay Golf Club on Monday for an LPL dual match which they lost 212-247, and then defeated the Coast Union Broncos 243-272 on the front nine at home (La Purisima Golf Course) on Tuesday.

The lone senior on the unit, Brent Van Dyke, led Lompoc on both occasions firing a 45 on Monday, and a 43 on Tuesday. The Medalist on Monday was Eric Olsen of Morro Bay with a 39, while on Tuesday Van Dyke tied with Coast Union's Chris More for the Honors. Abie Luna was just off the pace with a 45.

Individual scores at Morro Bay were:
Lompoc-
Brent Van Dyke (45), Alex Stone (54), Brian Magann (49), Abie Luna (47), Tyler Grossi (58), & Tyler Grossini (52).
Morro Bay-
Eric Olsen (39), Casey Weiss (41), Jeff Dzaughber (40), Lucas Meisinger (49), Tony Breska (47), Austin Peters (45).

Julia Heath
Things did not quite go as expected (or hoped) for LHS alumnus Julia Heath and her Cal-Poly (SLO) compatriots at the NCAA Western Regional Preview hosted by Sacramento St. University at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Lincoln, CA .
Heath the mainstay of the squad the last two years, finally suffered her 'sophomore slump'. She posted two of her worst rounds (84, 80) of the season before recovering her form with a two over par 74 on Tuesday.

In competition last year Julia shot in the 80's in 8 of the 22 rounds in which she played, including rounds of 84, 85, and her worst - 87. This season she only had one round of her 12 in the 80's - an 80 posted last fall. Her third round 74 was the 6th time she carded a 75 or lower as a sophomore.
The adventure began on Monday when, after consecutive pars, her shotgun start position dumped her on the back nine of the Orchard Course. She ran off a string of three bogeys in a row and then celebrated with a triple bogey on the 13th hole. She never could get untracked and later added double bogey on the fifth hole.
The young Mustangs finished tied for 14th out of 19 schools. They had been in 11th place after two rounds (305, 308), but fell because just when Heath recovered her stroke - the others on the team posted rounds of 80, 84, 80, and 83 for a third round team score of 317.
They will next compete at the Wolfpack Invitational in Reno on the 14 & 15 of April. --- el stato

Heartbreak on the Hill, No Joy in the Valley [Water Polo Update]

Cabrillo's boys soccer team controlled the second half, they just couldn't score enough, planting the seeds of a 3-2 loss in sudden death overtime of their CIF Wild Card match Wednesday. Brighton Galvan scored both goals for the Conquistadors - one early in the first half, the other midway through the second. The Anaheim Colonists controlled the majority of the first period, answering Galvan's opener with two of their own.



In the second, the Conquistadores just missed goals on several occasions.
Just wide late in the 2nd half

Start of Overtime

In the overtime sessions Cabrillo continued to control the game, but as both teams were tiring, there were several defensive lapses by each side which could have lead to points.

Over the crossbar in overtime





After the game, first year coach Armando Torres told the team and supporters : "From now on, Cabrillo will be a team to reckon with".


End of the Season











Lompoc Girls Soccer

The Lompoc girls, meanwhile, were on the road against La Salle but with identical results - a 3-2 loss in overtime. Veronica Villareal scored in the first period, and Lupe Estrada in the first overtime session, but both goals were answered. This resulted in a shootout which Lompoc lost 4-3. Villareal, Estrada, and Lindsey Eckersley scored in the shootout. Brandy Machado, who played the entire game in goal, had 10 saves and stopped two penalty kicks.

UPDATE: Cabrillo Water Polo

The Cabrillo girls faced off at the COLAC against the squad from Louisville HS (Woodland Hills) in the second round of the CIF playoffs. Louisville, a private Catholic girls school, advanced to the game by beating Nipomo 11-3 in first round action on Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the Conquistadores, the Royals improved to 19-11 with a 9-8 victory. It was a close affair throughout and either team could have won it (see games above). Reported [unconfirmed] scorers for Cabrillo were Rachel Nelson (5), Ashlea Coski (2), and Phoebe Huggins.


Cabrillo Head Coach Corey McIntyre talks with a player after the match.






Golf Gals




Julia Heath and friends went clubbing, but they didn't swing that much.
The Cal-Poly (SLO) womans golf team stormed through the Lady Braveheart Challenge at Oak Valley Golf Course in Beaumont (CA), drubbing runner-up San Diego St. and the rest of the 16 team field by 16 strokes. They followed up Monday's 313 (total scoring strokes, 4 players) with a 316 on Tuesday for an excellent 629 aggregate score on the 6,089 yard, 72 par course.

The ladies were led a career best tying effort by Stephanie Yocum (pictured), a sophomore from Pacific Palisades, who shot a (75/76) 151 to win individual honors by a stroke over two other players. Her 76 on Tuesday was the low score of the day.

Julia Heath, from Lompoc, was her usual consistent self with consecutive rounds of 78, posting a 156 score that was good enough for 5th place. Junior Hannah Brabb was 13th (76/85-161), while sophomore Maddy Fletcher shot (88/77) 165. Her 11 stroke improvement moved her from 71st place into a tie for 28th. Junior Elsie Walker carded a (84/89) 173 for 55th place as the fifth member of the squad.

The win was the Mustangs first tournament win of the season and the ninth since the program's establishment in 2000.

Coach Scott Cartwright's charges return to action on March 9th in a dual match versus CS Bakersfield at Hunter Ranch Golf Course in Paso Robles.

The Women are Back on Course

Are Kellie George (top) and Sarah Jones going to the[Bull]dogs ?


Allan Hancock College - which did not field a womans golf team last year due to lack of participation, may be about to recieve a big boost from the Lompoc Valley. Sources report that dual dynamos Kellie George (Cabrillo) and Sarah Jones (Lompoc) plan to attend and play golf at the shool this fall. Both ladies earned first team All Los Padres Athletic League honors while competing for their respective schools last year.


Kellie G in action












Heath Update


Julia Heath (left), and Heather Brabb (below), mainstays of the Mustangs womens golf program lead the Cal-Poly womens golf team's return to action after a long lay - off. Heath, a sophomore from Lompoc, and Brabb, a junior from Maitland Florida, have already helped the Mustangs assault the Cal-Poly record book. Records are kept for single rounds (18 holes), and 36-hole and 54-hole tournaments. Since the two became teamates in the fall of 2006, the squad has set 14 of the schools all-time top 18 scores, including records in all three catagories this season. Shattered might be a better description. For example, in the 54-hole class the old record of 945 was surplanted by a 917 in the fall of '06, and has since been beaten twice. Individually, Brabb has 7 and Heath has 6 of the top 25 all-time scores. In scoring average, Brabb has the 2nd & 8th and Heath the 4th best all-time single seasons, while Heath has pushed past Brabb to occupy the top position as the all-time career leader. Both were named to the All-Big West Conference 2nd team last year.

At the collegiate level the golf season is essentially divided into two parts- a fall schedule and a spring schedule with the winter off. The Mustangs traditionally participate in four tournaments from September to November, and five more from February to April. At the fall schedules final event in early November, the Mustangs own tournament at Cypress Ridge in Arroyo Grande, Heath finished tied for 5th and Brabb 9th, leading the team to a tie for second place in a 36-hole, four scorer, school record 604. It was the squad's third top 5 tournament finish of the season. The Cal-Poly spring schedule starts with a Feb 11-12 visit to the UC Riverside Lady Braveheart Classic. Other tournaments are a dual meet with Cal State Bakersfield (9 March), the Western Regional prelim (at Sacramento 31 March/1 April), the Wolfpack Invitational (Unv. Nevada 14-15 Apl), and the Big West Championships (Mission Viejo, April 21-22). And this year they might just add a sixth- a visit to the NCAA Western Regionals in Sacramento.
Monday Soccer at LHS

Elicity Fabing got one & so did Roseangela Perez. Goals , that is, as the Braves defeated Mission Prep 2-0 in girls soccer. The JV won 5-0. Late & unconfirmed reports from SLO have the boys varsity losing 3-1 and the JV on top 4-0.--el stato

Karissa Robertson Nominated Athlete of the Year

KARISSA ROBERTSON, the Cabrillo girls soccer team’s leading scorer last winter, simply took her skills and moved up a notch. In the fall she became the leading scorer at the University of Hawaii-Hilo.
At Cabrillo Robertson became the all-time leading goal scorer (105 goals in 4 years), was MVP of the Los Padres League and all-CIF.
With Robertson moved across the water Hawaii-Hilo made its second season in college soccer a memorable one by shouldering its way almost to the top. The Vulcans finished 12-8 and third in the NCAA Div. II Pacific West Conference. Robertson led the scoring with nine goals and four assists.
Robertson joins onetime Cabrillo teammate Katie McIntosh who is now at CSU Chico, Jani Carmona, a current teammate at UHH, Cal Poly golfer Julia Heath, Cabillo water polo standouts Kathryn Nelson and Sarah Ur and Allan Hancock athletes Ariana Fabing and Elysha McLain on the ballot.
YOU can nominate right now! Just e-mail your nominee to pressboxprod@verizon.net in any of four categories: Male Athlete of 2007, Female Athlete of 2007, Coach of the Year and Team of the Year. Take a look at the nominations list to date in the right-hand column below our sponsors.

Carmona, Francis Named; Girls Hoops; Geoff West

JANI CARMONA and coach ADDIE FRANCIS

have been nominated for Lompoc Locker Room End of the Year recognition
Carmona, pictured left in action at LHS and right in a mug shot at Hawaii-Hilo, was the emotional leader and premier scorer for last winter’s Lompoc High girls soccer team, the first soccer team of either gender to ever win a league championship for LHS.

She won a scholarship to Hawaii-Hilo which had had a rocky introduction to women’s soccer the year before. Carmona teamed with Cabrillo grad KARISSA ROBERTSON to improve the Vulcans enough to reach second place and nearly qualify for an NCAA Div. II playoff berth.

Francis was the third year coach of the Braves.

Carmona joins Chico State soccer’s Katie McIntosh, Cal Poly golfer Julia Heath, Cabrillo water polo’s Sarah Ur and Kathryn Nelson, and Hancock College’s Elysha McLain, in tennis, and Ariana Fabing, in cross country, on the Lompoc Locker Room Female Athlete of the Year ballot. The entire list can be seen in the right-hand column below our sponsors.

YOU can nominate right now! Just e-mail your nominee to pressboxprod@verizon.net in any of four categories: Male Athlete of 2007, Female Athlete of 2007, Coach of the Year and Team of the Year. Take a look at the nominations list to date in the right-hand column below our sponsors.

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GIRLS BASKETBALL UPDATE
By Mike (Statmeister) Loney

Varsity--- The 2nd Annual Bryan Ayer Classic was held at Lompoc High 29 Nov-1 Dec 2007 to commemorate the late LHS AD & coach. Three games were contested each day, and Dos Pueblos won the tourney with wins over Pinole Valley (55-52), Pioneer Valley (40-23), and Nipomo (42-36). Lompoc, Pinole Valley, & Santa Barbara all finished 2-1. In their first game Lompoc raced out to an early 17-4 lead late in the 1st quarter, but needed some clutch FT's late to ice it 57-51. Game two was a reversal of that pattern, as Lompoc fell behind Pinole Valley, rallied several times, got close late, but came up short 51-44. Game 3 repeated game one's pattern, as the Braves took a 6 pt. lead after the initial stanza and held off late charging Nipomo 53-44. The other games were: SB 51-47 over Pioneer Valley, SB 54-44 over Nipomo and losing to Pinole Valley 64-49. Lompoc was led by Jozza Ray & Denee Lane outside and Chelsea Casullo & Courtney Stumpo on the interior. Tournament MVP was Denesha Stallworth (Pinole) for her domination of the paint. The other team members are: Lauren Newsom (Pinole), Michelle Del Mese (DP), Brianna Williford (DP), Jozza Ray (Lompoc), Ashley Sandoval (Pioneer), and Jeanette DeWitt (Nipomo).

The Cabrillo Girls were at the VCA Tournament in Santa Maria, where they finished second, with a 3-1 record, to a tough Huntington Beach Oceanview team. The Conqs blew out Paso Robles 42-28, lost a heartbreaker to Oceanview 52-50, then defeated VCA (78-51) and Coast Union (44-41). Cabrillo used a 33-0 run to blow open a tied game with host VCA, with Roxanne Rentschler (26 pts), Megan Fierro (10), & Ashley Bonenfant (10) all playing well. The Conqs looked to do the same to Coast Union, but the Broncos cut a 36-23 3Q deficit to a single point with a minute to play before Cabrillo pulled away. Roxanne Rentschler was named to the all-tournament team.

Freshmen---Both local frosh squads participated in the Cabrillo Tournament, along with Righetti, St. Joseph, Atascadero, & Paso Robles. Cabrillo went 3-0 defeating Ats 26-16, PR 26-19, & Righetti 45-37. The Conqs used big third period runs the first two matches, outscoring Atascadero 11-2 after a 6-6 halftime tie, and outscoring Paso 10-4 to wipe out a 5-7 halftime deficit. Against Righetti they watched a 1Q lead dwindle to one point (27-26) after three quarters, before taking off. Lompoc went 2-1 with wins over Righetti (39-34) and PR (33-28) [this one is pictured here] sandwiched around a 40-25 loss to Atascadero. Against the Warriors the Braves were down five at the end of 1Q, then allowed only 7 total in the next two periods to put the game away. According to coach Nic Jansen, the ensuing loss to Atascadero had an easy explanation - 'we just didn't play very well'. They did however, he went on to say, learn how to play inside against taller players - a skill they used to good effect versus Paso Robles. In that game Lompoc saw a 9-point halftime lead wilt to only one with 1:40 to play. The Bearcats missed opportunities to take the lead, missing several shot from the field and two free throws before the Braves were able to finish them off.

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GEOFF

Here’s the way the Bismarck Tribune saw GEOFF WEST’s first conference victory Saturday night:

By CINDY PETERSON/Bismarck Tribune
The University of Mary men’s basketball team quickly licked its wounds after getting pummeled by Winona State on Friday night.The Marauders rebounded with a 92-82 victory over the Upper Iowa Peacocks Saturday evening at the McDowell Activity Center. It was the Marauders’ first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory of the season.“We always talk about defending our home court,” U-Mary point guard Geoff West said. “After a big loss we knew we would have to come back with more intensity.”West provided the Marauders with the big play. U-Mary led by as many as 17 points in the second half. But the Peacocks fired off a 14-2 run to shave the lead to 81-76 with 3:14 remaining.West caught the ball wide open on the top side of the left wing and swished a 3-pointer to stop Upper Iowa’s charge. The junior’s bucket put the Marauders up 84-76 at 2:55.“You can never second- guess yourself shooting,” West said. “It came to me, I was open, and I pulled the trigger.”It was a play U-Mary coach Juno Pintar expects from his veteran.“Those are the kind of shots Geoff West lives for,” Pintar said. “We weren’t getting anything going. That’s par for the course for Geoff. The shot clock was winding down and he caught it in rhythm.”Following an Upper Iowa turnover, U-Mary forward Eric Erdmann completed a conventional three-point play at 2:34 to put the Marauders up by double figures at 2:34.The Peacocks changed things up defensively to give the Marauders a scare before West and Erdmann’s big buckets.“They played a mix of zone and man-to-man,” Pintar said. “We haven’t gone against too many switching defenses this season. Each win in this conference is a quality win. It was good for our young guys to get a taste of success.”The Marauders closed out the contest by making 5 of 8 free throws in the final 1:14. Jordan Engelhardt went a perfect 4-for-4 during the stretch.Five U-Mary players scored in double digits. Erdmann led with 18. Jordan Wilhelm added 14 and West and Engelhardt chipped in with 12 apiece. Center Zach Dosch came off the bench and contributed with 14.

Statmeister Flags Heath; Reviews Bulldogs

By Mike "Statmeister" Loney

HEATH STARS AGAIN
Cal-Poly set a school record for a two round tournament with a 604 total at the Lamkin Cup Firestone Grill Cal-Poly Invitational held at Cypress Ridge Golf Course in Arroyo Grande. The Mustangs, who finished tied for 2nd (of 18 teams), were again led by JULIA HEATH (LHS). She strung together two of her top 5 rounds as a collegian for her own best-ever two round score of 147 which tied her for 5th.

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LOMPOC SHOULDERS AHC X-C
Lompoc Valley runners led the way for the AHC Bulldogs cross-country team this season, especially on the women's squad where by the end of the year four of the six harriers were from "the Valley".
This crucial level of participation enabled Hancock to field the five competitors necessary to post team scores in the meets down the stretch after missing the season opener at Moorpark. This is a problem for many junior and community colleges. In several large races, 20-30% of runners represented schools that could not field a full team.

The premiere runner for the program this year was ARIANA FABING (LHS) (pictured at the top), who had taken a year off from competition, and hadn't started training until August. She was the #1 finisher for AHC in all eight of the races she started and, during the brief season, was able to reduce her time in the 3 mile (5K) races by over 4 1/2 minutes. The sole Bulldog qualifier for the state meet, she finished 116th of 189 competitors from around the world. [Some international racers come to U.S. JC's to try and qualify for entry into four-year schools. For instance, the SBCC team's only two women finishers were from Spain (65th) and Sweden (143rd).]

DUANIA EVANS (LHS) (pictured in the second shot) was recruited to run by the team #2 (Eden Haven) despite having only run X-C her senior year for the Braves - primarily as conditioning for soccer. She had not intended to compete and had not trained, but agreed to help. She exceeded expectations by scoring (usually #3 or #4) in each of her six meets, and cut her time by over three minutes.

Competing with her for that 3rd or 4th spot was TERRI LADJA (CHS) who also scored in all six races she ran, cutting two minutes off her time. Adding that required depth in four races were Paige Wagner and ALEJANDRA VALDEZ (LHS) who was a member of the LHS X-C team for one year as an underclassman. Except for Ms. Ladja, all are freshmen in athletic eligibility - but Ariana Fabing is a sophomore scholastically.

On the men's side, ORION CASTEEL (LHS) was the consistent #2 scorer behind Bishop HS grad Clay Behrendt, slicing his times over the four mile courses by a minute and a half. The young - all freshman - squad struggled at times, but was also assisted in two races by NATUAEL (TA-TA) GHEBNETNSAE (CHS). Coach Luis Quintana is exited about prospects for next year and is also trying to get many members of both squads to come out for track in the spring --- so stay tuned.

Harrison On Tape; Baca, Boo, Heath Nominated

Roy Baca at his desk

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J HARRISON Recording Here Now

Today we unveil a new feature of lompoclockerroom.com -- an interview with J HARRISON, head of professional scouting for the Cincinnati Reds.

Harrison was raised in Lompoc, but graduated from Righetti, then played baseball at Lewis-Clark State. He coached at Chico State then went into scouting with the Atlanta Braves and won the Reds’ top spot earlier this year.

The recording, an interview by the Oakland A’s broadcast team in September, can be found below the drawings of “Mr. En Fuego” and “Gregg” on the left. It can be heard just by clicking. Thanks to NYLA SIMMONS, J’s sister and mom of ISAAC SIMMONS (baseball at Lewis-Clark State) and C.J. SIMMONS (basketball at Santa Rosa JC), for sending it along. If YOU have a recording of a Lompoc athlete who is out of town send it along. Thanks, Nyla!

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ROY BACA First Coach Nominated

Today while taping “Lompoc Locker Room, the TV Show,” the first nomination for Lompoc Locker Room’s Lompoc Coach of the Year Award came from Mike “The Statmeister” Loney. Loney nominated boxing coach ROY BACA of Roy’s PAL Boxing Gym.

Baca, pictured, trained three young boxers who won state championships in the Police Activities League boxing program this year. Besides that, he continued, as he has for 10 years, to keep the PAL boxing program afloat. Congratulations, Roy.

Loney’s other picks were no surprises. He nominated El Camino quarterback BOO JACKSON for Male Athlete of the Year, Cal Poly golfer JULIA HEATH Female Athlete of the Year, and the Lompoc High girls soccer team, league champions for the first time, as Team of the Year.

The nominations list can be seen at the lower right of the screen below the sponsors. Send in YOUR nominees to pressboxprod@verizon.net

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GEOFF WEST Scores Eight but UM Falls

GEOFF WEST was the second leading scorer with eight points but University of Mary lost its first official game of the season tonight in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In the opening game of the American Family Insurance Classic opposite Nebraska-Omaha, West went 3-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line but UNO won 88-66.

Statmeister Recalls Julia Heath and Makes Awards

By Mike (Statmeister) Loney

JULIA HEATH, the four-time LPAL Ladies Golf MVP at Lompoc High School has continued to play well at the collegiate level for Cal-Poly (SLO). In 2006, as a freshman, she competed in 9 of 10 tournaments finishing tied for the 2nd highest number of rounds played (behind senior Jessica Huss). She had three overall Top 5 finishes, was CP-SLO's #1 scorer four times and was #2 or #3 four other occasions. She never was out of the scoring for the Mustangs and closed out the season by finishing 10th (CP was #1) at the Big West Conference Championship. For the season, she had four of the team’s fifteen Top 5 finishes and one of their four rounds under par. She is pictured at the top here.

This season in three tournaments she has led the team again, with one Top 5 finish (4th) and was the team #1 scorer twice. She is scheduled to compete in the Firestone Grill / Cal Poly Invitational today & tomorrow (5-6 Nov 2007). Good luck, Julia !!!

Although this site is dedicated to athletes and their performances, not all of their achievements are on the field of competition. Today I would like to acknowledge the activities of several LHS fall season athletes for their all-around efforts. Call it my Brave Spirit Awards.

First are SOUANIA MOUA, ALYSSA HAMLIN (pictured lying on the gym floor), NICOLE NOMANY (center rear in the group photo) and MAUREEN SILVA. Seniors Souania and Alyssa were the varsity co-captains for the LHS Girls Volleyball team, Nicole was the #2 (occasionally #1) singles player for the LHS Girls Tennis JV squad, and Maureen was a doubles player on it. In addition to those activities and many others at LHS, these ladies also participated in a LHS Drama Production which raised over $1900 for Relay for Life, the cancer charity fundraiser organization. Their goal was $ 2000, and they are still working to meet that target--donations accepted.

Second is SARRAH JONES, LHS Girls Golf Captain and member of the 2007 LPAL 1st Team, who not only goes to school, plays on the team, has a job, but also runs a basketball camp (now in its 3rd year) for under-privileged kids at Fillmore Elementary School. Besides how can you not like a girl who wears school colors to the Homecoming dance (pictured in blue and white) ?