TheLounge
05-22-2007, 03:29 PM
With the 2006-07 high school sports season wrapping up, there was a flurry of Central Coast Section playoff activity last week. Baseball, softball, swimming finals and track and field trials were all taking place and you may not have been able to stay on top of everything.
The Lounge is here to help you figure out the good and the not so good CCS performances last week.
Swimming
Exciting: Performances from the Serra and Burlingame girls’ team. Both finished in seventh place in the team standings. For the Lady Panthers, it was one of the best performances by a Peninsula Athletic League public school.
The meet started off great for Burlingame, with the quartet of Audrey Pratt, Victoria Pratt, Olivia Plume and Megan Thomas finishing second in the 200 medley relay with an automatic All American time of 1:49.56.
Victoria Pratt took home an individual CCS title by winning the 100 breast in a time of 1:04.69, earning her All American honors.
Other strong individual efforts came from Mills’ Tammy Choy, who finished fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.97, earning her All American status. Aragon’s Emily Chen was third in the 50 free. Her time of 24.04 earned her All American consideration. Considering she swam an automatic All American time of 23.90 in the preliminaries and had a 24.02 in the PAL championships, consider her an All American. Sequoia’s Stephanie Brook was third in the 500 free with an All-CCS time of 5:08.34.
For Serra, the 200 medley relay team finished fifth with an All American consideration time of 1:39.00. They foursome of Aaron Chhokar, Nick Poggetti, Chris Yarrangton and Nick Zakula earned All American honors with a second-place finish in the 200 free relay. In the 100 free, Poggetti and Chhokar finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Disappointing: None. Other than Menlo School and Menlo-Atherton, swimming is the not strongest sport on the Peninsula. That is changing.
Track and field
Exciting: Brad Surh, Nick Palladino, Mary Rhodes (Carlmont), DeLeon Eskridge and Serra 4x100 relay team. Although the CCS championships are Friday at Gilroy High, the Carlmont distance runners are primed to have one of the best meets from a team in years. Brad Surh is the top qualifier in the 1,600 and has one of the fastest times in the nation this year. He also qualified for the finals in the 3,200. Nick Palladino was third in the 800 and is well within range of capturing the CCS title. He qualified with a time of 1:55.74. Oak Grove’s Sebastian Sam had the top qualifying time of 1:55.51. Mary Rhodes had the third-fastest time in the 3,200 and while she in more than 30 seconds off the pace for the title, she should easily qualify for the state meet. With the top three finishers moving on, she is nearly six seconds faster than the fourth-place qualifier.
Following the football season, Serra’s DeLeon Eskridge wasn’t sure if he would run track. Good choice. He is third in the 100 heading into the finals and is part of the Padres’ third-fastest 4x100 team which is 12-hundreths of a second away from top qualifier Bellarmine.Disappointing: Justine Fedronic (Carlmont). More disheartening than disappointing. Fedronic has the third-fastest time in the nation this season in the 800, but she barely qualified for the CCS finals. Her time of 2:18.73 was seventh-best out of eight qualifiers and is nearly 10 seconds off her best of the season.
It was reported that Fedronic suffered a torn calf muscle, which will severely hamper her ability to move on to the state meet. Which is a shame. A healthy Fedronic would certainly have been in the hunt for a state championship.
Baseball
Exciting: Mills. The last Peninsula team standing. The Vikings are in the semifinals for the first time since 1982 and although they are the lowest seed remaining (No. 8) they have as good a shot as any to win a CCS title.
Mills got a measure of revenge with its 9-0 win over Burlingame in the quarterfinals Saturday. The Panthers beat the Vikings three straight times during the regular season, but Mills got the win that matters the most —*the one that moved the Vikings into the CCS semifinals. You can bet Burlingame manager Rich Sciutto was not relishing the chance to play a team for the fourth time this season.
Disappointing: Serra and the WCAL. The WCAL, which is considered by many to be the top league in the Bay Area, if not Northern California, either had a down year or the rest of the field is catching up. It qualified six teams for the playoffs. Mitty, St. Francis and Sacred Heart Cathedral were all one and done, while Bellarmine and Serra were knocked out in the quarterfinals. Only Valley Christian remains alive and have so far been the class of the field.
Serra, once again, was knocked out of the tournament short of a championship once again. I realize it’s hard to win a CCS title but if the Padres want to be considered one of the best, they have to win a CCS title. I know that they place a lot of importance on winning WCAL titles, but programs are judged by winning section tournaments, not league championships.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the Padres have won a CCS title but they’ve only been to the finals once since then —*2002, a 9-3 loss to Wilcox. Meanwhile, St. Francis has won a title in that time, Mitty and Bellarmine have won twice and Valley Christian has won the ultimate prize three times.
All have won at least a share of a WCAL title as well. If they can CCS titles, why not the Padres?
Softball
Exciting: Carlmont, Notre Dame-Belmont and the Sequoia fans. Top-seeded Carlmont (DI) and Notre Dame-Belmont (DIII) each advanced to the semifinals with convincing wins in the quarterfinals Saturday. Both received first-round byes and while it’s a coin flip as whether that’s good or not, neither team had a problem moving into the next round.
Notre Dame’s job to win a CCS title get infinitely tougher when the Tigers take on No. 4 Notre Dame-Salinas. Ordinarily, you wouldn’t be that concerned facing the No. 4 seed but Notre Dame-Salinas is not your ordinary No. 4 seed. The Spirits are the nine-time defending CCS champions. The old saying of having to beat the best to be the best is in play here, but I’m sure the Tigers would have been more than happy to instead face the Spirits in the finals.
Although the Sequoia team was 10-runned in its first round game, big props to a loud, boisterous Sequoia crowd. Even though their team was getting beat on the field, it was the fans’ attitude throughout that buoyed the players’ spirits. If not for the fact the game started an hour-and-a-half late, causing the game to go well past 10 p.m., I’m sure the fans would have stayed to the end.Disappointing: Burlingame. Again, really a case of disheartening. The third-seeded Panthers led No. 6 Stevenson, 2-1, in the top of the seventh but Stevenson rallied for two runs to shock the Panthers, 3-2.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
The Lounge is here to help you figure out the good and the not so good CCS performances last week.
Swimming
Exciting: Performances from the Serra and Burlingame girls’ team. Both finished in seventh place in the team standings. For the Lady Panthers, it was one of the best performances by a Peninsula Athletic League public school.
The meet started off great for Burlingame, with the quartet of Audrey Pratt, Victoria Pratt, Olivia Plume and Megan Thomas finishing second in the 200 medley relay with an automatic All American time of 1:49.56.
Victoria Pratt took home an individual CCS title by winning the 100 breast in a time of 1:04.69, earning her All American honors.
Other strong individual efforts came from Mills’ Tammy Choy, who finished fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.97, earning her All American status. Aragon’s Emily Chen was third in the 50 free. Her time of 24.04 earned her All American consideration. Considering she swam an automatic All American time of 23.90 in the preliminaries and had a 24.02 in the PAL championships, consider her an All American. Sequoia’s Stephanie Brook was third in the 500 free with an All-CCS time of 5:08.34.
For Serra, the 200 medley relay team finished fifth with an All American consideration time of 1:39.00. They foursome of Aaron Chhokar, Nick Poggetti, Chris Yarrangton and Nick Zakula earned All American honors with a second-place finish in the 200 free relay. In the 100 free, Poggetti and Chhokar finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Disappointing: None. Other than Menlo School and Menlo-Atherton, swimming is the not strongest sport on the Peninsula. That is changing.
Track and field
Exciting: Brad Surh, Nick Palladino, Mary Rhodes (Carlmont), DeLeon Eskridge and Serra 4x100 relay team. Although the CCS championships are Friday at Gilroy High, the Carlmont distance runners are primed to have one of the best meets from a team in years. Brad Surh is the top qualifier in the 1,600 and has one of the fastest times in the nation this year. He also qualified for the finals in the 3,200. Nick Palladino was third in the 800 and is well within range of capturing the CCS title. He qualified with a time of 1:55.74. Oak Grove’s Sebastian Sam had the top qualifying time of 1:55.51. Mary Rhodes had the third-fastest time in the 3,200 and while she in more than 30 seconds off the pace for the title, she should easily qualify for the state meet. With the top three finishers moving on, she is nearly six seconds faster than the fourth-place qualifier.
Following the football season, Serra’s DeLeon Eskridge wasn’t sure if he would run track. Good choice. He is third in the 100 heading into the finals and is part of the Padres’ third-fastest 4x100 team which is 12-hundreths of a second away from top qualifier Bellarmine.Disappointing: Justine Fedronic (Carlmont). More disheartening than disappointing. Fedronic has the third-fastest time in the nation this season in the 800, but she barely qualified for the CCS finals. Her time of 2:18.73 was seventh-best out of eight qualifiers and is nearly 10 seconds off her best of the season.
It was reported that Fedronic suffered a torn calf muscle, which will severely hamper her ability to move on to the state meet. Which is a shame. A healthy Fedronic would certainly have been in the hunt for a state championship.
Baseball
Exciting: Mills. The last Peninsula team standing. The Vikings are in the semifinals for the first time since 1982 and although they are the lowest seed remaining (No. 8) they have as good a shot as any to win a CCS title.
Mills got a measure of revenge with its 9-0 win over Burlingame in the quarterfinals Saturday. The Panthers beat the Vikings three straight times during the regular season, but Mills got the win that matters the most —*the one that moved the Vikings into the CCS semifinals. You can bet Burlingame manager Rich Sciutto was not relishing the chance to play a team for the fourth time this season.
Disappointing: Serra and the WCAL. The WCAL, which is considered by many to be the top league in the Bay Area, if not Northern California, either had a down year or the rest of the field is catching up. It qualified six teams for the playoffs. Mitty, St. Francis and Sacred Heart Cathedral were all one and done, while Bellarmine and Serra were knocked out in the quarterfinals. Only Valley Christian remains alive and have so far been the class of the field.
Serra, once again, was knocked out of the tournament short of a championship once again. I realize it’s hard to win a CCS title but if the Padres want to be considered one of the best, they have to win a CCS title. I know that they place a lot of importance on winning WCAL titles, but programs are judged by winning section tournaments, not league championships.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the Padres have won a CCS title but they’ve only been to the finals once since then —*2002, a 9-3 loss to Wilcox. Meanwhile, St. Francis has won a title in that time, Mitty and Bellarmine have won twice and Valley Christian has won the ultimate prize three times.
All have won at least a share of a WCAL title as well. If they can CCS titles, why not the Padres?
Softball
Exciting: Carlmont, Notre Dame-Belmont and the Sequoia fans. Top-seeded Carlmont (DI) and Notre Dame-Belmont (DIII) each advanced to the semifinals with convincing wins in the quarterfinals Saturday. Both received first-round byes and while it’s a coin flip as whether that’s good or not, neither team had a problem moving into the next round.
Notre Dame’s job to win a CCS title get infinitely tougher when the Tigers take on No. 4 Notre Dame-Salinas. Ordinarily, you wouldn’t be that concerned facing the No. 4 seed but Notre Dame-Salinas is not your ordinary No. 4 seed. The Spirits are the nine-time defending CCS champions. The old saying of having to beat the best to be the best is in play here, but I’m sure the Tigers would have been more than happy to instead face the Spirits in the finals.
Although the Sequoia team was 10-runned in its first round game, big props to a loud, boisterous Sequoia crowd. Even though their team was getting beat on the field, it was the fans’ attitude throughout that buoyed the players’ spirits. If not for the fact the game started an hour-and-a-half late, causing the game to go well past 10 p.m., I’m sure the fans would have stayed to the end.Disappointing: Burlingame. Again, really a case of disheartening. The third-seeded Panthers led No. 6 Stevenson, 2-1, in the top of the seventh but Stevenson rallied for two runs to shock the Panthers, 3-2.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.