Briefly In Sports
Taylor Pitz reigns again
Laguna Beach High’s Taylor Pitz won the High School Women’s division title Saturday and Sunday to repeat as champion at the 2011 National Scholastic Surfing Assn. Interscholastic State Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Pitz easily captured the division, taking the crown with a score of 12.67 to outdistance runner-up Kulia Doherty of San Clemente who had 8.37 points. Edison’s Anise Guzman (6.50) was third, Shelby Detmers (6.33) of Newport Harbor was fourth, Sarah Locke (5.50) of Carlsbad took fifth and Emmy Lombard (2.60) of San Clemente placed sixth. Pitz is ranked No. 1 in the Women’s Division in the current NSSA Southwest Conference Open Season competition.
Laguna’s Kris Williams also earned a top placement with a fifth-place finish in the High School Varsity Longboard division. Williams posted an 8.20 score and was followed by Eli Gillis (6.67) of San Clemente. Shaun Thompson, rated No. 1 in the division in the Southwest Conference Open Season, won the title with 12.84 points. He edged out Aaron Cervantes (12.50) who placed second. Kelly Zaun (10.83) of Mira Costa and Tony Bartovich (8.90) of Huntington Beach finished third and fourth, respectively.
San Clemente took the High School Varsity team division championship with 125 points and Laguna Beach was seventh in the standings with 43 points. Edison (106) was second and Huntington Beach (79) third. Laguna finished ahead of Carlsbad, Mira Costa, Palos Verdes, Half Moon Bay and Marina in the team standings.
San Clemente also won the High School Junior Varsity team division title, repeating as champion. Shorecliffs, located in San Clemente, scored 144 points to win the Middle School title for the sixth-straight year in a division where Thurston placed seventh with 52 points. The College Team title went to San Diego St (131 points).
The NSSA Interscholastic State Championships is the first of six events in the 2011 NSSA Championship Series. Upcoming series events at the Huntington Beach Pier include the NSSA Jr. Championships on April 9, West Coast Championships (May 18-22) and the NSSA National Championships at both the pier and Salt Creek in Dana Point (June 16-July 3).
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Five Breakers make All-CIF girls’ water polo
The 2010-11 All-CIF Girls’ Water Polo Division 1 team was announced Monday and included five Laguna Beach players: senior Jessie Holechek and junior Melena Masson were named first team, senior Jessica Shusko and junior Yoshi Andersen to the second team and senior Etianne Manetta was third team.
Senior Kiley Neushul of champion Dos Pueblos was named the division’s Player of the Year and the Chargers’ Chris Parish was Coach of the Year.
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Laguna baseball enters CIF rankings
A torrid start to the 2011season has taken the Laguna Beach baseball team from nowhere to top-10 in a two weeks.
The Breakers entered the season unranked and unnoticed, but after starting their campaign 7-0 have bolted to a No. 7 ranking in this week’s Division 4 poll. The division is led by Palm Desert, followed Torrance, Bishop Amat, Indio, Oaks Christian, Chino, Laguna Beach, El Segundo, Savanna and San Dimas make up this week’s poll.
Laguna’s boys’ volleyball team entered the week again ranked No. 1 in Division 2. The Breakers are followed in the poll by Corona del Mar, Valencia/Valencia, Oak Park, Trabuco Hills, Aliso Niguel, Oaks Christian, Beckman, San Luis Obispo and El Toro.
The Breakers’ boys’ tennis team is ranked second in a Division 4 poll topped by Viewport. Following Laguna is Linfield Christian, Cate, La Quinta/Westminster, Segerstrom, Orange, Santa Ynez, Heritage and Alhambra.