Estancia defends All-Sports Cup

John Ursini, the creator of the All-Sports Cup, didn’t read off a top 10 list of reasons why Estancia High beat Costa Mesa again in the annual rivalry.

Instead, Ursini read a poem complimentary of the two schools earlier this month and he didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings this time around.

Estancia prevailed, 130-70, in the competition in which each school earns five points for every victory in boys’ and girls’ sporting events between the two schools, except for in football, where the winner receives 15 points.

Estancia has won the trophy awarded to the city’s best high school athletic program in each of the five years of the All-Sports Cup’s existence. For winning, Estancia’s sports teams received a catered lunch from Ursini’s restaurant, the Newport Rib Co.

Last year, Ursini got into trouble, when during an assembly in Estancia’s gym, he gave the top 10 reasons why the All-Sports Cup remained at Estancia, his alma mater. The list angered and disappointed many with ties to Costa Mesa. Ursini later apologized.

“It’s great that even though Estancia has won the All-Sports Cup the last [five] years, it appears that Costa Mesa is primed to make it closer next year,” Ursini said via text. “I would be happy to feed the Mustangs one of these years. It’s not a rivalry when one team wins all the time. But I think Costa Mesa is ready to answer that call.”

This year, Estancia had 11 boys’ and girls’ teams top Costa Mesa in head-to-head sports. The Estancia girls’ golf team earned 20 points, followed by boys’ golf (15 points), baseball (15 points), boys’ tennis (10), softball (10), boys’ soccer (10), girls’ soccer (10), girls’ volleyball (10), girls’ tennis (10), wrestling (five), and girls’ swimming (five).

Costa Mesa claimed the 15 points in football, along with boys’ volleyball (10 points), boys’ water polo (five), boys’ cross-country (five), girls’ cross-country (five), girls’ water polo (five), boys’ swimming (five), boys’ track and field, and girls’ track and field (five).

The Estancia girls’ teams accounted for 70 points and its boys’ teams 60. The Costa Mesa boys produced 50 points and the girls 20.

— From staff reports