Breakers move on

Mike Sciacca

Laguna Beach High track and field athletes turned in outstanding

performances Monday at the Pacific Coast League preliminaries at

Irvine High.

In girls’ competition, three Breakers qualified for league finals,

which were held Thursday. Qualifiers included Addison Doud in the

shot put and discus, Alex Crawley in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters and

Brittany Clark in the 100 and 200 meters.

“We have a very young team, but I thought we did well at prelims,”

girls’ coach Earl Towner said. “I think we have a good shot at league

finals and qualifying a few girls for CIF.”

Laguna had multiple-league finals qualifiers in the boys’

competition, including its 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams.

Individual qualifiers included Aman Bhatia in the 1,600 and 3,200; Sean Fuszard in the 1,600, 800; Justin Rovin in the 110 and 300

hurdles and 4 x 400 relay;George Cheng in the 110 and 300 hurdles;

Jeremy Eaton in the 400 and 800; Jayson Scott in the 400 and 4x100

and 4x400 relays; Michael Austin in the 100 and 4x100 relay; Shane Riehl in the 800 and 4x400 relay; E.J. Gomez in the 200, 4x100 relay

and triple jump; Max Mullender and Ryan Hedden in the 3,200, Joe

Caruso and Dylan Sachse in the shot put and discus; Nick Newell in

the high jump and long jump, and Shawn Pfendler in the high jump,

long jump and triple jump.

The boys’ league finals also were held Thursday.

“Our ambition is to get as many kids as possible to have the CIF

experience,” boys’ coach Dave Brobeck said. “It’s a tough task just

to make it. CIF takes only the top three athletes in the league for

each event.

“Our kids, however, are focused, well-coached and highly

motivated. League finals should be a celebration of our months of

dedicated hard work.”

In swimming, Laguna athletes set three school records to highlight

a strong showing at Tuesday’s Pacific Coast League prelims.

Adam Kaplan established two of those records and qualified

automatically for the upcoming CIF Southern Section meet with top

times in the 50- and 100-freestyle.

Kaplan went 22.27 in the 50-free and then swam a 48.77 in the

100-free.

Ryan Fair, who swam a 22.60 in the 50-free, also went into the

record book with a 1.51.30 in the 200-free, which also qualified him

for the CIF meet.

Shawn Pfendler improved his time in the 100-backstroke with a

58.31.

“The boys’ did incredibly well at prelims,” Laguna coach Rick

McKee said. “They were outstanding.”

In boys’ volleyball, revenge tasted sweet to Laguna as it went to

Corona del Mar and won on the Sea Kings’ home court, 25-15, 25-16,

21-25, 25-23.

It was the first league loss for Corona del Mar, which had won at

Laguna a week earlier.

Laguna maintained second place in the standings.

“It was a total team effort,” Laguna coach Lance Stewart said.

“Everybody played up to their capabilities. We executed from start to

finish. There were no letdowns. It was a great performance by our

guys.”

Senior outside hitter and USC-bound Luke Morris’ outstanding match

included 25 kills, 21 digs and six aces.

Ivan Kovacevic contributed 17 kills and four blocks.

Laguna came back Tuesday to sweep visiting University, 25-16,

25-17, 25-21.

Morris finished with 15 kills and seven aces.

In a key lineup switch in the past week, Stewart inserted

sophomore Blair Bigelow in the middle and moved Chris Hoffman to the

right side.

“We’d been toying with the idea before the season began, and we

made the change to give us a more balanced attack in our rotation,”

Stewart said. “I’m not one to make drastic changes, but the move

worked well.”

Laguna hosted Calvary Chapel Thursday in the regular season

finale for both teams.

“At this point in the season, I just want everyone to play up to

their abilities,” Stewart said. “Sprinkle in some emotion and

passion, and that’s what will win you a CIF championship.”

In softball, Laguna came close to posting a huge victory but a

rally fell short in a 9-6 PCL loss at Corona del Mar Tuesday.

The Breakers battled back from a 5-0 deficit and had two runners

on base and the tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh,

when the final out was recorded. Laguna piled up a season-high 10

hits in the game, with Lauren Delgado breaking out of a hitting slump

by delivering three hits and three RBIs.

Laguna’s seventh-inning comeback featured doubles to the fence by

both Simone DeVilmorin and Heidi Marriner.

In its previous game, Laguna was blanked at Tesoro, 10-0.

The Breakers had lost to the Titans, 24-0, in their first league

encounter April 19, but avoided a repeat of a similar score by

avoiding any huge scoring runs while playing consistent defense with

few errors the entire game.

For the second time in as many games with Laguna, Tesoro two-hit

the Breakers.