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1987
Coaches: Ron Mehuron, varsity football. Bob Nicholiason, assistant football. Vic Miguel, softball and assistant football. Mark Hodges, head JV football and baseball. Tex Ronning head frosh football. Rudy Escalante and Paul Wood, assistants JV football. Bryan, Wall, Bill Johnson and Marty Kruger, track and cross country. Dennis Mullen, girls and boys tennis. Pete Newell, basketball. Charles Burks, JV basketball. Brian Whitesell, frosh basketball. Ray Hunter, girls basketball. Fred Pfyffer, baseball. Angelo Ross, assistant baseball. Bariteau, assistant JV baseball. Juan Corona, wrestling and Martin Corona, assistant. Carol Kreppel, girls swimming and Ginger Anderson, girls JV swimming. Blair Barnett, volleyball. Gian Starinieri, cross country. Mike Bennett, boys swimming and water polo.

1987
FOOTBALL Practice games: Stevenson 0-0, Marello 19-18, North Salinas 0-35, Terra Nova 7-15. Practice record 1-2-1. League: Watsonville 0-40, SLV 17-19, Soquel 22-31, North Monterey 0-40, Aptos 16-21, Harbor 0-31. League record 0-6 for last place. Season record 1-8-1.

From the yearbook. This year the Cardinal football program had a definite start toward a stronger team in the years ahead. Under a new style offense this year, the Cards showed tremendous improvement by seasons end. Even though neither the varsity or JV’s had winning records, the new Frosh team went 3-3 for third place in league.

Rest from Sentinel. Cards off To Good Start, 30 players. In the waning dog days of summer, double day football practices arrived and the boys of summer turned into the soldiers of fall. Enthusiasm always runs high the first week of practice, but last years dream season should help more players to turn out. For the first time in 17 years the Cards defeated Soquel 59-28 and compiled a 7-2-1 record, after the pundits had picked them for doormats. Thirty players turned out this year for the first day of practice, double what it was last year. Coach Ron Mehuron said, “We wrote letters, talked to them last year and made phone calls. You definitely don’t sit back and see who comes along.” Comments from players: “I didn’t come out just because I saw them win last year, to follow the crowd. I thought I could add to the team and without Johnny, they are going to need a all the help they can get,” said first year player Tom Criswell. “We’ll be working harder and have more team work than last year. It’s going to be better, because we’re not going to slack off. We can’t depend on Johnny. We have a lot more depth and bigger people this year. We have to start somewhere,” said Ballan Tuck a returning senior.

All everything tailback Johnny Johnson, the magic ingredient last season, received a full ride scholarship to San Jose State so it is back to the trenches for SC.” Last year provided us with a stepping stone. Now we have to see what we can do with it,” Coach Mehuron. Leading the Cards will be first year quarterback Ballan Tuck, who played end last year. Darryl Ratliff switches from wide receiver to running back, who has excellent speed and is a two way standout. Brandon Fleming and Roman Cornejo will also do double duty, anchoring the offensive line and plugging the middle on defense. A larger turnout, including the return of nine varsity players an several transfers, should help balance the Card attack to make up for the lack of a dominate player. The Cards will need to function as a cohesive unit to match last years success.

Old ‘New Kids’ On Block. Players Hope To Fill Some Big Shoes. For SC several players are making big adjustments this season, assuming new roles. Booth Wainscoat is making the rather unusual switch from being an excellent two way lineman to being the running back, while Ballan Tuck moves from tight end to quarterback and Darryl Ratliff goes from defensive back to running back. The three juniors will start in the Cards new fly offense. “Some of our kids may be disappointed that we don’t us the single I-back any more. But to run the I formation, you have to have a back, who is durable and can run 20 times a game,” said coach Mehuron. Wainscoat and Ratliff won’t have the pressure of taking Johnson’s place.
Wainscoat, who blocked for Johnson last year is making the transition to running with surprising ease. “He is a very intelligent person,” said Mehuron, who points out Wainscoats 4.0 GPA. “He is the one who can make it happen. He’s one of those players coaches like to have. He’s even keeled, very much goal oriented. This year, he wants to play linebacker and running back and everything he’s done in the off season was geared to that. He’s one of those kids, who can go someplace to play, if he stays health and improves his strength.”
Ratliff, who is also a basketball and baseball standout, is “by far the fastest player on our team. Darryl is well suited for the fly with his speed, which is his real strength. Darryl is much more mature than he was last year, as far as his practice attitude. He has had success, athletically, so he wants it to continue,” Mehuron said.

At the SCCAL North Jamboree at Cabrillo College, SC struggled all night on defense, finally had its offense come to life against Marello. Booth Wainscoat ran for two first downs and Darryl Ratliff for one, good for three points, which pushed SC ahead of Marello for third place. “We have some large holes to fill,” said Coach Mehuron. SC was in the fly offense for the first time. “We’ve done a lot of studying and talking to other coaches, hoping to prevent first year errors,” said Mehuron. And the new offense showed signs of being a good one.

Santa Cruz, RLS Can’t Land KO Blow. Game ends in a 0-0 tie. Like two boxers taking turns pounding each other against the ropes, neither team was able to land the big knockout punch. Both teams had numerous opportunities to score and each drove the field well at times. SC rolled up 236 yards in total offense, but first game jitters took its toll in the form of crucial mistakes at the worst possible moments. Brilliant performances were made by strong safety Ballan Tuck, who intercepted three passes and Darryl Ratliff who gained 112 yards on just nine carries. “We were very anxious. We drove the field a number of times, but just broke down at the goal line,” Coach Mehuron. RLS had a touchdown called back by a penalty. SC had its best drive starting from their own 29 and drove to the RLS 13. A 6 yard loss and an incomplete pass forced a 36 yard try for a field goal, which missed. “We played pretty well on defense,” said Mehuron, who singled out defensive back Tom Criswell as turning in one of the best efforts. One of Tuck’s interceptions stalled a Pirate drive that reached the Card 10. A recovered fumble at the RLS 35 with just 1:23 left in the game was the Cards last chance to score. SC quarterback Tuck was sacked, but Ratliff broke off a big gainer to the 17, but another sack, a penalty and a fumble killed the threat.

Cards Rally For Win. SC Beats Marello After Trailing 18-0. The new lights were on at Memorial Field, but Marello threatened to dim the party. SC went into the locker room at halftime trailing 18-6. SC came out in the second half and did a 360 degree turnaround, holding the Panthers scoreless, while coming back to over take Marello for a 19-18 win by scoring all of its points in the third quarter. Marello dominated the first half of the game. “They were blasting our defensive line back. We wish we executed as consistently in our running game.” Mehuron said. Marello made 112 of their 148 total rushing yards in the first half. SC got on the scoreboard with 22 seconds left in the half, when Tuck connected with Zack Raney on an 11 yard TD pass to close the gap to 18-6. Neither team was able to make a conversion kick.
SC came out smoking on its first possession of the second half. On the first play from scrimmage, Tuck connected with Darryl Ratliff on a 40 yard pass play that put SC on the Marello 18 yard line. Two plays later a fumble gave the ball to Marello, who on fourth down was forced to punt. SC then drove to the Marello 10, where Tuck hooked up with Raney again for a touchdown. The momentum had switched to SC. Tuck intercepted a pass and returned it to the Marello 37. Four plays later, Tom Criswell took a Tuck pass 43 yards for a TD with 1:37 left in the third quarter. Jeff Neumann’s conversion kick proved to be the winner.

Wildcats, Cardinals To Battle in League Opener. Even after the come back win against Marello, coach Ron Mehuron is not happy with his team’s attitude. “We need to work on our attitude. After coming back like we did against Marello, you would think they’d be more enthusiastic. I don’t want to sound too negative, but its very important that we get up for this game and I just don’t see it right now.” SC has another fine running back in the tradition of past Card runners. In this decade alone, SC has had numerous stars at the position, including Larry Robinson, Glen Hill—who plays pro baseball for the Toronto Blue Jay organization, Jim Courtright who is the starting fullback at Cabrillo and most recently Johnny Johnson the SCCAL’s all time leading rusher, who starts at San Jose State. Darryl Ratliff seems poised to join this elite group as he leads the league in average per carry at 9.5 yards a pop. David Guardino, a defensive tackle, is out for the season with ligament damage.

Watsonville Batters Santa Cruz 40-0. The Cards leading man Darryl Ratliff was relegated to the role of urging his teammates to perform. Ratliff was on the bench with a broken thumb and will be out at least three weeks. “We played the first half with them, but it wasn’t a very good one, Then, we made some errors in the second half,” Coach Mehuron. Watsonville finished with 420 total yards to SC;s 123. The score at halftime was 13-0.

Black Friday For Santa Cruz in a 35-0 loss to North Salinas, who tied with Gilroy and Live Oak for the MBL championship last season. The Cards were out-gunned, out-manned and just plain beaten up. “They were just bigger and better team than us, “ said coach Mehuron, who all week had expressed dissatisfaction with the scheduling formula that had the Cards going against the defending co-champions of the much larger schools of the MBL. With only five minutes gone in the game, North Salinas had scored two touchdowns. A bright spot in the game was Zack Raney’s 41 yard punt to the North Salinas’ one yard line.

SLV Disappoint Santa Cruz’ Full House. With a final score like 19-17, one visualizes a closely fought game, but it wasn’t. SLV completely dominated SC in front of a capacity homecoming crowd at Memorial Field. SC scored first on a 31 yard field goal by Jeff Neumann early in the second quarter. Ramon Cornejo’s interception at the Cougar 29 yard line set it up. SLV held a 19-3 advantage until just over three minutes left in the game, when SLV started substituting. Taking advantage of a SLV fumble deep in Cougar territory, SC scored its, first touchdown in three weeks, on Booth Wainscoat’s two yard run. After a Cougar punt, SC took possession on their own 26 yard line. Asron Wainscoat, in his brightest moment of the game, connected with Tom Criswell on a 74 yard touchdown pass to close the score to 19-17.
The Cards might have found their quarterback of the future. Sophomore Aaron Wainscoat, who made his first start last week against North Salinas, completed 5 of 10 passes for 107 yards. Despite the fact that his offensive line gave him very little time to operate. “Its hard to throw when you have guys all over you,” said Coach Mehuron. “For a sophomore, he did very well,” said assistant coach Bob Nicolaisen. “He started getting confidence. He took his licks and kept getting back up. He’s going to be a good one.” The Cards managed only four first downs and 142 yards in the game.

Frustration continues For SC; Another loss, this time to Terra Nova of Pacifica 15-7. Santa Cruz was its own worst enemy, turning the ball over six times on five interceptions and one fumble. A fumble inside the Terra Nova 20 yard line blew a scoring opportunity for the Cards. SC played better than they had in the past few weeks. “Definitely, we played better,” said Coach Mehuron. “Especially on defense. But on offense we just couldn’t get anything going.” SC gained 64 yards rushing and 97 passing. Seventy of the passing yards came on one play, when sophomore quarterback Aaron Wainscoat connected with Tom Criswell for the Cards only score. Running back-defensive back Ballan Tuck is back for this game. Other starters Brandon Fleming and Joe Pfyffer are out for the remainder of the season with concussions.
Cards nearly Upset Soquel. It wasn’t supposed to be a close game. It did not turn out that way in the Soquel 31-22 win. Soquel jumped out to an early lead and then watched as the pesky Cards fight their way back into the game and actually took a lead 22-21 in the third quarter. Then Soquel woke up and asserted its physical dominance to overcome the valiant effort by the Cards. Soquel jumped out to a 14-0 lead before SC had even run its fifth play. With four minutes left in the half, Soquel led 21-0. Soquel had limited SC to 15 yards at that point, had a sack, recovered a fumble and blocked a punt. Two penalties, aided the Cards to march from their own 20 yard line to score on a 12 yard pass from Aaron Wainscoat to Tom Criswell with just 11 seconds on the clock. Momentum had kissed the Cards.
Darryl Ratliff returned the second half kickoff 33 yards to the Cards 49 and one play later Matt Zwerling went right up the gut on a trap play for a 51 yard jaunt to the end zone and SC was in contention. SC starting from their own 20, ran another trap play this time with Mike Nevin carrying for a 80 run to the end zone. Ratliff took the ball in for a two point PAT and SC had shocked the crowd with a 22-21 lead. “It was nice to see a closer type of game. We were competitive and that’s promising,” said Coach Mehuron. On the ensuing drive, Soquel took advantage of their size to came right back and score. Mehuron was mildly happy with his teams progress, noting that “it’s the second week in a row we’ve improved. We started to hit more and if we keep improving, then this will be a partial success, even though it goes in the loss column. But those losses get you right in the pit of your stomach. Progress isn’t worth much if you can’t win”

North Monterey Blasts Out-Manned Santa Cruz 40-0. Perennial powerhouse North Monterey scored the first three times it had the ball, twice before SC could run a play from scrimmage. Behind 19-0 at the quarter and 30-0 at the half, SC could manage but three first downs in the first 24 minutes. For the game SC rushed for 84 yards and had 52 through the air. Quarterback Aaron Wainscoat completed 4 of 13 attempts, although his receivers dropped a half dozen balls. Blame much of that on a solid North County defense. The only thing approximating a SC scoring threat came with time running out in the game. Wainscoat looped a 31 yard pass to Mike Park, giving SC a first and goal at the Condor 9 yard line. Four plays netted a minus 2 yards and time expired. The Condors looking for a league championship for the eighth consecutive season, did everything right.

Aptos Rallies To Edge Cards, 21-16. Santa Cruz was ahead 16-7 midway through the fourth quarter, when Aptos inserted a senior reserve quarterback, who threw two TD passed in the final four and a half minutes to turn the game around and nip SC. After the first TD in the last minutes, Aptos recovered an onside kick, that bounced over the front line of Cards. Aptos took over on the Card 38 yard line. In eight plays, Aptos scored the winning TD. “A win tonight would have been a great boost. We need a win badly. In three of our last four games, we have improved our play, but didn’t win. Its hard for them to take,” Coach Ron Mehuron.

Harbor Gets A Grip. Despite 5 Turnovers, Pirates Blank Cards 31-0. The win put Harbor in the CCS playoffs against Palma. For most of the game, possession of the ball was fleeting. It was you take it, I don’t want it, answered most often by no thanks, I can’t handle it. Each team lost four fumbles, while SC threw two interceptions and Harbor one. Harbor took the opening kickoff and drove 54 yards in seven plays for their first score. SC fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Harbor ran the fumble in for a score. For the second time this year SC was down by two touchdowns, before running a play. A brilliant defensive play by outside linebacker Ballan Tuck, who tipped an option play lateral and recovered the ball on the Harbor 18. Three plays later SC lost the ball on a fumble.

The team was shut out five times in ten games. Inexperience and injuries had much to do with the losses, not to mention the effect it had on the Cards lack of scoring punch. It seemed like players dropped right and left with injuries and illnesses.

Most of the teams scoring came on long passes. Matt Zwerling finished eighth in the SCCAL rushing stats with 324 yards in 70 carries for a 4.6 yards per carry average. Booth Wainscoat rushed for 175 yards in 61 carries.

No team members available in the yearbook. Head Coach Ron Mehuron. Assistants Bob Nicolaisen and Vic Miguel.
Harbor took the opening kickoff and drove 54 yards in seven plays for their first score. SC fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Harbor ran the fumble in for a score. For the second time this year SC was down by two touchdowns, before running a play. A brilliant defensive play by outside linebacker Ballan Tuck, who tipped an option play lateral and recovered the ball on the Harbor 18. Three plays later SC lost the ball on a fumble.

Harbor took the opening kickoff and drove 54 yards in seven plays for their first score. SC fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Harbor ran the fumble in for a score. For the second time this year SC was down by two touchdowns, before running a play. A brilliant defensive play by outside linebacker Ballan Tuck, who tipped an option play lateral and recovered the ball on the Harbor 18. Three plays later SC lost the ball on a fumble.

Sentinel All County team. Santa Cruz had only honorable mention players this year. Roman Cornejo, Tom Criswell, Darryl Ratliff and Ballan Tuck.

JV FOOTBALL games: Watsonville 0-39, SLV 6-0, Terra Nova 22-36, North Monterey 0-46, Aptos 0-20, Harbor 6-6.

Yearbook. Team members were Sean McFarland, Sean Forgaard, Ricky Reese, John Snow, Wolfgang Witkowski, Jeff Reber, Jeremy Green, Jorge Alvarez, David Davenport, Jeff Thuringer, Bernie Escalante, Dave Kemp, Josh Breeden, Scott Simmons, Ryan Reber, Dewey Thomas, Hugo Cornego, Jason Sparewseena and Richard Harbison. Coach Mark Hodges and assistant Ray Martinez

FRESHMAN FOOTBALL Yearbook. took third in the league with a 3-3 record.
Team members were Mike Scott, Ada Miniman, Justin Discoe, Nathan Sanders, Nick Hawley, Mark Goodrich, Jeff Sizemore, Bobby Hultzen, Ram Tipton, Paul Ward, Nicolas Turner, Russell Powell, Zack West, Danny Johnson, Perer Verprauskus, Fernando Flores, Jacob Benson, Joe Craw, Fidel Guerrero, Rosalio “Junior” Chavez, Peter Machado, Jesse Trumbull, Ben Broadbent, Doug Kishi, Tony Parodi, Tod Gerbner, Stan Pillsbury, Josh Riggins, Brain Criswell, Dean Dealy, Danny Schultz and Juan Gaona. Head Coach Tex Ronning. Assistants Rudy Escalante and Paul Ward.

Sentinel. In the frosh-soph jamboree which preceded the varsity, SC scored nine points to win, followed by Harbor with seven and SLV with four points.

BOTH BOYS AND GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
Sentinel. Cardinal Cross Country came away with some strong individual performances at the 48 school Robert Louis Stevenson Invitational. In the large school division, Jaime Marshall finished sixth in 16:48.31 over the 3.1 mile course. Nick McBurney was fifteenth in 17:22.
Crystal Menis was second in the girls frosh-soph race. Maria Shanle was seventh in 22:41.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
Yearbook. For the first time in over two years the Cardinal girls ran a complete team in SCCAL competition. Senior Lynette Mungai had a fantastic year leading the girls to a 4-4 dual meet record for fourth place in league. At the CCS Region IV meet SC finished in eighth place. Lynette Mungai finished second in the league meet and sixth in CCS Region IV and twenty-eighth in the CCS finials. Sophomores Maria Shanle and Jennifer Cameron ran in the two and three positions on the team all season.

Girls team members were Maria Shanle, Shanna Springmeyer, Cristina Yselstein, Lynette Mungai, Susan Comstock, Michel Holsworth, Jennifer Cameron and Crystal Menis. Coaches were Marty Kruger, Brian Wall and Bill Johnson.

Sentinel September 26. North Monterey 17, SC 43 at the 2.1 UCSC course, Lynette Mungai just missed her course personal best with a winning time of 14:28.

October 3. Watsonville won 20-41. Lynette Mungai finished in second place in 20:06.34.

October 10. SC downed SLV 15-50. Senior Lynette Mungai clocked an impressive 14:33 to defeat the runner up, teammate Maria Shanle by 1:23 over the UCSC 2.1 mile course. It was the SC girls first win in two years, due to small squads.

Soquel 15, SC incomplete. The top SC finisher was Crystal Menis for eleventh place.

Sentinel October 17. The Cards defeated Aptos 23-34. Lynette Mungai remained undefeated in four meets on her home track winning in 14:39. Maria Shanle was third in 15:38. Girls are 2-2 in league.

October 31. SC beat Marello and Harbor who had incomplete teams. As are the boys, 4-2 in league. Lynette Mungai placed second in 14:33.

November 7. Soquel defeated SC 24-31, despite a come from behind individual win for Lynette Mungai. A Soquel runner led the first half of the race, at which point Mungai charged into first place and stayed there.

Sentinel November 13. At the SCCAL meet at Schwann Lagoon, Lynette Mungai took second place.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
Yearbook. A large talented group ended with a 6-2 dual meet record. At the league meet, the Cards took second place. Junior Jaime Marshall turned his rookie year into a memorable one by placing third as an individual at the SCCAL finals. Junior Nick McBurney, also a rookie and senior Brad Norton battled it out for the second and third positions on the team all season. Four juniors and a sophomore made up the Cards top seven runners. The JV boys finished a strong third at the league meat and went 5-3 in dual meets.

Sentinel November 13. Brandon Smith won the individual crown at the SCCAL meet at Schwann Lagoon. “Every thing went just right,” said Smith. Smith put together a tactically superior effort to upend his competition, cruising to victory in a swift 16:30.26 and some 50 to 60 yards ahead of the second place runner. “The pace was perfect. It was real, real slow for the first two miles. Right at two miles, I pushed it as hard as I could. At two and half miles, I knew I had my competition, I had to get ahead because I knew he has a good kick.” North Monterey won for the second consecutive year, scored 52 points, followed by SC with 62 and Harbor with 65. Card coach Gian Starinieri had predicated a SC win, “We would have, but my third man, Vince Panero got sick. Luck is 90 percent of it and we had bad luck today.” Jaime Marshall in 17:35.6 placed fourth, which made him an ALL SCCAL runner as the award goes to the top seven runners.
Looking forward to the Region IV meet at Crystal Springs in Belmont, “I think we can win at the Region IV meet,” said Smith, who improved to first this year after coming in fifth at the SCCAL meet last year. Starinieri is looking for an encore performance by his hopefully health team at Regions.
In the junior varsity division Kurt Ferber took second place in 19:20.

Boys team members were David Cook, Noah Whittman, Nick McBurney, Kurt Ferber, Cory Boegle, Jeff Rivas, David Machado, Wade Peterson, Brad Norton, Jamie Marshall, Davie Gergen, Izak Sawyer, Michael Cavadias, Kevin Smith, Matt Henry and Aafon Wisenfield.

Sentinel September 26. North Monterey ran its SCCAL seven year dual meet win streak to 40, beating SC 17-43 in the first dual meet of the season. (no mention of SC runners)
In the boys junior varsity race, NMC won 19-42.
` Boys frosh-soph, SC ran an incomplete race.

October 3. Bare Facts: Win Isn’t A Win. Shirt and Cardinals’ Triumph Both Removed In Heated Meet. Watsonville varsity boys lost to SC, but later was awarded the victory, when a Card runner was disqualified. Nick McBurney was disqualified for running the last half of the 2.98 mile race at Pinto Lake Park without his shirt. If McBurney’s third place finish have stood, SC would have won the race 27-26. After the disqualification Watsonville was awarded the victory 25-32. Coach Marty Kruger was understandable upset with the ruling. Jaime Marshall won the race in 16:43.46. “That was one of the most competitive races I have ever seen. It was neck-and-neck for the last half mile.

October 10. SC downed SLV 23-36. At UCSC, all of SC’s runners had personal bests. Junior Jaime Marshall hit his best time in three years at 11:48 for a one second win.

Sentinel. SC took second place at the Aptos Invitational Meet in the small schools division. Brandon Smith finished first in 13:16 and Bill Bennett in 13:48 for second. There were more than 320 runners from 13 schools at the sixteenth annual event.

Sentinel. October 17.Lookin’ Good. Cardinals Gang Up On Aptos. SC’s victory was truly a group effort. Four of the five scorers for SC posted their personal best over the 2.1 mile course at UCSC and all of them finished within 46 seconds of one another. “I thought it would be a closer meet than this,” said coach Marty Kruger of the 24-31 Card victory. “We’re jelling right now. Everything is looking very good,” Kruger said as the team evened its SCCAL dual meet record to 2-2. Jaime Marshall, running with a painful hip flexor injury, finished second in 12.03. Brad Norton was third in 12:14, followed by sixth place finisher Wade Peterson in 12:23 and David Machado in 12:49 for ninth place.
Led by Eric Olsens first place performance in 13:13, the junior varsity won over an incomplete Aptos team.

October 31. SC defeated Harbor and Marello both with incomplete teams. Nick McBurney won his first varsity race was timed in 12:23 and Wade Peterson was second in 12:53. SC is now 4-2 in league.

November 7. SC chalked up a 22-36 victory over Soquel. Jaime Marshall took second at 13:29, ten seconds behind the winner. Brad Norton placed third in 14:06 and Nick McBurney placed fourth in 14:10. SC is 5-2 in dual meets.

ALL SCCAL boys, Brandon Smith and Jaime Marshall.
ALL SCCAL girls. Lynette Mungai.

GIRLS TENNIS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR
Girls tennis followed in the normal Card fashion by sweeping the SCCAL title and winning two of their CCS matches, which was the best result in CCS play so far. The team was led by Jenny Newman, who was the number one singles player, Coach Mullen said he thought this years team could possibly be the best girls team in SC history. They went undefeated in league play.

The team was led by Jenny Newman, who was the number one singles player, plus other top players Hilary Hultzen and Amy Rinaldi. Only one match wasn’t a 7-0 blow out. That match ended 6-0 as the last match was called due to darkness. It was another season where SC proved to be as near perfect as possible. Returning players for next year are Hilary Hultzen, Kelli Mullen, Kelly Nelson, Liz Christansen, Becki Fomasi and Beth Jarmin.

Sentinel Athlete of the Week of November 11 was senior Jenny Newman, who lead her team to the SCCAL title for the third straight year. She won the SCCAL singles championship by the scores of 6-1, 6-1. She was undefeated against league foes going 13-0, including the championship matches.

Sentinel. Santa Cruz Blanks Valley Christian 7-0 in the opening round of the CCS team championships, but SC played like they were still playing SCCAL teams, who they regularly beat 7-0. SC was led by the play of its three double teams, which only lost two games in six sets. “That’s the best we’ve ever played in doubles. We really played well,: said coach Mullen. In number one doubles, Amy Rinaldi and Jane Wolfe won 6-0, 6-0. In number two, Sarah Alpert and Dawn Barbic won 6-1, 6-0, as did the number three team of Liz Christiansen and Becki Fomasi. Number one singles player Jenny Newman won 6-1, 6-1. Also winning singles matches were Hillary Hultzen, Kelli Mullen and Kelly Nelson. The victory is only the second time in four years that the Cards have advanced past the first round of the CCS tournament. Newman and the doubles team of Mullen-Hultzen will play in the opening round of the CCS Singles and Doubles Championships that begin Monday at Cuesta Park in Mountain View.

SC Double Team Makes CCS Semifinals. The SC double team of Kelli Mullen and Hilary Hultzen made it to the semifinals of the CCS Singles and Doubles Championships with two victories Monday at Cuesta Park in Mountain View. Mullen a sophomore and Hultzen a junior, won the first round against Valley Christian 6-0, 6-1. In the second round they beat Aragon 7-5, 6-4. The SC pair will play next against the number two seed from Gunn. “They were dominant in the first match. In the second match, they were behind 5-4 in the second game and then went on to win. I‘m really proud of all the kids,” said coach Dennis Mullen. The only other SC doubles players have gone as far except for Barbara Bernard and Gwyn Adams in 1978. Coach Mullen, “there have been winners from this tournament, who have gone on and played in the pros. These are the cream of the crop. It’s one of the best tournaments in Northern California.” In singles play Jenny Newman lost to the number one seed 6-1, 6-1.

SC had two Sentinel Athletes of the Week of December 2. Junior Hilary Hultzen and sophomore Kelli Mullen won twice in the CCS doubles championship tournament to advance to the semifinals against Gunn. It is the first time any doubles team from Santa Cruz county has made it to the CCS Girls semifinals. They won their first match 6-0, 6-1 against Valley Christian and their second match 7-5, 6-4 against Argon. Hultzen the Cards number two singles player and Mullen the number three during the regular season, are 5-0 in doubles in post season play. Hultzen was 18-1 and Mullen 17-2 as singles players during the regular season.

Sentinel October 1. Cards Declaw The Cats. Although SC had two recent games rained out, but didn’t look rusty as they opened defense of their SCCAL championship. SC blanked Watsonville 7-0. Coach Dennis Mullen was really pleased with the way his girls played. The team did not lose a set and only dropped ten games in the seven matches. Two time defending league champions Jenny Newman won 6-1, 6-1. Other singles players winning were Hilary Hultzen, Kelli Mullen and Kelly Nelson.

Cards Still Unbeaten after defeating Carmel 4-3. SC’s record is 7-0 on the season. “The play of our doubles teams and Hillary Hultzens singles win won the match for us.” Coach Mullen said. Hultzen the Cards number three singles player won 7-6, 7-5. The number one doubles team of Jennifer Mullen and Amy Rinaldi won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. SC won the other two doubles matches in straight sets. Jenny Newman lost for the first time this season 1-6, 5-7 to the number 11 ranked girls 16 (age group) by the Northern California Tennis Association.

BOYS WATER POLO Final league round-robin standings: Harbor 8-0, Soquel 5-3, SC 3-5, Aptos 3-5 and Watsonville 1-7. Overall record 10-16.

Yearbook. The team was led primarily by three seniors: David Mellon, Chris Shumate and Billy Hackbarth. Others who proved to be strong were first year players Mike Peralta and Joel Griggs.
After a few opening losses, SC made its mark by placing high in both the Salinas and Gilroy tournaments. In league play, they lost their first four games, before turning physical. Soquel beat them 12-9 in the season finale. Although the year didn’t prove to be the most successful, the Cards had a lot of talent, but putting the talent together was where the difficulty came.

Team members were Cameron Foster, Chris Shumate, Brian Herber, Brent Erickson, Peter Kinsley, Seb Sussman, Damien Foster, Mike Bennett, Jason Allison, Keith Foster, Jeff Wickum, Mike Berger, Brick Blackburn, Mike Peralta, Kevin Crawford, Austin Burns, Ben Smith, Bernard McGraw, Joel Griggs, Billy Hackbarth, David Mellon, Matt Getty, Scott Territo, John Foster, Portia Libby, Carrie Kreppel, Sam Tunheim and Brandon Foster.

Nov. 13. SC downed Aptos 15-8 in the league playoffs. SC was led by junior Brent Erickson, who scored a game high seven points. “He’s playing really well. He sparked us. He led us throughout the whole game, said coach Bennett. SC was up at halftime 10-2. Bill Hackbarth added three goals.

Sentinel Sept. 25. Early Leads Don’t Last. After a quarter of play SC enjoyed a 3-2 lead over Harbor, but it didn’t last, as Harbor slowed things down and went ahead 4-3 a halftime and added four goals in the third quarter to pull away to win 10-6.. (former SC athlete) and now Harbor coach Jack Dufour said, “It was a tough physical match and SC jumped out on us. The league is tougher this year. I don’t think SC is a 0-2 team.” Bill Hackbarth had three goals and Dave Mellon two.

Sentinel Oct. 9. Aptos beat SC 8-4, to finish off the first round of league play. Standings for the first half: Harbor 4-0, Soquel 3-1, Aptos 2-2, SC 1-3 and Watsonville 0-4 after having to forfeit two wins. Aptos held only a 5-4 lead going into the fourth quarter, but shut out SC 3-0 to win. Bill Hackbarth scored all four SC scores, before fouling out.
SC won the frosh-soph match 11-2. Scott Territo and Ben Smith each scored three goals.

Oct. 23. SC downs Watsonville 10-7. Bill Hackbarth scored three goals and Sam Tunheim, Brent Erickson and Dave Mellon each scored two goals. “Today, we were great on defense, but we just couldn’t get our offense going. We were forcing too many bad passes. We won a league game, but the guys were disappointed, because they weren’t able to run the offense,” coach Bennett. SC was up at halftime 4-2 and took a 7-4 lead into the fourth quarter. SC is 2-3 in league.
SC blasted Watsonville 22-3 in frosh-soph.

Oct. 30. Harbor wrapped up at least a co-championship with a 16-6 win over SC. SC battled the Pirates to within a point, down only 3-2 at the end of the first quarter, then Harbor reeled off five goals to take a 8-3 lead into halftime. SC slipped to 3-5 in league and 10-16 overall.
Harbors frosh-soph team is 27-0 overall, defeated SC 20-3. Harbor is in the NorCal tournament semifinals Saturday.

The round robin champion gets the automatic spot in the CCS tournament and the SCCAL championship game. The SCCAL tournament winner, if it isn’t the round robin winner, also goes to CCS. If the round-robin winner also wins the tournament, then the tournament runner up goes on to CCS, too.

Team honors
Most Valuable and Outstanding offensive player: senior Bill Hackbarth four year player
Outstanding defensive player: senior goalie, Joel Griggs in first year
Cardinal Club sportsmanship award: junior field player Brent Erickson

FROSH-SOPH BOYS WATER POLO overall record 16-4.
Team honors
Most Valuable Player: freshman Jeff Wickum
Top Offensive Player: sophomore Tim Mockus
Top Defensive Player: freshman goalie Damon Shipper
Sportsmanship award: sophomore Cameron Forster

GIRLS SWIMMING
League dual meets: Watsonville 113-63, Soquel 64-109, Harbor 91-79, Live Oak 68-102, Aptos 56-115 and Gilroy ?

Yearbook. This year was not as successful as the championships teams of the past, but finished strong taking third place at the league finals.

Standouts were seniors Portia Libby and Heidi Whiting and Traci and Carrie Kreppel. Divers senior Jennifer Houser and sophomore Julie Grijalea kept SC’s tradition of excellence alive.

Sentinel Nov. 9. Soquel nipped Aptos 267-239 for the SCCAL title followed by Live Oak 217, SC 123, Gilroy 121, Harbor 107, Watsonville 56.
Heidi Whiting just missed winning the 500 free by a second with a time of 5:32.09. Whiting was a league champion once again, although in a different event. She captured the 100 backstroke a year ago, but this year scored nearly a three second triumph in the 200 free.
Soquel also won the frosh-soph crown with 331 points, followed by Live Oak 179, Harbor 166, SC 139, Aptos 126, Gilroy 115 and Watsonville 6. Julie Grijalia set a new frosh-soph record in diving with 276.80 points. Ann Shumate set a JV record of 29.18 in the 50 freestyle.

Oct. 3. SC Downs Watsonville 113-63. Heidi Whiting and Carrie Kreppel each won a pair of individual events to spark SC to a 2-0 league record. Whiting took the 200 free in 2:08.32 and the 100 back in 1:05.72. Kreppel won the 200 individual medley in 2;39.79 and the 500 free in 6:14.09.

Oct. 10. SC loses to Soquel 109-64. SC won only three of the 11 events. SC’s lone double winners was Heidi Whiting, who captured the 200 free in 2:05.13 and the 500 free in 5:45.44.
Soquel won the frosh-soph 113-59.

Oct. 17. Cards Nip Pirates At Wire. SC 91, Harbor 79. It was a see-saw meet, first Harbor and then SC would take the lead. SC had three double winners: Heidi Whiting, Traci and Carrie Kreppel. Eight of the eleven events were won by SC. Whiting posted CCS qualifying times in two of the events she won, the 100 free in 58.85 and the 200 individual medley in 2:26.55. Traci Kreppel won the 50 free in 27.78 and the 100 back in 1:16.03. Carrie won the breast in 1:20.50 and the 200 free in 2:15.75.

Oct. 22. It’s Close: SC Loses A Thriller to Live Oak 102-68, but four of the events could have gone either way. “We were all chewing our nails. There were a lot of photo finishes,” said coach Kreppel. “The 400 free relay, the final event of the day, was the one that really did Kreppel in. That is the one that killed me. The foursome of Carrie and Traci Kreppel, Whiting and Ginger Andersen were second in 4:07.93 to Live Oaks winning time of 4:07.58. SC’s time was a CCS qualifying time. Traci won the 100 free and Carrie won the 100 breast. Whiting was the only SC double winner, taking the 200 individual medley in 2:24.25 and the 100 back in 1:04.83. Live Oak is 4-1 in league and SC 3-2.
Live Oak downed SC in frosh-soph 91-80.

Oct. 21. Aptos Depth Dunks Santa Cruz 115-56. SC’s lone wins were posted by Heidi Whiting in the 100 free in the school record time of 57.81. She also won the 200 individual medley.

Sentinel Athlete of the Week of October 28 was Heidi Whiting, a senior who set a school record in the 100 freestyle in a time of 57.81. The old mark was 57.89. Heidi was also a double winner in meets with Aptos and Live Oak.

Team members were Kia Bielsky, Kristen Edginton, Tami Alonzo, Trish Shady, Kirsten Mitchell, Chris Lang, Janice Alonzo, Beth Burns, Rachel Thompson, Larkin Ferber, Heidi Whiting, Sara Ribordy, Carrie Kreppel, Portia Libby, Vonnie Leber, Hilary Gillette, Tina Brandy, Traci Kreppel, Lauren Swanger, Stephanie Johnson, Caryn Morley, Lupe Sanchez, Kristen Thomas, Nicole Arndt, Kristen Hussey, Katie Cordes, Shannon Cummings, Shannon Baldwin, Stacy Swain, Jennifer Walters, Julie Grijalva, Trish Shady, Christie Clark, Jennifer Pandlofi, Shannon Litz, Jolle Trussler, Julie Norton, CeCe Caraway, Maisie Ganzler, Sarah Cox, Gabrielle Korte, Cynthia Wright and Sachi Elder. Coaches Carol Kreppel and Ginger Anderson.

GIRLS VOLLEY BALL League games: Aptos, win, loss; SLV, two wins; Harbor, two losses; Watsonville, two wins; North Monterey, two wins and Soquel, two losses. League record 7-5 for
third place in league.

Yearbook. The varsity was led by Annissa Ratliff, Molly Ball and Jodi Thuringer. If they could have defeated Soquel in the last game, they would have taken second place instead of third. Other team members are Tami King, Mindy Hawkins, Kelli Doughty, Karen Machado, Jaylene Hauk and Jelly De Boer.

Sentinel Sept. 24. In the season opener, SC defeated Gilroy in a match that took five games to win. SC lost the first two games, but battled back to win the last three, 14-16, 11-15, 16-14, 15-4, 15-5. Jodi Thuringer and Jaylene Hauk both played well for SC.

Oct. 1. The Cards overcame first game jitters to defeat Aptos 10-15, 15-7, 15-6, 15-6. SC was led by setters Tammi King and Molly Ball. SC JV beat Aptos 15-3, 15-12.

Oct. 3. Three Teams Still Undefeated. Led by outside hitters Annissa Ratliff and Mindy Hawkins, SC is just where it wants to be in the early stages of the season. The Cards are undefeated. They stayed that way by defeating host SLV 15-7, 15-5, 15-3, improving in each game en-route to their sweep. Thanks to the victory, Coach Blair Barnett’s Cards boosted their record to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league. “My best players were Anissa and Mindy and one of my substitutes, Kelly Doughty, also played well.”

Oct. 8. The beginning of the showdown between two SCCAL undefeated teams was just so-so at the beginning, but picked up in intensity in a hurry. Harbor won 15-5, 18-16, 16-14. It could have gone five games. In the third game, SC was up 14-11 and Harbor came back with five great serves. SC is 4-3 overall and 2-1 in league. Coach Barnett praised three of his players, Jodi Thuringer, Molly Ball and Annissa Ratliff.

Oct. 10. SC downed Watsonville, 15-4, 15-7, 9-15, 15-3. The all around play of Annissa Ratliff and the blocking and serving of Jodi Thuringer led the Cards. SC is 3-1 in league.

Oct. 15. Cardinals Make Victory Look Easy. SC beat North Monterey 15-4, 15-4, 14-16, 15-3. SC raise its league record to 4-1 behind the strong play of Annissa Ratliff and Mindy Hawkins. “They did their job. We just played a very strong game against a weak team,” said coach Barnett. SC JV’s won 15-8, 15-7.

Oct. 17. Knights Nip SC In Five Games. Trailing 2-0, Soquel Catches Fire For Three Straight Victories. Soquel won 13-15, 11-15, 15-6, 15-10, 15-5. Soquel is in sole possession of second place with a 5-1 mark, while SC dropped to third at 4-2. “Going into the third game, we thought all we had to do was walk on the court to win,” said coach Barnett. SC fell behind early in the fourth game, but fought back to within 12-9 before losing. “Once we lost the fourth game, that was it. There was no gas left in the tank.” SC was led by the setting of Molly Ball and Tami King. In the JV game, Soquel won 15-1, 15-5.

Oct. 24. Aptos turned back SC 15-10, 15-9, 16-18, 15-7. Annissa Ratliff sparked the third game triumph with good overall play, which she continued throughout the match. Jody Thuringer also played well,” said SC assistant Scott Akimoto.

Sentinel. Oct. 29. Quick Win For Cardinals. SC took only 23 minutes to top SLV 15-5, 15-1, 15-1and take aim at second place in league. Junior Molly Ball helped things along, serving ten points in the first game, then serving 12 points in a row in the second game. Senior Mindy Hawkins came through with outside hitting, in the front row and the back row. The win improves the Cards SCCAL record to 5-3 for third place behind Harbor and Soquel. “It’s going to be an uphill battle. We have to beat Harbor and Soquel and Harbor has to beat Soquel, then we can be second, if we win all the rest of our games,” said Coach Blair Barnett. SC gets its shot at Harbor in their next game. “We have to hit the ball in the court and set up our hitters. They have a quick offense. If we can play some defense, we can pull it out,” Barnett said. Sentinel. SC beat SLV 15-1, 15-8.

Over the weekend, the Cards may have picked up some confidence, when they finished fourth out of 20 teams at the San Jose City College tournament. Middle-hitter Judy Thuringer made the all-tournament team.

Oct. 31. During a crowd pleasing match, the first place Pirated rallied from a first game defeat to edge SC, 13-15, 15-13, 15-8, 15-9. “It was a good match. SC is a lot better than when we played the first time. At any time SC was capable of winning any of these games,” Harbor coach. SC won the JV action, 15-10, 10-15, 16-14.

Nov. 5. Santa Cruz Roars Back To Win. SC boosted its league record to 6-4 by outlasting Watsonville in five games, four of which were very close and one which was not close at all. SC won the first game 15-10, then Watsonville fought back and won the next two, 15-13, 16-14, coming to the brink of winning the match. Then the Cats wheels came off in a 15-0 loss. Coach Barnett said, “I can’t explain the fourth game. We were on the verge of losing, but then we came back. The fifth game wasn’t exactly routine either. SC took a 10-2 lead and then seemed to sit back, while Watsonville closed the score to 13-10, before SC’s Karen Machado served the final two points for the win. Setters Tami King and Molly Ball and middle hitter Jodi Thuringer drew praise from Barnett for their play.

Nov. 7. North Monterey rallied from a 8-3 deficit to win the first game 15-13, but SC came back and won the next three games, 15-13, 15-8, 15-5. Coach Barnett said, “Molly Ball did a good job of learning and executing a new offense made necessary with the absence of two starters with injuries. He also praised middle hitter Jaylene Hauk and outside hitter Mary Moses. SC moved to 7-4. SC won the JV match, 15-9, 15-10.

Nov. 12. Second place Soquel closed league play with a hard fought come from behind victory over SC 11-15, 4-15, 15-10, 15-9, 16-14. Soquel coach, “SC always seems to play its best matches against us. I think they have the potential to be the best team in the league and they played like it tonight. We were lucky to win.” SC went out to a 11-7 lead in the fifth game and was serving for the match at 14-13, when the service was hit into the net for a side-out, allowing Soquel to recover and eventually win. Soquel ends 10-2 an SC at 7-5. Harbor won the league undefeated 12-0.
Soquel beat SC JV’s 15-8, 15-11 to nail down the JV championship.

Molly Ball and Jodie Thuringer were selected by the league coaches to the ALL SCCAL first team. Honorable mentions were Mindy Hawkins and Annissa Ratliff.

JV VOLLEYBALL Yearbook. SC came in second in league. The team was led by captains Sara Hunt and Laurel Chrislock. Other strong players were Stacey Wilhelmson and Celia Homesly. Other team members were Carcie Dahlberg, Julie Kohry, Meara Noe, Gwen Vilches, Valerie Kingdom and Amy Ball.

(League scores are added to the varsity write ups)

Sentinel Sept. 14. At the ten team Soquel Classic junior varsity tournament Soquel and SC tied for third place.

BOYS BASKETBALL Practice games: Alisal 57-53 in overtime, Palma 37-52, Independence 58-52, Carmel 37-39, Los Gatos 38-47, Monterey 47-56. Practice record 4-8 according to the Sentinel, but games are missing. League: North Monterey 59-37, 65-36; Aptos 42-45 in double overtime, 58-59; Harbor 37-68, 61-51; Marello 78-40, 76-41; Watsonville 72-48, 62-42; Soquel 53-50, 57-53; SLV 65-31, 49-36. Regular League record: 11-3. SCCAL playoffs: first round defeated Soquel 67-61, lost in semi-finals to Aptos 57-63. Season record 16-12.

Sentinel Pre-season write up. Top returnee is Sean Harrell, a cat quick 5-11 guard who was first team All County a year ago and will be leaving presses in the dust for the third straight year. He and Darryl Ratliff will combine to form perhaps the most explosive guard tandem in the league. “We will compete for the league championship. We may not be one of the favorites, I think Harbor and Aptos have to be considered the favorites, but we’ll be there,” said Coach Pete Newell. Stepping down low will be 6-5 junior forward Jack Sylvan, a returnee and 6-3 senior forward Kenny Moore. The fifth spot will be up for grabs between a host of players including freshman Pat Jones, junior Zack Raney, Senior Colin Anderson and senior guards Tom Morrione 6-1 and Alex Curotto 6-0. We’ll run the break if its there. If its not, set up and run a disciplined half court offense.” Team members were Silviano Gaona, Rick Bol, Mike Morris, Billy Mellis, Tommy Mills, Darryl Ratliff, Sean Harrell, Tracy Barnes, Alex Curotto, Curt Rayer, Duncan Sharp, Nick McBurney, Zack Raney, Jack Sylvan, Patrick Jones, Kenny Moore, Tom Morrione and Colin Anderson. Coach Pete Newell.

Sentinel Nov. 27. Speed Thrills The Fans. There’s never really any doubt that when it comes to the game of basketball speed thrills. Be it a turnover, or a rebound a lightning quick pass to a man darting down court leading a fast break and hit or miss, layup or jam, the crowd is usually on its feet. The SCCAL has developed the reputation in the CCS as a league that plays an up tempo game of run and shoot.
This year there are three seniors in the league, who were born to run and Sean Harrell is one of them. Coach Newell, “The ball is moved up court at a quicker pace and longer passes are being thrown. Because the ball can travel quicker than anyone’s feet. Having full court speed will enable a player or team to become much more successful whether they’re finishing off a fast break or creating a turnover in their pressure defense.” Speed giveth and speed taketh away. Harrell, who was a first team ALL SCCAL and Sentinel All-Santa Cruz County picks as a sophomore and junior. Last year, he averaged 12.3 points a game as the off guard and helped SC post a 22-7 season record. “I like to make things happen. Scoring a lay up on a fast break is what gets me going. Basketball is a quick moving game and it’s the way I like to play it.” said Harrell, who in being courted by UOP and Santa Clara.

SC Boys Post OT Victory; Cardinal Moore Keys Team In OT. The first game cobwebs took the Cards a half, before they worked them out and came alive to beat Alisal 57-53 in an overtime win at home. “The first game is tough, things get real chaotic,” said Coach Pete Newell. It was a fine win for the Cards as Alisal returned five starters. Kenny Moore led all scorers with 20 points. In overtime, it was all Moore, as he scored the go a head basket in overtime, plus scoring five of the Cards seven overtime points. Sean Harrell chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds. Alisal came out gunning, opening up a 13-2 lead, before the Cards could close the gap to 13-9 at the quarter. Darryl Ratliff gave SC a much needed spark off the bench ending the Alisal 13 point surge with four quick points of his own. Ratliff, Moore and Harrell began asserting themselves late in the going. With the score tied 50-50 with 2:38 left in regulation, SC went into a stall. “We didn’t sub the entire second half and the players were tired. We were trying to buy a minute off the clock and play for the last shot,” Coach Newell.

Harrell Injures Knee; He’ll Undergo Surgery on December 3. The Cards lost to Palma 37-52, but suffered an even bigger loss before they even stepped on the court. Senior point guard Sean Harrell, two time All Santa Cruz County selection and one of the top players in the SCCAL will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and will be lost to the team for an indefinite period, but should be ready by league. Without Harrell’s floor leadership and scoring punch, SC scored only two points in the first quarter and were down 13-32 at halftime. SC did regroup and out score Palma 24-20 in the second half. Darryl Ratliff led SC in scoring with eight points and 6-6 freshman center Pat Jones led the rebounders with eight.

Cards Clutch Victory. It took a dramatic fourth quarter surge, powered by some clutch free throw shooting by Kenny Moore and Billy Mellis to propel SC to a came behind 58-52 victory over Independence of San Jose. Down 34-37, going into the fourth quarter, SC outscored the Sixers 24-15 in the final period to post a win over the bigger and more individually talented Independence team. SC exploited the Sixers mistakes all night. “You don’t play a team that good and not expect to win. We didn’t win by accident.
This just shows that basketball is a team game. A ‘team’ beat five more talented individuals. We won without Sean. That was a big boost for our confidence,” Newell. Card big men Jack Sylvan and Pat Jones teamed up almost the entire game trying to wear down the Sixers 6-7 center, who still scored 19 points. ”I was a little intimidated, but I figured I didn’t have anything to lose, so I just played hard,” said Slyvan. Sylvan led the Cards with 16 points, with six straight to open the second half. Moore contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. Moore was perfect on the free throw line nailing all seven of his attempts. Darryl Ratliff finished with 12 points, including a dunk that Newell said was a real spark for the team.

Cards Lose But See Hope. Harrell’s Return Overshadows 39-37 defeat By Carmel on December 31. Exactly four weeks ago, which amounted to a seven game absence, SC lost the game, but regained hope for a respectable league finish. Harrell wearing a knee brace and obviously at less than 100 percent, responded by leading his team with 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and played 28 of the 32 minutes. “The incredible thing was his stamina was as good as it was,” Newell. But the rest of the team was not up to par. Carmel outscored the Cards 6-1 to begin the fourth quarter and took the lead 39-32 with 3:08 to play. SC was not through. A goal by Harrell and a three point play by Kenny Moore made the score 37-39 with 1:03 left. SC had two chances to tie the score, but were not able to convert.

Los Gatos 47, SC 38. SC had problems getting their its offense in gear early, scoring only 15 points in the first half and fell too far behind to catch up. Sean Harrell in his second game back led the Cards in scoring with 15 points.

Monterey 56, SC 47. Normally productive Kenny Moore and Darryl Ratliff were held to only three points between them. The teams were tied at intermission and the Cards only trailed by four at the end of the third quarter. Jack Sylvan led SC with 12 points and Sean Harrell followed with 11. SC closes their non league schedule 4-8.

SC 59, North Monterey 37. With his team nursing a four game losing streak, Coach Newell knew exactly what was needed. “We felt that what had been lacking has been defensive intensity. In our last game, although we lost, we really picked it up a couple of notches. Then we had a real good practice Monday,“ said Newell. In the first quarter, SC held North Monterey to four points and then it was off to the races. Sean Harrell scored 15 points.

Aptos Breaks Stall, Cards. Santa Cruz Nearly Pull Off Victory With Slowdown Tactics. As double overtime came, after three periods of the SC stall, some of the Aptos players stared at the SC bench and seemed to say, “This isn’t basketball,” as they chased the ball around as the Cards held the ball out. Coach Newell might have been amused by their frustration. The stall is the latest strategy employed in attempt to beat Aptos. It took Aptos two overtimes to win 45-42. The question was could SC with a five point lead and a quarter and a half to play, hold off Aptos?
The answer, yes and no, but what nerve to try, with only a two mistake margin, to stop Aptos’ scoring machine dead. The minutes ticked off into the fourth quarter. Aptos batted away a couple of SC passes that were converted into four points. Amid deafening noise with 12 seconds left in regulation play, SC was unable to inbound the ball in time, surrendering it to Aptos. With one second left and the score 38-37, SC fouled giving Aptos two foul shots. The first was missed and the second swished to tie the score.
The first overtime was scoreless, as SC stayed in the stall. In the second overtime Aptos broke away and scored as time expired. Then a technical was called and Aptos made it a three point win instead of a two point win. SC had a 31-23 lead at halftime. Aside from the opening basket, SC led the whole game, matching Aptos on the boards with the help of Jack Sylvan and out running Aptos.
Sean Harrell, who had 16 points was spectacular at times as he led SC with flying fast breaks and hanging jump shots. However the success of Harrell led to a change in the Aptos defense and SC going into the stall. “They took Harrell out of the offense. We had a 35-23 lead and what you try to do against Aptos is prevent runs. They score eight to 12 points in a stretch and they were on a run,” Coach Newell. Hence the stall. Coach Newell, “They played magnificently. Its not that easy to pass the ball around in the other person’s gym. We must have made 150 passes.”

Pirates Take Control. Harbor wins by 31 points, 68-37. It was not a blow out. This game was close as 36-30 midway in the third quarter, but then Harbor went on a 20-2 run and the rout was on. SC shot out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first quarter, before a 11-1 run by Harbor gave the Pirates a four point lead at the quarter. SC managed to pull within 17-16 midway through the second period., but Harbor pulled away to lead 26-20 at halftime. Harrell led SC with 11 points. Harbor won the boards 31-29.

SC 78, Marello 40. SC evens its SCCAL record at 2-2 with 13 players scoring, three of them in double figures. Sean Harrell, Kenny Moore and Darryl Ratliff scored 14, 16 and 12 points respectively. SC started quickly with a 20-5 edge in the first quarter and never were seriously threatened. Harrell netted 10 points in the first quarter to get SC off and running. He also dished out six assists and contributed six rebounds. Moore grabbed 10 rebounds as SC had a 47-28 rebounding edge.

Cards Get Big Break in its 72-48 victory over Watsonville. SC has been mainly a man to man defensive team over the years. This year they have switched to a zone defense for a reason. “There’s no one who gets up the court on a fast break quicker than Darryl Ratliff. When we play man to man, we get stuffed in a half court game. The zone lets Darryl break away from the pack,” Coach Newell. His breaks did contribute mightily to a second quarter burst that put SC in command of the game. Three consecutive times rebounders fired long passes to the streaking Ratliff for scores to up the score to 27-16. SC is now 7-10 overall and 3-2 in league. Sean Harrell went to the hoop and more often than not he came away with two points ending up with 17 points. Kenny Moore scored 18 and freshman center Patrick Jones led all rebounders with 13 and scored 12 points.

SC Free Throws Stop Soquel in a 53-50 win. Free throws have been haunting SC all season: 2 for 16 against Aptos, 3 for 14 against Harbor. So just to direct his players attention, coach Newell has them run laps for every missed free throws in practice. This game, SC went 7 for 7 in the fourth quarter, including a gutsy 5 for 5 in the final 1:22, by Kenny Moore with the game clinching pair with 6 seconds left. “I knew I was going to make them,” said Moore. “I have been putting in some serious lap mileage in practice. I didn’t feel like running anymore. I just had to concentrate on the basket each time and get the same number of bounces each time. Jack Sylvan hit 3 for 3 down the stretch with two coming with 42 seconds to play and the Cards leading 49-48. Soquel led 30-22 at halftime. It wasn’t until the 1:14 mark in the third quarter that SC took the lead on a Harrell tip in to go up 40-38. Darryl Ratliff led the scoring with 14 points mostly on break away layins. Moore and Patrick Jones each had 6 rebounds. SC had the rebounding edge 22-21. SC shot 20 for 43 from the floor and 13 of 15 from the line. “Right now we have different players playing key roles in different games,” Newell.

Cards Blow By Cougars. SC Way Too Quick For SLV To Handle. SC used a pressure defense to ignite their offense to win 65-31. Darryl Ratliff led three SC players, who scored in double figures with 15 points. Kenny Moore and Sean Harrell added 14 and 10 points respectively. SC is now 9-10 overall and 5-2 in league. SC outscored SLV 14-2 in the second quarter and that was pretty much all she wrote.

Aptos Does It To SC Again winning a close one 59-58. For the second time in three weeks, Aptos came from behind to just beat the Cards. In this game Aptos came from eight points down late in the fourth quarter to win. “We had it the entire game and they did it to us again. Every time we play them, we play well for three quarters. Then in the fourth quarter, they come back or we blow it,” from Sean Harrell. Teammate Darryl Ratliff was a little more blunt. “They always end up coming back. Its nothing new.”
With the Cards in front 53-45 and in possession of an important intangible, momentum. “Aptos made everything. What can you do. You can’t do anything. Its hard to explain, because I really can’t tell you what happened. We just had to take control and we really didn’t do that. We should have been thinking, the game is ours, let’s take it. We just didn’t take it,” said Harrell. With 2:20 to go in the game, Aptos went up 59-58 for the first Aptos lead of the night. No other points were scored. SC had the last shot and missed a ten footer.
The foul shooting had something to do with it. SC went 10 for 21 and Aptos made 15 of 16. From Coach Newell, “We outscored them from the field, we out rebounded them, we got more steals then they did. We were playing a really good team, but we’re a good team too. We just came up a little short. We’ll be back at it, though. It not only shows Aptos is better, but we’re better, too. I’m not displeased at all and I’m certainly not discouraged. I don’t think our team is either.”

A second article in the Sentinel on the Aptos game. SC was fired up and ready to redeem themselves. They played with more intensity, worked harder and ran faster than Aptos. They harassed Aptos, stole the ball, smoked them on fast breaks and held a 6-0 lead from the opening minute, but no matter what they did they couldn’t shake Aptos, who stayed close. There was always some long outside jumper to keep Aptos close.
There were a few underlying factors on Aptos’s side, primary of which is experience. Aptos is accustomed to winning and almost seems to take it for granted. No matter what SC did, Aptos did not panic or even look worried. There is also the talent factor. Aptos always seems to have a bench full of up and coming players, let alone five stellar starters.
Kenny Moore had the hot hand for SC, racking up a game high 25 points. Fouls were a factor for SC in the final minutes, as Harrell with four fouls was not able to stop the last two Aptos players drives to the basket. “We stopped attacking. We settled for the shot and that’s not our offense. We play attack basketball,” said Moore.
Aptos had lost their previous game to Watsonville 67-65. Harbor is leading the league, Aptos is second at 7-2 and SC third at 6-3. “We out played them. They stole it. We’ll get them next time,” said Harrell. If there is a next time in the league playoffs.

Harbor Upset By Santa Cruz. Cardinals Finally Get Out Of Rut winning 61-51. Combining a scrambling, jersey to jersey defense with a potent fast breaking offense and a dash of intestinal fortitude thrown in, they stormed the Pirate’s gym and came away with an upset win. “It’s great to rebound with a game like this,” said Sean Harrell, who nearly collected a triple double, chalking up 13 points, ten assists and eight rebounds to go with five steals. “We were better prepared both mentally and physically, this time. This is our biggest win to date. We beat the undefeated league leaders at their gym. We had more people involved in the offense and defensively we disrupted their rhythm.
This was our best defensive effort against a quality team,” added Newell. SC took a 20-16 lead after one quarter, by exploiting the Pirate’s immediate foul trouble. Harbors center picked up three fouls in the first five and a half minutes of the game and stewed on the bench until the second half. Then their top scorer was injured on a drive to the basket in the first period and did not play after that. The subs for these two players filled in well. Since SC had more speed than Harbor, they ran out to a 33-26 lead at half.
SC extended it’s lead to 46-36 after three quarters and then put the game away with a strong final period, leading by as much as 17 points. The final margin was as close as Harbor could get.
SC showed the kind of killer instinct that was lacking at Aptos. “We got up on them and just kept going. We froze up at the end against Aptos. But we didn’t let that happen this time,” said guard Darryl Ratliff, who led all scorers with 15 points. Kenny Moore added 14 points and 14 rebounds. “The difference was intensity,” agreed Harrell.

Santa Cruz 76, Marello 41. All 18 SC players scored. SC led 26-20 at halftime, but blew the game open in the third quarter with 28 points, including 15 by Sean Harrell. Harrell had 19 for the game followed by Ratliff with 11.

Harrell, Cards Walk Over Cats 62-42. Harrell sparked SC with 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Despite the 20 point margin at game’s end, Watsonville was still in the game in the fourth quarter. With six minutes left, the score was 43-36. Then Watsonville started fouling to give SC 16 foul shots, of which they made only five.
Coach Newell, “ I was upset at half with only a two point lead 24-22. We were out hustled. We seemed content to trade baskets with them. I didn’t see any intensity in their faces defensively. It seemed as if we weren’t really trying to stop them.” As the intensity of SC grew, so did the Cards lead.
Cat coach Bob Linney felt Harrell’s offensive show made the difference. Harrell’s first field goal set the game’s tone. In simple terms, it was an alley-oop-layup, but it was much more. “He was off balance, falling away from the basket and dropped it in. It was just one of many thrilling moments. Harrell was also the games leading rebounded as SC pounded the boards for an impressive 37-21 advantage. This win clinched a playoff spot for SC.

Cards Are On a Roll. SC Tops Knights; Ninth Win In Ten Games score 57-53. It’s possible the best basketball team in the SCCAL was on display at the Soquel gym this night. “I think we are the best team in the league,” said Coach Newell. “I don’t say that with any disrespect for the other schools, because they have very good squads. But we can compete with anybody in the league. Your not going to win if you do not believe in yourselves and all of us believe.”
Santa Cruz did a good job with its defense and they made their free throws. Particularly with 14 seconds to play and the score 56-53, freshman Patrick Jones, in a must make situation for the first time in his Card career, canned the first one to make it 57-53. It also was his first foul shot of the game. SC was ahead 44-34 at the start of the fourth quarter. Darryl Ratliff slam dunked a fast break basket for a 54-44 lead with 2:07 left. SC has the longest win streak for this time of the season with six.

SC Gets Ready For Playoffs. In the final league game, a leaky roof forced SC to move the SLV game to Cabrillo. SC cruised to a 49-36 win. Despite the final score, the victory was not an easy one for SC, which won the game on defense and not offense. SC led 24-10 at half. In the third quarter, back up point guard Silviano Gaona provided the necessary spark that got the Card offense clicking. Though he finished the game with only two points, Gaona was able to settle his teammates long enough to finish the task at hand. The 17 points SC scored in third quarter put SC up 41-20. Of the 18 players SC suited up, 17 got into the game. The one who did not was Kenny Moore out with a sprained ankle. Harrell led all scorers with 15 points.

Sentinel Feb. 17. Hard Work Pays Dividends For Card Kenny Moore. He was not able to make his seventh and eight grade basketball teams. Moore a 6-4 senior forward can afford to laugh about it now, because of a lot of time, work and determination he has become that good. After playing sporadically as a junior, Moore has developed into a full time starter, averaging 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds a game this season.
The SCCAL coaches have taken notice and voted him to the ALL SCCAL first team. “I think he’s one of the most improved players in the league,” said Coach Newell. Moore has come a long way since moving to Santa Cruz in 1985. Moore played all summer at Louden Nelson and Jade Street Parks. But at SC is a bit more regimented than the playgrounds. “It was a real learning experience for him. He had certainly shown signs of talent, but it was quite an adjustment,” said Newell. Moore had the offensive tools, but his defensive tools left something to be desired.
At SC, either you play defense or you don’t play. “That’s why I didn’t play last year. I was always just shooting,” Moore said. Moore didn’t exactly warm up to the idea of riding the bench for another year, so he went out last summer and did something about it. “I was in turbulent water with coach Newell for a while there. He told me I had to work on my defense if I wanted to play. So for a few hours every morning last summer, Moore went to the playgrounds and worked on his defense, his shooting, his ball handling and attended a basketball camp at Santa Clara University, where he was named the MVP in his age group.
“This year he was ready. He knows what it takes to compete. And the area of his game that has improved the most is his defense,” Newell said. Early in the season he found himself struggling trying to play the inside game of a power forward. But the emergence of 6-6 freshman center Pat Jones, Moore moved to the perimeter and immediately blossomed as a small of shooting forward. “He really has come into his own. He is consistent with his 12 to 18 foot jump shot that takes the pressure off Harrell and opens things up for us inside against the zone defenses. “He is just a real nice person who has been as much a catalyst as anybody on this team. He plays hard at both ends of the court and has a great tenacity going after rebounds. When there is a loose ball in his area, he is after it.” Coach Newell.
SC had a severe setback after two games to begin the season, when Sean Harrell had surgery on his knee and miss ten games. SC went 3-7 during this time. After two league games Moore had only hit 3 of his last 22 shots. “I blacked out. It was like I was in a coma or something. It lasted about six or seven games,” said Moore. Moore and Coach Newell got together in a practice session and found out Moore was shooting off his heels and not his toes. That night, Moore went 4 for 5. Since then SC is the hottest team in the league winning 10 of its last 11 games.

SC Rallies Past Soquel 67-61 in the first round of the SCCAL playoffs. Soquel was hitting its long range shots and led 31-23 at halftime. The Cards came out the second half hustling to even the score in the third quarter. SC did not make any significant moves at halftime, despite being down by eight. “We just used the key phrases. Don’t get frustrated, In our key match ups, we weren’t doing the job. No matter how well you think you are playing, you must play better,” Coach Newell. Soquel’s best long range shooter had 17 points, but had no field goals the second half. SC opened the second half by going on a 13-2 run and took a 34-33 lead on Jack Sylvan’s bank shot at the 4:12 mark. It was a lead they never relinquished. Sylvan finished with 14 points. At the end of the quarter SC led 47-44. Then Soquel began to foul. SC shot 23 foul shots and made 16 of them. Down 12 points at half, were you worried? Sean Harrell said no. “You can’t think about losing. This is the playoffs. We just came out in the second half and played tenacious defense. We tried to pound the ball inside and the offense started to click. When the offense starts to click, the defense follows suit.”

Pre-game write up. Cardinals Set To Beat Aptos. Team’s Confident It Can Do It. Take the Cardinals word for it. “Beating Aptos is our goal,” said Kenny Moore after their first round win. “We’re ready, mentally and physically to win three games this week.” Coach Newell, “Whichever team out rebounds the other will win the game. We’ll run with anybody.” But until it happens it’s still only talk.
The Aptos, SC basketball games are still the best rivalry in the area. Moore whose improved jump shot has almost overshadowed his ability to drive the baseline with some wicked quickness, said there will be no let up this time. “We have to keep attacking. If we get a big lead, we can’t get passive. We have to run our offense. We have to shoot, but play smart.” Harbor may still be the best team, player for player in the league. This year it really means something, since basketball talent may be at its best. Picking the annual Sentinel All County team will be no easy task.

Not Even Slow Start Can Stop The Mariners. The outcome was inevitable. Even when SC had a 20-9 first period lead, one knew the gremlins were hiding somewhere in the SC Auditorium to foul the fourth attempt by SC to topple Aptos. Aptos won the semi-final game 63-57. Aptos started in a man to man defense and SC charged to a 10-2 lead. The man to man defense didn’t last long and neither did SC dominance. In the second and third quarters, Aptos outscored SC 45-20. Aptos switched to a 2-1-2 with the guards overplaying the passing lanes. More than strategy, individual talent played a more integral role.
Darryl Ratliff, “They started beating us with the fast break. I don’t know how.” “You can always expect some kind of streak from them,” chimed in senior forward Kenny Moore. “But we didn’t get one back,” said Ratliff. SC was still in the game in the middle of the third quarter, behind only 40-36. Then Aptos erupted, as they tend to do, for 10 unanswered points.
SC looked tired after its tough game with Soquel. SC out rebounded Aptos 34-32. Freshman Patrick Jones led SC with eight boards. Sean Harrell led in scoring with 17 and five assists. He scored nine fourth quarter points. I’m proud of the effort our kids gave it in the last four minutes. To close it to five points is a tremendous accomplishment,” coach Newell.

Second Sentinel article on the game. Aptos’ Cool Wins Out. After trailing 20-9 at the end of the first quarter seemingly didn’t affect Aptos a bit. Most of them had been through last year’s playoff grind. This was no more pressure than a back yard 3 on 3. “Aptos has leadership from guys on the second place team in the state . They have enough experience to know that 24 minutes to make up six baskets is a long time,” Coach Newell. Aptos did not need that much time. By halftime they led 32-30.

Aptos went on to win CCS and take first place in Northern California Division II with a 33-1 record. They did lose in the State finals to end up 33-2.

From the Trident. The Cards started out slow, but picked up by the end of the season. The highlights of the season was beating Harbor and losing to Aptos by one point. Team leaders were Sean Harrell, Kenny Moore and Darryl Ratliff. It took long hours of practice and hard work, but our Cardinals did it with “Santa Cruz!”

Silviano Gaona was selected for the Dads Club All Tournament team.

Sentinel area high school boys statistics as of March 17, 1987. SC players by place in order, name, games played, total points scored, high game scoring and average points per game.
Individual scoring
PL NAME GP TP HI AVG
6 Harrell 20 294 23 14.7
16 Moore 27 287 25 10.6
23 Ratliff 27 236 15 8.7
30 Sylvan 26 192 16 7.4
43 Jones 43 28 12 5.0
5 SC team 28 1531 78 54.7

Individual rebounding
PL NAME GP TR HI AVG
11 Harrell 20 130 11 6.5
11tie Sylvan 26 168 14 6.5
16 Moore 27 1556 14 5.8
24 Jones 28 132 13 4.7

SC was the top defensive team allowing 1381 points, held a team to a low of 32 points, allowing a 49.3 average points per game in 28 games for a 16-12 record.

Senior, 5-10, guard Sean Harrell was selected for the first team ALL SCCAL for the second year in a row and Senior, 6-4, forward Kenny Moore was named to the second team. Darryl Ratliff and Brian Sylvan were honorable mention.

BOTH FROSH-SOPH AND FRESHMAN both won SCCAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. Card Val Cubales hit a jump shot from behind the free throw line with two seconds to play to give the Frosh-Soph a 54-53 victory over Soquel to clinch the title. The win makes SC 11-1, while second place Soquel is 8-3. Shawn Forgaard scored 20 points and Marvin Scott hit 12 for Coach Charles Burks team.

The frosh finished off the SCCAL season unbeaten at 8-0, by beating Soquel 63-39 in the final game. Ryan Reber scored 16 points, Fernando Flores 13 and Josh Barthel 10 for Coach Brian Whitesell’s frosh champions.

The combined record of all three basketball teams in league is 29-4.

FROSH-SOPH BASKETBALL Practice games: Alisal 57-59 in overtime, Alisal 54-32
Doug Marrione led the Cards in the 57-59 overtime loss to Alisal
Doug Marrione was the leading scorer with 17 points in the win over Hollister 48-20.

FROSH BASKETBALL Practice games: Alisal 57-32,
Sal Martinez and Fernando Flores each scored 12 point in the Cards 54-32 win over Alisal.

GIRLS BASKETBALL Practice games: North Salinas 46-44, Notre Dame 37-42, Lynbrook 34-55, Monte Vista Christian 51-52, Live Oak 42-63, Hollister 26-48. Cardinal Classic: Live Oak 45-31, No record of the other two tournament games. Practice record 2-7. League: North Monterey 45-47, 47-23; Aptos 42-61, 40-46; Harbor 33-52, 39-61; Watsonville 59-42, 62-49; Soquel 39-44, 45-59; SLV 58-47, 49-38. SCCAL playoff game: Soquel 43-59.
League record 5-7 for fourth place. Season record 7-15.

Sentinel preseason write up. Finally SC girls basketball coach Ray Hunter gets a transfer and he can’t even pronounce her name. Actually he can and even spell it. She is Lela Tuinakauvadra a 5-6 senior from the Fiji Islands. Just call her Lela. Returnees from last year are senior center at 5-11 Kristy Netto a second team All County last season. Senior guard at 5-6 Annissa Ratliff, who is quick and was a starter last year. Sophomore starter and top scorer and rebounder Celia Homesley. Junior Tami King at 5-7 missed most of last season with a broken leg will start. Newcomer Monique James a 5-10 sophomore will see playing time.

Cards Edge North Salinas 46-44. “I told the kids before the game that winning was secondary tonight. We’re just trying to find out what everybody can do,” said Coach Ray Hunter. He found out the Cards can play some full-court press defense and they spread out the scoring. Celia Homesley scored 14 points, Tami King had 12 and Kristy Netto added 10. The Cards led 24-20 at halftime, but North Salinas went ahead 34-31 in the third period and the Cards came back in the fourth period. The coach was impressed the way his team played, especially after only seven practices. Netto led the rebounding with seven, King had six and Homesley four.

Poor Free-throw Shooting Hurts Cards Down Stretch in loss to Notre Dame 37-42. SC “ran out of gas” from their tough win over North Salinas. SC was in front at halftime 24-22, but only scored 13 points in the second half. Another problem was at the free throw line, where SC made only 9 of 24 attempts. Kristy Netto scored nearly half of the Cards points with 17.

Lynbrook 55, SC 34. The Vikings outscored SC 35-7 in the second half, mostly because center Kristy Netto and her backup, Monique James both fouled out early in the third quarter. Lynbrook’s front line, which hit at least 6-2 apiece caused problems for SC. Netto still scored 16 points even though she only played through a few minutes of the third quarter. Kristy went around them, through them and everything else. They could not stop her.

Mustangs Hold Of Cardinals. They might just as well have been playing football. The pressing defense by SC had the short stuff covered against Monte Vista. SC clamped down on the screens and passes over the middle efficiently. But it was the Mustangs vertical game that proved to be the difference as they hung on in the final minute to win 52-51. SC was down 48-35 with 4:30 left in the game, then the Cards rallied to within 50-48 with 1:18 left. The switch from a zone to an aggressive man to man made the difference. Long passes over the SC defense resulted in many Monte Vista scores off layups.

Hollister 48, SC 26. The inexperience Cardinals were no match for the bigger more seasoned Haybalers. Kristy Netto scored over half the Cards points with 14.

In the first league game, North Monterey scored the game winning basket as time expired. Score 47-45 North Monterey. Celia Homesley and Kristy Netto sparked SC with 14 and 20 points respectively.

Aptos 61, SC 42. Aptos had a big surge out scoring SC 23-8 in the third quarter after SC had held a 26-24 lead at half time. Kristy Netto fouled out late in the third quarter after scoring 17 points, 13 of them in the second quarter to help SC go ahead. It was her highest single quarter so far and it was against Aptos’ 6-3 center, who is a top scorer in the league and had 24 points herself. Tami King had 13 rebounds and Netto had 10. They both battled well with the 6-3 Henderson.

Harbor 52, SC 33. Harbor Coach Nick Adams said, “SC played great.” SC was down at half time 33-18, but narrowed it to 33-25 by late in the third quarter.

The Cards first league win is against Watsonville 59-42, when Kristy Netto scored 26 points. Tami King, Annissa Ratliff and Celia Homesley also scored in double figures with 11, 11 and 10 points respectively. Rebounders were Netto 15, Homesley 12 and King 12 out of the Cards good rebounding total of 46.

In a close game all the way, Soquel pulled away to a 44-39 win. SC held a 37-35 lead late in the fourth quarter, but three free throws put Soquel ahead 38-37. The Soquel defense concentrated on the Cards two top scores, Kristy Netto by doubling on her and putting their best player on Celia Homesley. Another reason why Netto scored only six points, well below her average of 15 was she played the entire game in foul trouble and had to sit most of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. Homesley was held to seven points. Soquel led at halftime 18-16. Annissa Ratliff picked up some of the scoring slack by hitting from outside and tallied 17 points.

SC 58, SLV 47. Annissa Ratlilff and Tami King combined for 27 points to lead the Cards. Ratliff had 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals King had 13 points, three steals and five assists. Kristy Netto had 11 points and five assists. (sure she had some rebounds too.)

SC 47, North Monterey 23. As far as coach Ray Hunter was concerned, his team hasn’t played any better all season then it did against the Condors. “We pressed and then we didn’t miss our shots.” SC ran away to a 32-9 lead at halftime and cruised home from there. Celia Homesley scored 14 points, Tami King 13 and Annissa Ratliff 12.

Aptos’ 6-3 senior center Henderson Dominated Again with 25 points, 20 rebounds. SC gave the Mariners a much better battle this round losing only 40-46. SC was the victim of a slow start, scoring only four points in the first quarter to quickly fall behind 12-4. Aptos pulled their starters in the second half, but had to put them back in the game as the Cards made a run. Kristi Netto and Celia Homesley scored 18 and 10 points respectively. The Cards are now 5-12 overall and 3-5 in the league.

Harbor 61, SC 39. Harbor had little trouble, even though SC has been playing much better basketball of late. SC closed the gap to 40-47 early in the third quarter, but then went ice cold the rest of the way. Celia Homesley was top scorer with ten points. Kristy Netto pulled down 17 rebounds.

SC 62, Watsonville 49. SC moved into fourth place with the win. Homesley and Netto each scored 18 points. The rest of article was about Watsonville.
Soquel 59, SC 45. “ They outplayed us in every way, said the Cards coach Hunter. SC’s only strong quarter was the first, when they bolted to a 10-6 lead. Soquel came back and led 23-22 at halftime. In the fourth quarter Soquel outscored the Cards 22-8. Ratliff led SC with 15 points, while Netto and King scored 11 and 10 respectively.

Cards Win, Now They Wait. By defeating SLV 49-38, SC improved their chances for fourth place and entry into the SCCAL playoff depending on other games tonight. The win improves their league record to 5-7. Leading SC was Kristy Netto, who scored a game high 19 points and gathered 13 rebounds. She scored 10 of these points in the second quarter, when the Cards went on a 23 point tear. A combination of hot shooting of Netto, and a stifling full court press created 11 SLV turnovers contributed to the decisive second quarter.

Knights Make Quick Work Out of SC Girls in SCCAL Playoffs winning 59-41. Soquel double team SC’s leading scorer Kristy Netto, while working to deny her the ball, but she still scored 16 points.

Sentinel final area stats for individuals scoring and rebounding. Listed by place, name, games played, total points, highest points in a game and the average.
PL NAME GP TP HI AV
6 Netto 22 301 26 13.7
11 Homesley 22 211 18 9.6
18 King 20 149 13 7.5

Rebounding by place, name, games played total rebounds, high game and average per game.
PL NAME GP TR HI AV
7 Netto 22 225 17 10.2
16 King 20 135 13 6.8
19 Homesley 22 119 112 5.4

SC was fifth in team offense scoring 949 points for as 43.1 average per game with a high game of 59.
On defense, SC was seventh giving up 1027 points for an average of 46.7 per game.

Senior, 6-0, center Kristy Netto, who was second team ALL SCCAL last year moved up to the first team this year. A second team selection was sophomore, 5-9, forward Celis Homseley and senior, 5-6, guard Annissa Ratliff was selected on the third team. Honorable mention was Tami King.

GIRLS JV BASKETBALL Practice games: North Salinas 23-33,
Jenny Posey scored six points in a 23-33 loss to North Salinas in the opening game of the season.

WRESTLING
Yearbook. In team tournaments, the Cards took first place in one tournament and third place in two other tournaments. Team captains Cary Alvarez, Steve Heninger and Jesse Corona led the team both in spirit and on the mat. First year coaches were Juan Corona and Martin Corona.
This years team proved to be reckoned with in SCCAL. SC suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Soquel early in the season. Then after crushing Harbor, they lost to first place North Monterey by two points, when they were not able to field a heavyweight to wrestle the last match.

Team members were Mark Goodrich, Jesse Alvarez, Sam Parnifar, Derek Eselious, Nick Hawley, Steve Heninger, Seth Hiromura, Booth Wainscoat, Steve Rodini, Russ Huber, Cary Alvarez, Jeff Thuringer, Jesse Corona, Thomas Ronzano, Jason Allison, Peter Machado, Ramon Cornejo, Chris Hillyard, David Royl, Mike Hect, Ian Allison, Conrad Alvarez, Josh Riggins, and Ben Broadbent.
Coaches Juan Corona and Martin Corona.

Sentinel. Santa Cruz Rebuffs San Lorenzo Valley 41-27. It was a nip and tuck affair most of the way, with SC maintaining a slight edge from the outset. SLV forfeited the 100 pound weight class and was faced with an uphill struggle the rest of the way. The loss drops SLV to a tie with SC for third place in league. The pivotal match was the 154 weight class with SC leading 23-21. The SLV wrestler was in control at the beginning, but according to his coach, “he got up too high” and SC’s Steve Henniger was able to flip his man and win by pin to put SC up 29-21. In another key match, in the 175 weight class, Derek Eselious pinned his man to add six more points for SC and put it out of reach.

SC 42, Aptos 18. SC is ranked among the league meet frontrunners, finished the dual meet campaign with a 3-2 record for third place. Seth Hiromura at 147 and Derek Eselious at 178 pinned their opponents. Winners by decisions were Cary Alvarez at 129, Jason Allison at 142 and Steve Heninger at 158.

BOYS SOCCER
Aptos 2-1 league record on Jan 22 was 3-4.
Feb. 25. ALL SCCAL first team of 18 players, included two senior SC halfbacks: Robert Camacho and Kurt Hodges. Honorable mention were Tony Villalobos, Rafael Rodriguez and Paul Schiebel.

GIRLS SOCCER The Cards took third place in the league.

Sentinel Jan. 9. Laura Shumate’s goal near the end of the first half lifted SC past SLV 1-0. SC boosted its league record to 1-1-1. Coach Cori Houston praised midfielder Aimee Nitzberg. “I thought the whole team had played probable its best game this season.

Trident Athlete of the Week was senior goalie Jennifer Bloome. Jennifer has the best record of all the goalies in the league. In twelve games, she has allowed only four goals in her net, less than the first place team. Helped by the defense in front of her of Jennifer Turner, Grace Coulsen, Rachael Skehan and Lisa Homesly, Jenny has been able to shut out a total of five of the six opposing teams in the league and has a total of eight shut outs overall this season. Jenny has played about fourteen seasons of soccer and in the last two, she held the vital position of goalie. Before becoming a goalie, she played right fullback, so the basic understanding of defense has always been with her. She would like to go on and play in college.

Sentinel Athlete of the Week of January 27 was Val Holman, a senior center halfback, who scored twice in a 3-0 win over North Monterey and shut out the Aptos player who was the MVP of the league last year as the Cards tied Aptos 0-0.

BASEBALL Practice games: Andrew Hill 5-11, Alisal 13-5, Fremont 5-6, Saratoga 5-4, Hollister 8-9, Gonzales 6-2 and Gilroy 7-3. Practice record 4-3. League: Soquel 11-10, 6-3; SLV 5-8, 4-2; Aptos 15-8, 3-5; Marello 9-3, 6-9; North Monterey 6-1, 6-9; Watsonville 8-7 in 12 innings, 11-6; Harbor 4-6, 6-7. Finished the season with 7 wins and 7 losses in a three way tie for third place in league and missed out on the CCS playoffs by a CCS point count between SC with 22 points, Soquel 21 and Watsonville won out with 26 points. Season record 11-10.

From the Trident. Returning from a third place finish last year, the team is looking for a championship this year. Starters are Danny Cooper, Scott Wilkinson, Ballan Tuck, Sean Harrell, Bill Mellis, Brian Kingdom, John Oxford, Darryl Ratliff and Zack Raney. Other returning players are Jon Koch, Tom Mills, Scott Simmons. New to the team this year is senior Alex Curotto. According to team members, they have been working hard by having practices, rain or shine. The record after April third is 6-5.

Sentinel preseason write up. Coach Fred Pfyffer, a former SC athlete, who has spent many years coaching in the local youth colt league and at Holy Cross and Marello high schools has taken over as the Card head coach. SC will be led by four returning starters. Pfyffer hopes for a big year form infielder Ballan Tuck, who can play most any position, but appears set at first base. Speedy Darryl Ratliff is back in center and can pitch. Sean Harrell will be at shortstop and Scott Wilkinson, who will divide duties between the mound and the infield. The question marks are the battery, were the Cards lack experience. The defense will need to step up. “The basketball team had a great season and hopefully that will carry over,” said Pfyffer.

Rest from Sentinel. The Fred Pfyffer Era began with a bang, but the Cards didn’t do enough of the banging. Andrew Hill did, spoiling Pfyffer’s debut as the Cards coach by whipping SC 11-5. The Cards committed ten errors. SC took a 4-0 lead in the first inning with two runs on walks, one on Dan Cooper’s sacrifice fly and another on a fielders choice grounder by Scott Simmons. Junior pitcher Zack Raney had the most prolific of the Cards hits, a triple to right field in the fifth inning.

Seven Run fifth buoys Santa Cruz. Junior Darryl Ratliff used his bat and his arm to lead SC to a 13-5 victory over Alisal. Ratliff went 3 for 5 at the plate, scored two runs and drove in two. He also pitched one and two-thirds innings, walking two, struck out four, gave up one hit and one earned run for the win in relief. Sean Harrell, Ballan Tuck and John Oxford collected two hits. “We cut down our errors and were a lot more relaxed today,” said coach Fred Pfyffer. SC broke the game open with seven runs in the fifth inning on 7 hits, a walk and two errors. Ratliff had two hits and two RBI’s in the inning.

Fremont Leaves Card In The Dark. Fremont of Sunnyvale won 6-5 in extra innings. Fremont rallied for two runs in the seventh to tie the score and scored the winning run in the eighth on a controversial interference call at third base. The game ended with poor visibility. SC scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. Darryl Ratliff and John Oxford each had RBI singles. Scott Simmons was 2 for 4 and made a pair of outstanding defensive plays.

Cards, Coach Get Scare. SC Rallies in Bottom of Seventh for Victory over Saratoga 5-4. SC had taken a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth on four straight singles and a suicide squeeze, RBI bunt by Dan Cooper. Saratoga rallied to tie the game in the top of the seventh 4-4. Ratliff led off the bottom half with a double to left-center. On an infield out he went to third. The next two batters were intentionally walked loading the bases for Zack Raney, who ended matters in a hurry, when he drove the ball off the left field fence at Harvey West. Scott Wilkinson was 3 for 3 to lead the 11 hit SC attack. “We played a lot better today and with a lot of enthusiasm,” said Pfyffer, whose team evened its record 2-2. “We executed and we’re progressing.”

Hollister 9, SC 8. SC let a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning slip away, when Hollister rallied for seven runs and a pair of walks. SC was led by Scott Wilkinson, who was 2 for 4 and Zack Raney 2 for 3. Both players had two RBI’s.

SC Pitchers Produce. A four run third inning provided enough support. Strong pitching earned the Cards a 6-2 victory over Gonzales. “I was pleased with the way we played today,” said Pfyffer. Starter Scott Wilkinson went four and one-third innings, striking out five, walked two, but tired in the top of the fifth and was relieved by Darryl Ratliff. Ratliff struck out six and walked none to close the game and earn the victory. SC only had six hits, but used them opportunistically. SC scored four runs in the third inning on three hits. The runs were driven in by a two run single by Sean Harrell, a RBI triple by Wilkinson and a run scoring single by Ballan Tuck, all with two out. Tuck was 2 for 2.

Fast Start Holds Up For Cards. Ratliff home run keys SC to 7-3 win over Gilroy, Friday night at Harvey West. Ratliff hit the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the first inning for a home run and the Cards never looked back. Ratliff finished the game with three of SC’s ten hits and added two RBI’s. Sean Harrell, Ballan Tuck and Bill Mellis had two hits apiece. Mellis also had two RBI’s. Starter, Scott Wilkinson pitched a total of four and two-thirds innings. Wilkinson started on the mound and pitched the first three innings and then played the infield. In the sixth inning, he went back to the mound to get the last two outs of the inning and then closed out the seventh inning for the win. He allowed one run and gave up three hits. SC never trailed, but was in trouble throughout the game as runners were on base each inning. Coach Pfyffer, “The pressure was on us the whole time, but the kids showed a lot of poise tonight. This is the first game we’ve really played like we wanted to win.”

Cardinals Top Soquel In SCCAL Opener 11-10, in a three hour, 21 run game that took more twists and turns than a off-road race. There were 12 unearned runs, 16 walks and seven errors in the game. The first two and a half hours did not count. It wasn’t until the top of the seventh, the last inning, with the score tied 10-10 that everything was on the line. As the sun was setting and finally getting out of the batters eyes, it was a one run game. With two outs, Tom Mills, the number nine hitter walked and then stole second. Ever dangerous Darryl Ratliff was walked intentionally. As the senior shortstop Sean Harrell went to the plate, he was concentrating on doing three things: “Hit the ball hard, hit it on the ground and make them pay.” And he did, lined a single to center to score the winning run. Soquel loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but could not score. Coach Pfyffer said, “Our top five or six guys can all hit. We showed that we just don’t quit. I was proud of that. I think we may have been a little nervous today, but everything takes time. After taking a three run lead in the top of the first inning, keyed by Bill Melli’s two out, two run double, SC gave it all away in the bottom of the first. Starter Scott Wilkinson gave up five hits and three runs. Ratliff started the second inning and completed the game giving up only four hit’s the rest of the way.

SLV upsets SC 8-5 in league game. (The complete write up was about SLV and the game was played at Harvey West. The only reference of SC was a mention of Card centerfielder Darryl Ratliff making a running diving catch to take away a hit.)

Unimpressive Bucs Still Win 6-4. Ratliff led off the game with a single and the Cards eventually scored twice in the first inning on a RBI double by Wilkinson and a sacrifice fly by Tuck to go ahead 2-0. In the third SC scored on a run driven in by Wilkinson to put SC ahead 3-2, but Harbor came right back to tie 3-3. Starter Brian Kingdom gave up a home run in the fourth inning and was relieved by Jon Koch, who gave up another run. Wilkinson also relieved in the fourth. SC had only one error. SC had three runners thrown out at the plate. Two on squeeze bunt attempts, when the batters missed the ball and another picked off first. SC is 5-5 overall and 1-2 in league.

SC 15, Aptos 8. SC trailed 5-8 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, rallied for 10 runs to even its league record at 2-2. SC sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning. The big blow was struck by Zack Raney, who deposited a fast ball over the 355 foot sign in center field at Harvey West for a two run homer an a 9-8 lead. Raney had a double in the first inning and put a ball up to the fence that was caught. “I like to swing at high pitches and it was definitely up. I mad up my mind I was going to hit the ball,” said Raney. The next five SC batters reach base and all scored.

Score The Game: Coach 9, Ex-players 3. Fred Pfyffer the coach at Marello for 12 years and now the Card coach beat his old team 9-3. The Cards broke open a close game with a three run outbursts in the fifth and seventh innings. Sean Harrell, Zack Raney, Dan Cooper and Brian Kingdom each had two hits. Scott Wilkinson started and went the first four innings. Darryl Ratliff pitched no hit ball, struck out six and allowed no runs over the last three innings. He allowed only two base runners, both reach base on errors.

North Monterey 6, SC 1. The Cards seven errors cost them, by giving the Condors more outs, actually five outs in each of two innings. It was the first time North Monterey had won at SC and puts them in a three way tie for third place with SC and Soquel. The Cards offense has scored 44 runs in the five previous league games. Shortstop Sean Harrell was a bright spot for the Cards going 2 for 3 and playing well in the field.

Cards KO Wildcats In 12 (innings) There was everything, but a full moon out for the game at Harvey West. It was a strange baseball game for sure. The game started at 4 p.m. and by the time it ended it was more than four hours later and the moon, although not full, was all too visible. There were so many twists that, even had the moon been full, nothing could have been more weird. After five extra innings, the Cards beat Watsonville 8-7. The winning run scored on second baseman Billy Mellis’ two out, bases loaded bloop single to right field which scored Sean Harrell from third. Watsonville is in second place with a 5-2 record and SC at 4-3 is tied for third with Soquel. There were four ties and four lead changes in the game. There were five different bases loaded situations in which not a run was scored. Both teams combined left 39 runners on base. Watsonville took a 7-6 lead in the top of the twelfth inning. SC loaded the bases in the bottom half. An infield single by Ballan Tuck knocked in Darryl Ratliff for Tuck’s fourth run batted in of the game to tie the score 7-7. Zack Raney struck out, but up stepped Mellis. “There was no pressure on me in that situation at all,” said Mellis. “I was up earlier in the game and struck out. I couldn’t do any worse than that.” He then steered a fast ball into right for the winning run. The game started out as a slugfest. The score was 6-6 after only six innings and there were already 17 hits. Zack Raney started and went four and one-third innings. The relief pitchers for SC Ratliff, who went four and two-thirds innings and Brian Kingdom, who pitched three innings giving up only one run, settled down and there was nary a run until the fateful final inning.

Dynamic Duo Leads Cards. SC Holds Off Soquel 6-3. SC grabbed a share of second place as Darryl Ratliff and Sean Harrelll, the first two hitters in the Card order combined to reach base six times in eight trips to the plate, scored five runs, stole five bases and got four hits. With SC leading 1-0 in the third inning, Ratliff and Harrell did it again. Ratliff singled, Harrell walked and Tuck drove in Ratliff with a single. Harrell went to third and scored on Raney’s sacrifice fly.
Zack Raney, who threw four and one-third inning on Tuesday came back on Friday and hurled another five and one-third innings allowing only one earned run, before turning the ball over to Brian Kingdom, who had pitched hitless relief against Soquel. “If we keep getting the pitching we got the last couple of games, we’ll be OK,” said Pfyffer, whose team has won four of its last five game.

SC 4, SLV 2. SC scored three runs in the top of the first inning and as it turned out, that was all the scoring the Cards needed. Ratliff singled and Scott Wilkinson walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Ballan Tuck single home Ratliff and Raney singled in Wilkinson. With runners on second and third an infield error allowed the third run to score. SC added another run in the second inning.

Cards Throw A Scare Into State’s No. 5 Team in Division II. Just when SC had Harbor on the ropes, the Pirates won by a knockout 7-6. Harbor is 10-0 in league. SC had a chance to take over sole possession of second place, but is now in a three way tie with North Monterey and Watsonville all 6-4. Going into the sixth inning SC was in control with a 6-3 lead. Then things started to get rough, especially for reliever Darryl Ratliff, who took over in the fifth for starter Brian Kingdom. Harbor score twice on just one base hit that drove in players who had walked. In the seventh a walk and sacrifice bunt, when Card fielders left third base uncovered, it allowed the base runner to go all the way from first to third with one out. A walk followed by a single tied the score and another single scored the go ahead run. Zack Raney came in from centerfield to get the last two outs.
In the last of the seventh, after an out, Harrell and Wilkinson both singled to put runners on the corners. Ballan Tuck, who is hitting .356 for the season lashed a line drive toward the hole on the right side that had RBI single written all over it. But the first baseman made a diving catch and then went over and doubled off the runner on first base for the last out of the game. The Cards came that close to deadlocking the game and putting the winning run on third with only one out. It was ironic that the big defensive play ended the game. Harbor had committed three errors to allow five unearned runs.

Aptos 5, SC 3. With one out in the fourth inning, the Cards got three consecutive singles by Zack Raney, Bill Mellis and Danny Cooper. But a suicide squeeze went awry and Raney was thrown out at the plate. (This was the only mention of SC in the write up.)

Marello 9, SC 6. The Cards used four pitchers, including Brain Kingdom, who oddly enough started and then reentering the game to finish. The Panthers had a 9-0 lead on 12 hits, before the Cards scored. Marello is now 2-10. SC lost both games this week and are now 6-6 in league tied with Watsonville.

Condors In, Cards Are Out. The 9-6 win for North Monterey, never better than a .500 team before this season is 9-4 in league and 17-7 overall and has qualified for the CCS playoffs as the leagues second place team. North Monterey held a 6-1 lead going into the fifth inning, when SC scored four times to make the score 6-5. (End of story.)

Wildcats Overrun By Cards 11-6. SC scored seven times in the first inning, with the first six batters getting on base before the initial out was in the books. It was not a pretty game to watch as Watsonville had six errors and the Cards had five. Ballan Tuck had three hits and two each to Darryl Ratliff, Sean Harrell and Zack Raney, plus two RBI’s for Raney and Ratliff and one each for Tuck, Mellis and Jon Koch. SC ended the season 7-7 in league and 11-10 overall.

SC, Watsonville and Soquel all tied for third place in league. But even though SC beat Watsonville twice they will not have a chance for the CCS playoffs. There is a point system depending on points given for wins and the caliber of teams played. Watsonville ended up with 26 points, SC 22 and Soquel 21. Watsonville will have a coin toss with Pacific Grove, who also has 27 points to see who will make the playoffs.

June 3. Junior enter fielder Darryl Ratliff was selected Junior of the Year and to the first team of the Sentinel All County team. His Coach Fred Phyffer said, “There isn’t a better outfielder, is faster or has a better arm in the league.” Junior first baseman Scotty Wilkinson a .406 hitter was selected to the second team.

Greg Lathrop’s Dream Team Batting Order had Darryl Ratliff, batting in the number two position with a .441 batting average, 27 stolen bases and 19 RBI’s. He can run, hit and throw and he’s only a junior.

May 19. This year the SCCAL coaches selected two twelve member teams by position. In years past, they selected only one team, usually 12 to 15 players and it was based on performance, not by position. There was no honorable mention. Darryl Ratliff was the only Card on the first team. On the second team were junior, first baseman Scott Wilkinson, senior, third baseman Ballan Tuck with a .397 average and junior, outfielder Zack Raney with a .350 batting average.

JV BASEBALL no information

SOFTBALL
League record 6-6.

Yearbook. The girls went for 6 wins and 6 losses in league. With the help of pitcher Debbi Chavez, they had a good season. “Our team has improved by working along with each other,” says Jenny Posey. “Mr. Miguel has pushed us to the best of our ability to play the best we could.”

Starters and positions played: Debbi Chavez P, Kelli Mullen 1B, Molly Ball 2B, Lori Shultz SS, Stacey Wilhelmsen 3B, Monique James LF, Jenny Posey CF, Jelly DeBoer RF and Tami King C.

Sentinel softball preview on Feb. 23 Speed is the main ingredient for the Cards this year. Lori Schultz and Mary Moses can flat out fly. If they can get on base consistently, the Cards could make some noise this year. Both Schulz and Moses have been timed in just over 11 seconds around the bases. Coach Vic Miguel will be looking for good things from sophomore pitcher Debbie Chavez. “She has increased her speed and the variety of pitches. I think she was one of the most consistent pitchers in the league last year. Catcher Tami King is back. The power hitting junior is coming off a good year. “She directs the team really well and has a good arm and she can hit, too,” said coach Miguel.

Harbor won the league with a 11-1 record and Soquel was second at 10-2.

Sentinel softball stats of June 9, listed by place on the list, name, at bats, runs. Hits, runs batted in and batting average.
PO NAME AB R H RBI AV
25 Ball 57 19 17 5 .298
29 King 55 19 16 17 .291
30 Mullen 62 13 18 15 .290

Hitting Home runs, King third with 2.

Pitching by place on the list, name, won/loss, innings pitched, hits, walks, strike outs and earned run average.
PO NAME W-L IP H BB SO ERA
9 Chavez 10-11 127 140 38 81 3.47 Chavez pitched every SC inning.

Sentinel. May 20. Two Cardinals were selected by the coaches to the ALL SCCAL second team. They were junior catcher Tami King with a .274 batting average and Sophomore pitcher Debbie Chavez, who pitched every inning of the Cards 21 games, going 10-11 with an ERA og 3.47.

JV SOFTBALL finished the season with nine wins and five losses. Their big win was over Harbor. Starters were Celia Holmesly P, Val Kingdom 1B, Sarah Hart 2B, Sara Dalbey SS, Aimee Nitzberg 3B, Wendi Vajretti LF, Kristi Kramer CF and Jessica Pile or Marcie Dahlberg RF. Other players were Heather Bonds, Christina Linneman, Cece Caraway, Kari Bianconi, Alexander Minnis, Elaine Mellis and Amy Smith.

After winning six games in a row, the team was taken to Swensen’s by their coach Mr. Newell. “Thank you Pistol for the slurpees and big gulps and I loved the nicknames (ha ha),” said Wendi (Jingle).

TRACK
Yearbook. Both boys and girls teams finished the season 5-2. This was a very big year for track with many new school records for varsity and JV teams. Kurt Hodges qualified in the 100 yard dash in 10.38 and the 200 in 21.0. Lynette Mungai qualified for the 800 in 2.22. Rosario Vargas broke the school record in the shot put with a distance of 33’8”.

Sentinel preseason boys write up. SC probable has the best group of sprinters in the league. Last years league champion in the 100 and 200, Kurt Hodges, is back and heads the list. Junior Cory Petric and sophomore Matt Henry are also strong sprinters. Joining the three will be freshman high jumper Mike Jones, who already owns the schools frosh-soph record in the event, will finish out the solid 400 meter relay team. Jaime Marshall will be the Cards top distance runner. “He can do it all in the distance,” coach Wall said. Kevin Smith will add depth in the distance events.

Sentinel May 31. CCS FINALS
Six SCCAL athletes qualified at the CCS finals in seven individual events to participate at the State Meet at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento. SC senior sprinter Kurt Hodges was the runner, who qualified for two events. He was second in the 200 meters in 21.86 seconds (fully automatic time) and third in the 100 in 10.78. “The shock still hasn’t hit me yet. I wanted to win, but most of all I wanted to make it to the state meet, which has been my goal since last year. And now that I’m going, I want to do well. An athlete is never satisfied. I always want to do better,” Kurt Hodges.

Girl qualifiers for the State meet, by placing at least in fourth place at the CCS championship meet from SC with their event and time or distance: 800 meters, Lynette Mungai in 2:22.0 and Rosario Vargas at 33-9 in the shot put..

May 29. CCS REGION IV MEET
Is Hodges’ 100 Time Just Too Good? At the CCS championship meet, this question will be answered as 25 SCCAL athletes will compete at Independence High in San Jose. Senior Kurt Hodges “officially” ran the 100 meters in 10.38, but because the time wasn’t taken on an automatic timer, Hodges’ effort still has some people in the local track circles wondering just how fast can he run. Hodges ran what is considered the SC county high school record time last Saturday in the CCS Region IV meet at Hartnell College. But it was a hand held time, plus their was a stiff wind, mostly blowing at the sprinters backs. Also, Hodges time in the 100, and his winning time of 21.0 in the 200 meters, weren’t the only ones that raised some eyebrows at the finish area.
Nobody is taking anything away from Hodges, who is regarded one of the most talented sprinters ever from this area. But a repeat performance at the CCS finals, with computerized timing, Hodges would certainly end all speculation. “Kurt is on of those guys who is a real competitor. He strives for optimum performance no matter what the competition is,” said Coach Brian Wall. The only two times that can challenge Hodges are a converted time from 100 yards of 10.5 by a Watsonville star of the 1960’s and a 10.69 run by Soquel star at the 1984 CCS meet at San Jose City College.

Another article in the Sentinel. County’s Fastest Human. Hodges Wins 100 Meters In 10.38 At Region IV. Laying claim to being the fastest athlete ever to run track in Santa Cruz County, Kurt Hodges ripped off an impressive double victory. The senior who didn’t start competing in track until last year, won both the 100 meters in a record 10.38 seconds and the 200 meters in an impressive 21.0, also a personnel best. Former SC sprinter Andre Wilkes ran a 9.6 in 100 yards, which converts to 10.69 in 100 meters for the SC record up to now. No other local sprinter has run faster than Hodges even in college. “I just wanted to be tough. This race was the whole year for me. If you do bad here, you wind up the whole year. I was more confident after the 100. The 200 start was fast. When it evened out at the straight away, I knew I was going to have a strong finish,” said Hodges.
He didn’t come into the meet with two victories as his goal, although it was on his mind. “I was trying to win, but I wanted to do my best, to get ready for over the hill.” Over the hill means San Jose, where Hodges will run into his stiffest competition in both races. The top four finishers in each event qualify for the CCS championship meet.
Junior Jaime Marshall, one of the top distance runners in the area has a hip muscle problem, which will end his season.

GIRLS: At the Region IV meet Harbor was first and North Monterey second, followed by SC at ninth and Watsonville twelfth out of 32 schools. Two SC qualifiers for the CCS championship meet from SC were Lynette Munga, who took second in the 800 meter in 2:23.2 and might have won had she not caught a spike in the all-weather track and nearly fell in the final 30 meters. It was still Mungai’s season best time. Rosario Vargas took third in the shot put at 33-3.

May 31. It’s Official: Hodges To Get T Shirt. In the story on May 29 about the CCS Region IV time of Kurt Hodges, the Soquel coach doubted Kurt’s time and said if he showed a better time than the Soquel runner in 1984 of 10.69, Soquel would give him a T shirt with “Fastest Human– Santa Cruz county– 10.68. At the 100 meter trials for the CCS championship finals on Friday, Hodges ran a 10.68. Soquel will present the T-shirt to Hodges at the SC track and field awards on Monday night at the school auditorium.

May 17. Soquel upset North Monterey 137-131in the SCCAL meet to end the Condors five year reign in what most in attendance agreed was one of the most competitive meets ever in the SCCAL. SC and Watsonville gobbled up a lot of the points with seconds, thirds and fourths. SC and Watsonville cut into some of the North Monterey points. Rest of the scoring: Watsonville 64, SC 59, Aptos 56, SLV 32 and Harbor 18. Hodges? All he did Saturday was win the 100 and 200 and help SC to a runner up finish in the 400 meter relay. Hodges won the 200 in 22.2 by less than a tenth of a second. Jamie Marshall captured the mile in 4:28.1. Santa Cruz’s Marcus Hooten was disqualified in discus for not being dressed in a team issued uniform.

Cards Open Strong beating Pacific Grove 93-28. Top efforts were by John Baran, who won the shot put at 43 feet and the discus at 108-6 and was second in the high jump at 5-7. Kurt Hodges won the 100 meters at 11.2, Matt Henry the 200 metes in 24.0 and were both members of the 400 meter relay team.

Sentinel March 27. It’s The Pits. Better Equipped Cards Beat SLV 88-48. “It was the pits,” said coach Wall. As in new pole vault pits, which allowed the event at SC for the first time in four years. Fittingly, the Cards swept the event led by first place finisher Jove Shapiro’s effort of 9 feet. SC’s record is now 2-1. The best and closes race of the day was the 800 meters with Jaime Marshall and the SLV runner both timed in 2:01.6, but the SLV runner out leaned Marshall for the victory. The Memorial Field track may have been a little wet and muddy, but it didn’t slow down Kurt Hodges, who won the 200 meters in 23.1, but didn’t run his specialty the 100 meter. He ran the 400 for the first time in a meet and won in 53.9. He ran the distance again as a member of the 1,600 relay team and was timed in 54.0. Hodges, Cory Petric, Jaime Marshall and Nick McBurney won the 1.600 relay in a quick 3:35.4, for one of the fastest times at SC in recent years.

Santa Cruz Track Whips Harbor in a dual meet 89-36. Freshman Mike Jones set the frosh-soph school record, when he hurled his body 20’11.25” in the long jump. Jones also won the 400 with a time of 52.6, which was one tenth of a second off the school record.
For the varsity, Kurt Hodges won two events, winning the 100 in 11.1 and the 200 in 22.6 seconds. Kurt anchored the 400 relay to victory in 44.3 seconds. Junior Eric Olson was a double winner winning the 800 in 2:03.6 and the two mile in 10:50.9. Booth Wainscoat and Justin Marc were first and second in the discus. Jim Wilhelsen finished second in the high jump.

Cards Place Third with 31 points at the Los Gatos Invitational track and field meet. Matt Henry, Cory Petric, Mike Jones and Kurt Hodges clocked 44.5 to place third in the 400 meter relay. Jaime Marshall had a successful career debut in the 800 in 2:00.6 for third place. Henry, Petric, Jones and Hodges took third place in the 800 relay in 1:33.9. Jones a freshman, cleared 5-11 in the varsity high jump to set a school frosh-soph record.

At the Bruce Jenner Classic II track and field meet at San Jose City College, Jaime Marshal was seventh in the 1,500 with a county best time of 4:07.8.

Cards Can’t Lose. Despite Losses, Team A winner. Coach Brian Wall was elated over the progress shown by his athletes and also happy that his Cardinals gave perennial powerhouse Soquel a competitive meet, while losing 82-45. “They really pulled through today,” Wall said of his athletes, who fell to 0-2 in league dual meets, but continue to gain respect for the revitalization of their track and field program, which has grown to 65 team member this year compared to less than ten a year ago. “the distance people ran their pest today and so did the sprinters. I really feel like it was an enjoyable meet for the kids. I was especially pleased with the sprints and the shot put and discus people,” Wall said. The Soquel coach, “Wall and assistants Marty Kruger and Brad Syth.

Sentinel May 3. At the CCS Top-Eight Invitational meet at Los Gatos, Kurt Hodges placed second in the 100 meters with an automated time of 10.9 seconds and was third in the 200 in 22.14, both SC county season best times. Hodges then teamed up with Cory Petric, Matt Henry and Nick McBurney to finish sixth in the 400 relay in 43.7. Jaime Marshall was seventh in the 800 in 1:57.2.
Girls: Lynette Mungai was seventh in the 800 in 2:24.8.
In boys frosh-soph competition, Mike Jones set a school record in the long jump with a winning leap of 21-7 and added a fourth place in the 100 in 11.5.

Sentinel May 10. Senior sprinter Kurt Hodges didn’t have to wait until next week to post some eye opening times. Hodges won the 100 in 10.9, the 200 in a personal best 22.3 and anchored the Card 400 relay team of Bill Payne, Cory Petric and Matt Henry to a winning best time of 43.8 in one of the meets rare upset. “The key to most races this time of the season is to be at your peak,” said Hodges. “I feel I’m just reaching my peak and I can cut some more time next week.”

Sentinel. June 11, SCCAL Boys Track and Field Statistics, by event, place, name, year in school, time or distance and date achieved.
100 meters
PL NAME YR TIM/DIS DATE
1 Hodges 12 10.68 2-29
3 Henry 10 11.2 5-23
4 Jones 9 11.3 3-21

200 meters
1 Hodges 12 21.0 5-23
3 Henry 10 22.9 5-7

400 meters
6 Jones 9 52.3 5-7
800 meters
2 Marshall 11 1:57 5-7

1,600 meters
2 Marshall 11 4:27.6 4-18

3,200 meters
4 Marshall 11 10:02.0 5-7

300 intermediate hurdles
7 McBurney 11 42.4 5-16

400 meter relay
1 SC team 43.3 5-16 (Jones, Petric, Henry and Hodges)

1,600 meter relay
2 SC team 3:29.8 5-16 (McBurney, Hodges, Henry and Jones)

Discus
7 Marc 12 127-10 4-25

Long Jump
2 Jones 9 21-7 5-7

High Jump
3 Morrione 12 6-0 4-23

Triple Jump
9 Jones 9 40-2 5-7

GIRLS TRACK
Sentinel preseason write up. The girls also have the potential to be very strong this season. “this is the best girls team SC has ever had. There is tremendous talent in every event,” said Coach Wall. Leading the way is Lynette Mungai, who owns the school record in the triple jump. She also competes in the distance events. Sophomores Maria Shanle and Laura Schumate will also be strong contenders in the hurdles and the long jump respectively. Wall also feels that thrower Rosario Vargas is one of the best in the league.

May 17. Harbor won the SCCAL girls meet by 40 points over North Monterey, while SC came in third without winning an event. SC set two school records. One in the 400 relay and Beth Burns in the triple jump. Lynette Mungai finished second in two events. “I’m a little disappointed with my splits. But overall, I’m real happy,” said Mungai. Runners were setting a torrid pace in the first lap of the mile. “We ran about a 75 second split, when we should have been running about 78,” Mungai said. Maria Shanle nearly fell in the 100 meter low hurdles, but still managed to finish in third place with a school record time of 15.7.

Cards Open Strong beating Pacific Grove 95-24 to open the season. Maria Shanle won the 110 meter hurdles in 17.7 and the two mile in 12:59.0. Carrie Kreppel won the shot put at 25-0 and discus at 69-10. Lynette Mungai won the mile in 6:06.0 and triple jump at 27-9.

The girls were hampered by the loss of sick teammates lost to first place Harbor. Senior distance runner Lynette Mungai broke a school record in the mile with a time of 5:16.9. She won the 800 in 2:31.1. Mungai anchored the mile relay team to a league record in 4:21.4. Maria Shanle upset Harbors top runner to take first place in the 100 low hurdles in 16.0 seconds. She was second in the 300 low hurdles in 49.8. Both of these times are new school records. Sophomore Beth Burns broke the school record in the triple jump in 31’8”. Gwen Vilches was second in the 400 in 1:02.9. The mile relay team of Gwen Vilches, Maria Shanle, Larkin Ferber and Lynette Mungai broke the league record in 4:21.4.

At the Los Gatos Invitational, Lynette Mungai set the school record in the triple jump at 31-11. She joined Gwen Vilches, Larkin Ferber and Anissa Ratliff to place second in the sprint medley in

Sentinel. June 11, SCCAL Girls Track and Field Statistics, by event, place, name, year in school, time or distance and date achieved.
100 meters
PL NAME YR TIM/DIS DATE
4 Hogan 9 13.1 5-16
5 Shumate 10 13.5 5-7

200 meters
3 Shumate 10 26.8 5-13

400 meters
5 Vilches 10 1;01.5 5-16
8 Mungai 12 1:03.7 5-6

800 meters
1 MungaI 12 2:22.2 5-23

1,600 meters
2 Mungai 12 5:16.9 4-30

3,200 meters
4 Mungai 12 12:35.5 3-19

100 meter High hurdles
2 Shanle 11 15.4 5-23
7 Burns 10 17.0 5-7

300 meter low hurdles
3 Shanle 11 49.4 45-16
6 Croghan 9 52.1 5-16

400 meter relay
3 SC team 51.3 5-23 (Vilches, Shanle, Hagan, Shumate)

1,600 meter relay
3 SC team 4:13.9 5-16 (Vilches, Shanle, Ferber, Mungai)

Long Jump
5 Hagan 9 16-1 4-4
6 Shumate 10 16-1 5-23
8 Ratliff 12 15-8 5-16

Triple Jump
4 Mungai 12 31-11 3-7

Shot Put
3 Vargas 12 33-9 5-16

Discus
3 Vargas 12 102-0 3-19
5 Ratliff 12 98-7 3-26

BOYS SWIMMING
Second in the SCCAL league meet.
Dual Meets: Gilroy 130-49. League: Soquel 124-38, Harbor 89-84, Aptos 74-82. League record 2-1 and overall 3-1. Won the Salinas Invitational

Sentinel May 1. Wild Meet Expected In SCCAL Swimming. For the first time in a decade, there are three teams, who honestly believe they can win a team championship, or at least a piece of the championship, going into this weekends SCCAL finals. First, there’s unbeaten SCCAL dual-meet season winner Aptos, which has to be confident coming off a big win last week against previously unbeaten SC. Second, there’s SC, which is motivated to make up for not going 5-0 in league duals. Third, there’s Harbor, which has won the last six SCCAL titles and although not having a lot of potential winners, still has the best quality depth, which could be the deciding factor. “The depth plays a key role in a meet like this and it’s going to come down to the sixth, seventh and eighth places in the scoring,” said SC Coach Mike Bennett in previewing the meet.
Diving will take place on Friday and the swimming competition, which the league coaches believe will be the best overall the area’s ever had is Saturday at Cabrillo.
Individually, one of the feature events is the 100 free, which Chris Shumate with a 50.62 qualifying time goes up against a competitor with a 50.60 time. Harbor has the top three seeds in diving, which could give them a good lead going into the swimming competition.
The meet is the farewell of Jon Melton, who is going to the University of Alabama on a swim scholarship. Melton is expected to win the 200 free and 100 butterfly and possible anchor a winning 200 medley relay team. In the relay, Harbor comes in seeded first at 1:46 flat, with SC second at 1:46.33. It is the first varsity event to be held and should get the meet off to an entertaining start.

May 3. An Old Story- Harbor Prevails. Harbor’s divers give Harbor a comfortable lead on the first day, then the swimmers cling tenaciously to it. Sound familiar? It should, For the seventh year in a row, the Pirates hung on to a lead and won the SCCAL meet. This time, they compiled 306 points, compared to runner up SC’s 270 and third place Aptos 267. Harbor amassed 48 points in diving to runner up SC with 19.
The combination of Harbor’s first place finish and Aptos’ third place finish in the league meet, gave Harbor the overall SCCAL championship, which is based on both dual meets and the league meet. Aptos won the dual championship with SC second and Harbor third.
The individual star of the day was Jon Melton. The senior set two league records, breaking his own mark in each case. In the 200 free, he shaved 0.44 second off the record with a time of 1:42.93. In the 100 butterfly, he eclipsed the mark by 0.39 seconds with a time of 52.88. “Jon had great times. I could put him in any event and he could set a league record if he had time to work on it.” said coach Mike Bennett.
Harbor won the frosh-soph meet for the seventh straight time also by scoring 406 points to second place Aptos with 202.

Aptos Dunks SC 82-74. “Our guys turned in some fantastic times,” said coach Mike Bennett. “We went into it knowing it was going to be a close meet.” SC is now 2-1 in league. Chris Shumate recorded a CCS qualifying time of 50.50 in the 100 freestyle and took second in the 200 freestyle in 1;52.60. Mike Peralta won the 100 butterfly in 1:10.10. Bill Hackbarth won the 100 backstroke in 56.60 and the 200 individual medley in 2:04.10.

Sentinel. Cards Win Salinas Invitational Title.. Come From Behind Effort By Santa Cruz Nabs Championship. Halfway through the first annual Salinas Invitational at Hartnell College, SC was 30 points out of first place. When the meet ended SC had edged Harbor for first place 247-237 with Aptos in third with 225. In the 100 freestyle with Hackbarth and Shumate finishing first and second, “It seemed to turn things around for us,” said Bennett. Hackbarth clocked a 50.36 and Shumate 50.62. Both are CCS qualifying times. Jon Melton captured the 100 butterfly in 53.4 and the 100 backstroke in 55.35. He took second places in the 100 free and the 200 free in 1:52.17 to offset the double wins by two Aptos swimmers. “Our league was well represented. We have a lot of extremely talented swimmers..” Bennett said.

Card Swimmers Dunk Gilroy 130-49, led by Billy Hackbarth’s win in the 200 yard freestyle and 50 freestyle, plus Jon Melton’s victory in the 100 and 500 freestyle. SC remains unbeaten with a 5-0 record. Other standouts were Mike Peralta with a first in the 200 individual medley and Richard Harbinson’s first in the 100 backstroke.

Sentinel Athlete of the Week of March 24 was senior Jon Melton, who set league records in the 50 freestyle in 22.03 and the 100 butterfly in 53.27 in a 84-45 win over Harbor.

Sentinel. Cards Do It. Finally Santa Cruz Tops Harbor 89-84. To break Harbors 13 dual meet winning streak in league. It has been almost three years to the day, since Harbor lost to SC 96-76 in 1984 in a SCCAL meet. “We were real confident all week. We knew it was going to be real close, said coach Bennett. “Our guys just knew it was going to be their meet. I kept telling them that in practice.” SC won every event except the diving and 400 freestyle relay. Senior Jon Melton led the Cards, setting two SCCAL records. In the 50 free, Melton pulled a record time of 22.03 and also in the 100 butterfly in 53.27. Chris Shumate and Bill Hackbarth were also double winners. Shumate won the 200 free in 1:54.48 and the 100 free in 51.07. Hackbarth took the 200 individual medley in 2:06.57 and the 100 backstroke in 57.36.
Bennett believes the key to his teams win was it managed to secure so many second, third and fourth places. “Harbor has incredible depth. If you don’t get those next three places, they will eat you alive.” That is what happened to SC last year, when they just couldn’t compete with Harbors depth and lost by ten points.

Trident Athlete of the issue is Jon Melton for his excellent swimming at the Harbor dual meet. Melton broke two league records, the fifty yard freestyle with the time of 22:03 and the 100 yard butterfly in 53:27. Jon is also the record holder for the 200 freestyle in 1:44.78 and in the 500 freestyle in 4:42.74.

Sentinel. Oh, The Times, They Are A Changing’
“Ten years ago, when I swam at Harbor, the fourth or fifth best times now, would have won back then,” Coach Bennett. “We’re getting some fantastic swimmers in this league. Although competitive swim times in general have dropped in the sport, I think it has dropped more in Santa Cruz in comparison. It used to be the teams over the hill, in the Santa Clara Valley were the powerhouses. They still are, but we are beginning to get more swimmers with quality comparable to over the hill. We may not have the depth, but we have a lot of swimmers who can hold their own.” Last year the Cards had some solid individual performances, but were hampered with only one diver and no depth. This year, “A couple of guys just started swimming with us to get ready for water polo and their doing a great job. Kevin Crawford, for one, pulls in a lot of important seconds and thirds and we have a more complete diving corp. It helps a lot, because we compete as a swimming and diving team.”

So far, things are falling in place for SC, who has already beaten perennial SCCAL power Harbor and just beat Soquel 124-38 to go undefeated in league dual meets. The Cards depth came through and Matt Hamill won the diving. SC was led by Hackbarth, who won the 200 free in 1:56.34 and the 100 back in 59.67. Mike Peralta won the 100 butterfly in 57.63 and the 100 breast in 1:06.51. Peralta’s time in the 100 butterfly qualified him for the CCS meet. Even though SC was without standout Jon Melton, who was competing in the senior National meet in Florida, SC dominated.

Sentinel. Now at the age of 18, Melton is at the pinnacle of the sport and will join the seventh place college team in the nation, the University of Alabama in the Fall. Jon’s day starts with a 4:00 am wake up and 5,000 yards of swimming. After school its back to San Jose for another work out, but this time with 14,000 yards of swimming. Now its 7:00 pm and he heads home to eat and soon after turns in for the night. Currently Jon is a distance freestyle swimmer, but he would like to change over to a sprinter for the Olympics. By swimming the 800 yard freestyle relay, Jon would have a better chance to make the Olympic team. There are two teams with four swimmers on each team. If Jon were to swim in another event, he would have to be the best in the nation. When in Florida at the National Championships, he turned in some very impressive times and places. Jon placed ninth in the 500 yard freestyle, twelfth in the 1000 and fourteenth in the 200. “I swam really good, but didn’t make the USA Travel Team, because I was just 18 years old and the youngest a participant could be was 19. I was most impressed with my 200 yard freestyle, because they’re totally different events,” said Melton. When asked what the hardest part of swimming was Jon said, “Swimming is 90% mental and about 10% is actual training,” Melton was also quick to add that not everybody that trains can actually be a good swimmer. It takes a special talent that not everybody has.

Sentinel Prep Swim Statistics in the area listing the top five swimmers in each event on May 19. The listing below will be by event, place in order, name and time. League records by SC swimmers are listed, by the year and the time where they apply.
PL NAME TIME
200 Freestyle
1 Melton 1:42.93
5 Schumate 1:52.17
6 Hackbarth 1;54.46
League record. 1987, Jon Melton, 1.42.93

200 Individual Medley
2 Hackbarth 1:59.55
League record 1980. Steve Hatch 1:56.00

50 Freestyle
1 Melton 22.00
4 Shumate 23.10
6 Hackbarth 23.73
8 Crawford 23.83
9 Getty 23.93

100 Butterfly
3 Melton 52.88
6 Peralta 57.63
League record. 1987, Jon Melton, 52.88

100 Freestyle
1 Schumate 49.47
5 Hackbarth 50.36
9 Getty 52.17
10 Crawford 52.71
League record. 1980, John Mokus, 48.17

500 Freestyle
1 Melton 4:36.62
3 Hackbarth 4:53.06
8 Mockus 5:24.36

League record. 1987, Jon Melton, 4:36.62

100 Backstroke
1 Hackbarth 55.73
2 Melton 55.35
10 Harbison 1:06.19
League record. 1986, Bill Hackbarth, 54.45

100 Breaststroke
3 Peralta 1:05.46
5 Hackbarth 1:08.90

200 Medley Relay
2 SC team of Hackbarth, Forrester, Peralta, Melton. 1:45.57

400 Freestyle Relay
1 SC team of Melton, Hackbarth, Shumate and Getty, 3:17.22
League record. 1987 SC team of Melton, Hackbarth, Shumate, Getty. 2:17.22

Diving
5 Mountaros 244.35 points.

Under classmen with event and best times. 500 Freestyle, Tim Mockus, sophomore, 5:30.64
100 Backstroke, Richard Harbison, sophomore, 1:09.61. 100 Breaststroke, Cameron Forrester, sophomore, 1:13.41

All SCCAL. Relay teams of Jon Melton, Bill Hackbarth, Chris Shumate, Matt Getty, Mike Peralta and Cameron Forrester. CCS and ALL AMERICAN Jon Melton

TENNIS SIXTH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP IN A ROW. They have won the championship 12 of the last 13 years. Overall the team record was 17 wins, 2 losses and one tie.

Davey Ransom and Ronny Dong were SCCAL champions in doubles competition. Cort Blackburn was runner up in singles.

Danny Aldrich had the best record in the league with 17 wins, 2 losses and one tie.

Top players for the netters are Cort Blackburn, Chris Walters, Davey Ransom, Ronny Dong, Dan Aldrich and David Mellon. Other team members were Benji Goldrand, Art Marcum, Andrew Kwan, Wyatt Cameron, Adam Gersick and Tim Lara.

Trident. May 20.In the CCS playoffs, Bellarmine defeated the Cards in the first round. In the past years, SC has always won league championships, but never gotten far in CCS.

Sentinel. In preseason SC beat Live Oak 5-2, as SC boosted its record to 2-0. Cort Blackburn the Cards number one player won 6-1, 6-1. In number one doubles, Andrew Kwan and Adam Gersich split the first two sets, while a third set tiebreaker was deadlocked at 4-4, when darkness halted play.

SC downs Salinas 6-1. Cort Blackburn lost 2-6, 2-6 in number one singles. The number one doubles of Andrew Quan and Adam Gersick won 6-4, 6-1. Tim Lara, a senior, playing his first varsity singles match at number five won 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. “That was the highlight for me, said coach Mullen, whose Cards are 3-0, and I imagine it was for him, too, because it was such a long match.”

Card Netters Finish In A Deadlock. “It was too dark to finish,” said coach Mullen after the Cards non league match at Gunn was halted with the score 3-3. The incomplete match was the number two doubles team of Art Marcum and Benji Goldfrank, who lost their first set 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker), but then won the second set 6-4. It was too dark to play the third set. In number one singles, Cort Blackburn won 6-2, 6-1. SC 3-1-1 received singles victories from Ron Dong and Dan Aldrich.

Cards Foil Optimistic Harbor 5-2. Cort Blackburn lost the number one singles match 2-6, 4-6. The doubles team of Benji Goldrank and Art Marcum won 6-2, 6-1.

Sentinel. Cards Grab The Early Lead. Don’t schedule the coronation yet. But if somebody doesn’t do something, the Cards are going to roll to another SCCAL Crown. Friday the defending SCCAL champion Cards defeated their number one challenger Aptos 6-1. In the first week of league completion, SC squared off against its two chief rivals and lost only three of the 14 individual matches. So much for the early threats. “Tennis is a funny game, we’re going to have to improve. I’m pleased with the way we have been playing. But I believe that it’s never over until the fat lady sings,” said coach Mullen. Apparently, she’s warming up. SC was led by juniors Cort Blackburn and Davey Ransom. Blackburn won the number one singles 6-4, 6-3. Ransom won the number three singles 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.

First Place Santa Cruz Rolls To Another Win. SC is not experiencing anything yet, that could be a problem as they slice through the early stages of the league season. More of the same with a 6-1 victory over Soquel and improved its league record to 4-0. SC made a clean sweep of the singles matches. The only match SC lost was the number one doubles, where Benji Goldfrank and Art Marcom went down 2-6, 3-6. At number one singles, Cort Blackburn won 6-2, 6-3. Other singles winners were David Mellon, Davey Ransom, Ron Dong and Dan Aldrich.

Santa Cruz At It Again. downing Watsonville 7-0. Eddie Marcum playing number one singles, got the ball rolling with a 6-0, 6-0 win. So dominate were the Cards that Watsonville won no more than three games in any set.

Santa Cruz Netters Hang On for a 4-3 victory over Aptos. In their first round game SC had won 6-1. Aptos won both doubles matches and the number three singles against Davey Ransom 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. The Cards are now 7-0 in league and Aptos 5-2 with their only losses to SC. The match was close throughout. At number one singles, Cort Blackburn nipped his man 7-5, 1-6, 6-3. In number two singles, David Mellon won 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. There were other singles thrillers. In number four, Dan Aldrich won 7-5, 6-3 and in number five, Tim Lara won 7-6, 6-2.

Coach Mullen, “We have the best junior varsity players that we have ever had and I am looking forward to working with all of them again.”

GOLF as of April third the Cards have won two and lost ten.
Team members were Dean Dealy, Brent Witke, Josh Breeden, Jeremy Green, Tom Helenthal, Kelly Nelson, Mike Kingsberry, Kevin Kaiser and Brent Rayer. Coach Bob Grabel.

SC 24, SLV 3. Josh Breeden was match medalist with a 40 over nine holes at Pasatiempo Golf Club.

INDIVIDUALS

Senior cross country runner Lynette Mungai had a fantastic year leading the girls to a 4-4 dual meet record for fourth place in league. At the CCS Region IV meet SC finished in eighth place. Lynette finished second in league meet and sixth in CCS Region IV and twenty-eighth in the CCS finials. In track senior distance runner Lynette Mungai broke a school record in the mile with a time of 5:16.9. She won the 800 in 2:31.1. Mungai anchored the mile relay team to a league record in 4:21.4. The mile relay team of Gwen Vilches, Maria Shanle, Larkin Ferber and Lynette Mungai broke the league record in 4:21.4.

Trident Athlete of the Week was senior soccer goalie Jennifer Bloome. Jennifer has the best record of all the goalies in the league. In twelve games, she has allowed only four goals in her net, giving up less goals than the whole first place team did. Jenny has been able to shut out a total of five of the six opposing teams in the league and has a total of eight shut outs overall this season. Jenny has played about fourteen seasons of soccer and in the last two, she held the vital position of goalie. Before becoming a goalie, she played right fullback, so the basic understanding of defense has always been with her. She would like to go on and play in college.

Trident Athlete of the issue is Jon Melton for his excellent swimming at the Harbor dual meet. Melton broke two league records, the fifty yard freestyle with the time of 22:03 and the 100 yard butterfly in 53:27. Jon is also the record holder for the 200 freestyle in 1:44.78 and in the 500 freestyle in 4:42.74. Now at the age of 18, Melton is at the pinnacle of the sport and will join the seventh place college team in the nation, the University of Alabama in the Fall. Jon’s day starts with a 4:00 am wake up and 5,000 yards of swimming. After school its back to San Jose for another work out, but this time with 14,000 yards of swimming. Now its 7:00 pm and he heads home to eat and soon after turns in for the night. Currently Jon is a distance freestyle swimmer, but he would like to change over to a sprinter for the Olympics. By swimming the 800 yard freestyle relay, Jon would have a better chance to make the Olympic team. There are two teams with four swimmers on each team. If Jon were to swim in another event, he would have to be the best in the nation. When in Florida at the National Championships, he turned in some very impressive times and places. Jon placed ninth in the 500 yard freestyle, twelfth in the 1000 and fourteenth in the 200. “I swam really good, but didn’t make the USA Travel Team, because I was just 18 years old and the youngest a participant could be was 19. I was most impressed with my 200 yard freestyle, because it is a totally different event,” said Melton. When asked what the hardest part of swimming was Jon said, “Swimming is 90% mental and about 10% is actual training,” Melton was also quick to add that not everybody that trains can actually be a good swimmer. It takes a special talent that not everybody has.

Silviano Gaona point guard was selected for the Dads Club All Tournament team.

Basketball top returnee is Sean Harrell, a cat quick 5-11 guard who was first team All County a year ago and will be leaving presses in the dust for the third straight year. All County and ALL SCCAL this year. One of the top players on the baseball team. (Received scholarship to Cal Berkeley)

. County’s Fastest Human. Kurt Hodges Wins 100 Meters In 10.38 At Region IV. Laying claim to being the fastest athlete ever to run track in Santa Cruz County, Kurt Hodges ripped off an impressive double victory. The senior who didn’t start competing in track until last year, won both the 100 meters in a record 10.38 seconds and the 200 meters in an impressive 21.0, also a personnel best. Former SC sprinter Andre Wilkes ran a 9.6 in 100 yards, which converts to 10.69 in 100 meters for the SC record up to now. No other local sprinter has run faster than Hodges even in college. “I just wanted to be tough. This race was the whole year for me. If you do bad here, you wind up the whole year. I was more confident after the 100. The 200 start was fast. When it evened out at the straight away, I knew I was going to have a strong finish,” said Hodges.
He didn’t come into the meet with two victories as his goal, although it was on his mind. “I was trying to win, but I wanted to do my best, to get ready for over the hill.” Over the hill means San Jose, where Hodges will run into his stiffest competition in both races. The top four finishers in each event qualify for the CCS championship meet.
. SC senior sprinter Kurt Hodges was the runner, who qualified for two events. He was second in the 200 meters in 21.86 seconds (fully automatic time) and third in the 100 in 10.78. “The shock still hasn’t hit me yet. I wanted to win, but most of all I wanted to make it to the state meet, which has been my goal since last year. And now that I’m going, I want to do well. An athlete is never satisfied. I always want to do better,” Kurt Hodges.
(Kurt went to CAL Berkeley on scholarship)