Haley Lukas, sixth-grader at Pleasanton Middle School, had quite the weekend to remember as she accomplished her goal of setting a CYO record. However, she took it a step further when she set two records. Lukas, who is in middle school, won the 200-meter and the 400-meter races at the Oakland Diocese CYO Championships over the weekend.
Lukas ran the 200-meter dash in a time of 27.13 which broke the previous record of 27.20 set in 1999. In the 400-meter dash, she won the event with a time of 60.73, which shattered previous record of one of 63.50 set in 1989. Lukas is a member of Athenian Athletics, which is based in Livermore.
Gymnast makes national team
Jonathan Liu, a level 9 gymnast who trains at Pleasanton’s West Coast Gymnastics Academy, earned a spot on the 2008 Junior National Olympic Team at the Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships held May 6-12 in Battle Creek, Mich. Liu, a freshman at Mission San Jose High School, has been training with Vince Miller since he was 5 years old. Training regularly for 20 hours per week, he has been taking dance for the last five years in order to benefit his grace in the sport of gymnastics. This past year has been especially challenging since he suffered a wrist injury. He was out until end of February, when he had less than a month to prepare for states. And two weeks before Nationals, he suffered another injury to his legs which required staples to his shins.
PFLL scores
The Division AA Yankees edged the Angels 9-8 on Saturday. Both teams demonstrated excellent batting and fielding skills. The Angels dominated the first three innings and were in the lead 8-3 at the bottom of the third, where Noa Farrish hit big to score two RBIs. Joseph Richardson pitched a no run fourth inning, and Tyler Usen stepped up to pitch a no-run fifth inning. A.J. Walford tagged three runners out at first base in the top of the fifth. Duncan McCarthy hit a strong delivery to make it safely to first, and was able to steal home to cause the tie. Brandon Beanland also made it to first after a solid hit and stole to third before Joseph Richardson hit the ball into the outfield culminating in a RBI and the winning run to the Yankees.
The Division PFLL Farm Bulls had a dynamite game defensively against the Storm. They were playing aggressively in the outfield, turning plays in each inning. Max Moeller did and outstanding job on first base. With some help from Ian Crane as pitcher, the dynamic duo was able to get three consecutive outs on first. Offensively, the Bulls’ Tyler Stewart delivered a hard line drive. Liam Borg also had two powerful hits, leaving the Bulls fans cheering for more.
In Division A, defense was the name of the game when the Riverdogs played the Redwings May 8. The ‘Dogs turned a nifty double play when Sean at first caught a pop fly for one and threw to Anthony at second for two. Later in the game Sean, again playing first, turned an unassisted double play by catching another pop fly and tagging out the runner on first. On the mound, Devin pitched with great command and composure. At the plate Nick C., Nick B. and Anthony all had hits.
In Division AA, the Yankees outscored the Pirates 11-5 May 7. The Yankees started with pitcher William Brendel, who showed great effort. Some great hits in the first inning started with Duncan McCarthy doubling and Joseph Richardson hitting a triple, and being brought home by Noa Farrish, who also had a double in the fourth. Ty Usen caught a pop fly for an out and two line-drives for outs at first base. The Pirates fell to the Giants three days later, 8-7. Cameron had the only Giants hit as they benefited from several walks issued by Pirates pitchers. Overall, the Giants played solid defense.
Lady Hustle takes championship
The Lady Hustle U14 Girls softball team of Pleasanton competed in a field of 22 teams at Arnaiz complex in Stockton May 3 and 4. Lady Hustle had wins that Saturday over Concord’s Crossfire 14-6 and San Lorenzo’s Lady Wolfpack 12-2. Lady Hustle used a very balanced attack with solid hitting throughout the lineup capped by a home run from Alexis Martinez and two triples from Montana Berg and solid play from Lexi Seigel-Meyer and Lou Lou Lanza. Despite a loss to Napa Valley Express, LH headed into Sunday as a No. 1 seed.
On May 4, Lady Hustle began with a victory over the Sacramento Monarchs, 8-1, followed with a solid win over Grapettes of Stockton 6-3. Sami Schiller and Montana Berg were winning pitchers and were supported with great play by Jess McKeehan, Nikki Stark and Nu Nu Evans. In the semi-final game, Hustle rolled by South Valley Blitz of Hanford with a 6-2 victory. Katie Mannion was the winning pitcher and Nicole Borchard held the defense with flawless plays at third base setting the stage for championship game against the Concord Bears. In the championship game, Lady Hustle played flawlessly defense and shut down the Bears fast slappers and powerful hitters with 17 error free plays capturing them a dominating 5-0 win. Lady Hustle kept the pressure on with 10 hits. Meanwhile, winning pitcher Sami Schiller lost a no-hitter in the seventh inning and finished with a one-hitter and three strikeouts.
Blizzards end season victoriously
The Pleasanton Lacrosse Club girls Blizzards ended their season victorious when they shut down the Walnut Creek Warriors 15-0 last Saturday. Haley Brodnick led the team in goals with other drives into the net made by Annelise Dutcher, Meghan Serrano, Maddie Aston, Nicole Moran and Jaime Rinetti scoring on a penalty shot in the last minutes of the game. Laureen Caldwell, once again, displayed her talent at goalie keeping the Warriors scoreless throughout the game. Ellen Casad, Sabrina Dolan and Kylee Udinski contributed to the strong defense, picking up ground balls with superior passes made by Annelise Stevenson and Rachel Barta.
Amador varsity swim closes successful season
With Catherine Breed and Kayleigh Foley leading the way with record-setting performances, the Amador Valley girls varsity swim team closed a successful EBAL season with a fourth-place finish in the league meet. Breed set the tone early, shattering an EBAL record in the first individual event of the meet. Her 1:47:76 time in the 200 free was almost four seconds faster than the previous record. She went on to break the record in the 500 free, a record that had been set in 1992, posting a 4:51:21. Both times are Automatic All-American times.
After seeing the freshman Breed set league records, the senior was not to be out done. Foley went out in her first individual event, the 50 free, and, not only won the event by over a second, but broke the league record by .32 seconds with a 23.73 time. Following up that outstanding effort, Foley went out in the 100 free and broke a 22-year-old record, blazing to a 51.03 finish. Again, both times are All-American times. The future is bright for the Dons as freshmen: Tory Houston, Natalie Wong, and Danielle Stickler posted impressive debuts in the league meet. Houston took a fourth in the 100 Breaststroke and a fifth in the 200 IM. Stickler took a 10th in the 100 back while Wong finished a couple of seconds behind Houston in the IM to grab a seventh, and also took a ninth in the 500 free. Wong led a pack of AV swimmers home in the 500 as Marie Schmidt and Casey Coughlin finished right behind. Not to be outdone by the fantastic freshmen, the upper classes were also well represented. Schmidt grabbed an eighth in the 200 free with Coughlin coming in 11. Jenn Docto and Marina Allen went 9,10 in the 50 free. Docto also grabbed a 10 in the 100 free. The relay teams also posted good results, the 200 Medley relay (Breed, Houston, Allen, Foley) took third, the 200 free relay (Docto, Allen, Schmidt, Houston) took a fourth and, capping the meet with a nice showing, the 400 medley relay team (Bree, Docto, Schmidt and Foley) took second. The Amador Valley JV Girls finished fourth in the EBAL League meet with some great individual performances. Emily Pease posted the team’s best finish of the day with a fifth in the 100 back. Sarah Turner took ninth in the same event and also had an 11th in the 100 IM. Michelle Schirle and Renee Miller went 9, 10 in the 50 free for the team’s other top 10 finishes
12-year-old wins first in triathlon ***run with photo***
12-year-old Pleasanton resident Nicholas Paulson recently completed the Wildflower Long Course triathlon, winning first in his division. Nicholas was the youngest entrant in the race, which included a 1.2-mile swim followed by a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run.
Nicholas’ father Jim said the race is considered one of the most difficult because the bike and run courses have steep grades. Nicholas completed the swim in 39:20 minutes, the bike in 4 hours 44 minutes and the run in 3 hours and four minutes. With the transition times, he finished with a time of 8:37:54.
While at the event, Nicholas also met well-known triathlete and reigning world champion Chris McCormack (“Macca”). McCormack won the Wildflower race.
Jim Paulson said about 50 people from Pleasanton participated in the race, including four members of the Paulson family. The race was held at Lake San Antonio in Monterey County.
Amador JV boys swim loses in close call
For the second week in a row, the Amador Valley JV boys swim team had a close call. Last week, they finished two points short of beating Foothill and this week they finished in fourth place in the EBAL League meet by 2.5 points to San Ramon Valley. Despite the disappointment, the team was proud of their results. The team started out the meet on the right foot, winning the Medley Relay behind the strong swimming of Justin Sun, Trevor Landas, Sam Martin and Chris Johnston. The other two relay teams also swam well with the 200 free relay (Nick Wee, Martin, Joey Silva, Landas) taking third and the 400 free relay team of Matthew Sun, Johnston, Silva, and Justin Sun taking fourth. On the individual side, Justin Sun had an impressive meet. He finished a scant .84 out of first in the 100 back, taking second and also had a third in the 100 IM. The backstroke was a particularly strong event for the Dons. They placed five of the top 13 swimmers with Johnston taking third, Mahir Kalra eighth, Matthew Sun 10 and Wee 13th. Stefan Hall had a pair of fourth-place finishes, the 500 free and the 100 breaststroke while Martin also had a top five finish, taking a third in the 50 fly. Silva, Landas, Kalra and James Cheney all had multiple top 10 finishes. Silva in the 50 free (eighth) and the 100 free (10th), Landas in the breaststroke (sixth) and IM (ninth) and Cheney with ninth-place finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle races. In addition to his eighth in the backstroke, Kalra took seventh in the 100 free. Wee also had a top ten finish taking 10th in the 50 fly.
Foothill grad inducted in Fresno Hall of Fame
Jennifer Jokinen, a 1996 Foothill High School graduate, was inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame.
Jokinen earned a softball scholarship to Fresno State University in 1996, playing for the Fresno State Bulldogs. In her sophomore year, the 1998 softball team capped an outstanding season by earning a seed to the NCAA College Women’s World Series in Oklahoma City. ESPN2 covered the series and was on hand when the team won the national championship by defeating the Washington State Huskies to become the NCAA Softball National Champions. It is the only national championship the university has won.
The city of Fresno showered the team with media coverage, proclaimed a day in their honor, held a parade and presented each team member with a key to the city. The team was invited to the White House to meet the president.
Jokinen was inducted along with her fellow teammates.
Hometown girl brings home the gold
Soffia Metzler, of Pleasanton, and her partner, Hannah Douglass, of Tracy brought home a gold medal from Poland. The USA Junior Olympic Sports Acrobatics team competed in the 2008 XII International Chmielewski Tournament, which had eight countries represented. Soffia and Hannah took the gold medal in the women’s age group 11-16 category. Of the eight U.S. groups that competed, Soffia and Hannah and a women’s trio from Maryland took gold medals.
Soffia is a sophomore at Foothill High School and has competed in sports acrobatics for five years. She and Hanna will try out again for the U.S. Junior Olympic team in July and, if they make it, would compete for the United States in the World Sports Acrobatic Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in September.
–Joe Silva
