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It had been 14 years since Foothill won the girls and the boys NCS titles in the same school record.
Following the Foothill boys’ thrilling 25-23, 13-25, 25-18, 25-22 win over Castro Valley on May 9, the Falcons now stand as the reigning NCS champs in both the boys and the girls divisions.
It was just the first set of the match, the Falcons found themselves down 21-13 at one point and didn’t look like they had a chance.
But Foothill had been down in regular season in matches and fought back to win. The same happened here. Eventually they had cut the gap to 23-21, then with Yun Bae serving, the Falcons tied. It was 23-23, forcing a Castro Valley time out.
An error by the Trojans made it 24-23, and the Falcons made the most of it – getting the winning point and silencing the loud Castro Valley contingent.
After a break, Castro Valley rallied and hammered Foothill 25-13 to even the match at 1-1. Then Foothill took the third set 25 -15 and took a 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth set, senior Kayan Vohra started to take over the net, helping the Falcons build out an 18-11 lead. Castro Valley cut it to 19-17, but Foothill regained its composure, playing side-out volleyball and ended it with a kill from Vohra for the 25-22 win.
The highlights came from Bae (39 assists, 10 digs, 13 service points, 7 kills), Vohra (12 kills, 3 blocks), Jeremy Sun (11 digs, 6 kills), Noah Mitzenmacher (20 receptions, 9 service pts), Casey Collins (10 receptions, 8 kills), and Caden Stedman (8 kills, 2 blocks).
Two nights earlier in the semifinals, Foothill beat Heritage 25-20, 25-14, 26-24.
This time the highlights were from Bae (33 assists, 5 kills, 2 aces), Vohra (10 kills, 5 blocks), Mitzenmacher (16 receptions, 10 digs, 2 aces), Collins (8 kills, 5 digs), and Cameron Hitchan (5 kills, 1 block).
Foothill swimming
Winning a boys’ individual league title in swimming as a freshman would be an amazing accomplishment as the East Bay Athletic League is a highly regarded swimming league.
To go on and capture a North Coast Section title is almost hard to believe it could happen.
But how about a CIF State title in the swimming-rich environment that is California. A freshman winning a boys’ state individual event?
Impossible.
Yet Saturday at the Clovis Olympic Swimming Center, there was Foothill High freshman Luka Mijatovic standing on top of the victory stand.
Read this again – a freshman.
Mijatovic obliterated the field, winning by almost seven seconds, touching first in a time of 4:16.57. His time approached the state meet record of 4:15.09.
And that wasn’t his lone accomplishment as he was second in the 200 free with a time of 1:35.79. And it was close as the winner was Quin Seider of Nordhoff, who touched in 1:34.97.
Amador swimming
The Dons put in some solid efforts in the CIF State Swimming and Diving championships in Clovis.
Boys 200 medley relay (Cade Vieler, Devyn Caples, Oryan Liu, and Andrew Lillie) finished 15th in the state with a time of 1:33.70.
Caples got fifth in the 200 IM with a time of 1:48.68n and was 11th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:29.04.
Diver Ben Lentz finished 8th in the 1-meter board.
Christopher Wang got 28th in the 500 free going 4:39.86, with Vieler getting 29th in the 100 with a 51.64, and a 37th in the 200 free.
The 400 free relay quartet of Liu, Lillie, Kealan Tupper, and Vieler got 29th with a time of 3:11.07.
On the girls’ side, Rylee Hutchinson was 7th in the 500 free in 4:55.48. She was also 17th in the 200 free.
Lillyana Caples got 16th in the 500 free at 4:57.58. Elayna Ling got 30th in the 100-breast going 1:05.51.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
Absolutely thrilling victories for Foothill in both volleyball and swimming! That comeback in the NCS championships was heart-stopping, and Luka Mijatovic’s freshman dominance in swimming is just mind-blowing. Huge props to all the athletes involved, you’re making our community proud!