Shadowlands

Looking back, 5 years ago this week.

Corona del Mar High’s Taylor Dent wins the boys CIF Southern Section

individual singles championships. It is believed that the unseeded Dent

becomes the first freshman in history to win a singles championship. In

the title match against San Marino’s Andrew Park, Dent breaks strings on

two rackets in the first set, then cracked the frame on a third racket.

His father, Phil, sprints to his car for an emergency replacement, while

Dent wins the first two games of the second set with a broken racket by

changing the pace of the match. In the final 14 games of the match, Dent

uses his father’s makeshift racket en route to victory, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3,

for the CIF singles title. “He was playing with a racket that doesn’t

exist anymore,” Phil Dent said of the Dunlop 200G model. “It’s 20 pounds

lighter in (string) tension than Taylor’s racket and it’s 10 centimeters

smaller in the head size. What he did was unbelievable.”

CdM’s Richy Nichols earns a fifth, and last, spot for the CIF state

track and field preliminaries in the shot put. Nichols heaves a 53-1 1/4

mark on his next to last attempt to advance to the state meet, composed

of 27 competitors from 10 sections state wide. Nichols, who accepts a

football scholarship from Southern Methodist University, does not compete

in the postseason in the previous year, due to injury, and overcomes some

tendinitis in his knee during his state-qualifying season.

Corona del Mar Intermediate’s Jaycee Mahler grabs three gold medals in

the Newport-Mesa District junior high school championships. Mahler breaks

the record in the high jump with a 4-10 clearance, besting the old mark

of 4-8. She also wins the 300 in 41.60 and is on the victorious relay

team (39.9). Her teammate, Christy Cummins, is also a double-individual

winner in the 600 and the 1,320. Cummins is also on CdM’s winning relay

team. Also for the Sea Kings, Liz Morse is a double-winner with victories

in the 100 (12.23) and the 180 (22.0). CdM Intermediate wins the

seventh-grade girls championship. On the boys side, CdM’s Travis

Beardslee is a winner in the seventh-grade 1,320. Dwyer’s Shaun Shuck

pulls off two victories in the eighth-grade wars, taking the 100 (11.30)

and the 180 (20.0), despite the affects of a clogged nose.

Looking back, 10 years ago this week.

Newport Harbor High’s boys volleyball team ends its Cinderella season

with a 15-5, 15-10, 10-15, 15-6 loss to San Marcos in the CIF 4-A

championships at Cerritos College. Coach Dan Glenn’s Sailors enter the

playoffs with four juniors and a sophomore setter in the starting

rotation. Justin McIntee, Beau Sheward, Frank Griffo and Louie Baker

along with the setter Mark McAnlis help the Tars to a 17-4 record.

Newport makes it to the championship final with a hard-fought four-set

victory at Santa Barbara. The Tars win in the semifinals, 15-11, 9-15,

15-13, 15-13. Sheward slams for 34 kills, while McIntee has 24. Newport

is down 10-5 and 12-9 in the final game before rallying to advance to the

CIF Finals.

The Estancia High badminton team claims the CIF 4-A championship with

an 11-8 conquest over Buena Park. It is the third CIF badminton title for

the Eagles, who also win in 1983 and 1985. The victory also caps an

unbeaten (20-0) campaign for Pacific Coast League winner Estancia, while

handing Freeway League champion Buena Park its first loss in 17 matches.

In girls doubles, Doan Nguyen and Cam Tu Tran earn victories. And in boys

singles, Chau Nguyen sweeps his two opponents in straight sets.

The Estancia baseball team surrenders a 7-1 decision to visiting

Tustin in the second round of the CIF 3-A playoffs. The game is tied,

1-1, through five innings, but Tustin pulls through. “I thought we

battled them,” Estancia co-coach Ken Millard says. “I didn’t feel like it

was a 7-1 game. But, they tattooed it.” Tustin punches out 15 hits. The

Eagles score in the first inning when Paul McDaniels drills a two-out

double to right-center, scoring Stephen King. For Tustin Coach Vince

Brown, the victory is the fifth straight triumph over Estancia, including

a three-game sweep in the previous year when the two clubs are in the Sea

View League.

-- compiled by Steve Virgen