Lightning looming

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT COAST - After an inaugural year in which its athletic teams

competed on the lower levels, the Lightning of Sage Hill High will

strike at the varsity level in 18 sports, beginning this fall.

Though first-year athletic director Nate Miller said the school will

have no seniors and it’s junior class will include only about 30

students, the Newport Coast private school intends to field varsity teams

in all its sports, except football. Football, however, will twice play

against varsity teams.

The school’s first varsity contest will feature the girls volleyball

team, which will visit Tarbut V’Torah Sept. 4. Girls volleyball will also

compete in the school’s first home varsity contest, Sept. 11 against

Connelly.

Fall varsity sports will also include boys and girls cross country,

girls golf, boys water polo and girls tennis.

The school’s varsity winter sports will include boys and girls

basketball, boys and girls soccer, as well as girls water polo.

In the spring, the newest member of the Academy League will compete in

varsity baseball, softball, boys volleyball, boys and girls swimming,

boys tennis and boys golf.

Miller, a teacher at the school who replaced former AD Brian Scherbart

who is now at Tesoro High, said the school originally planned to field

teams in boys and girls track and field. But, with only 120 students last

year and 230 students expected this year, those plans have been deemed

unrealistic.

Miller said sports will field two teams whenever possible, though a

lack of athletes may make that difficult.

“We did an amazing job last year fielding teams,” said Miller, who

teaches math and also coaches boys and girls cross country. “We intended

to have 19 teams, but with only 120 kids, we were able to field 15 or 16

teams. Some of our girls played basketball, water polo and soccer in the

winter, so it was quite a stretch.”

Miller, 31 and a Corona del Mar resident, said the majority of the

school’s teams lost more than they won last season and the football team

was winless. Boys tennis was 7-3 against junior varsity competition,

however, and Miller said girls volleyball, boys volleyball and girls

basketball also fielded competitive teams.

With so few juniors, Miller said he expects the school to struggle

this year on the varsity level. But with a freshman class of 110, joining

90 sophomores, the school appears headed for its expected 500-student

maximum.

Merja Connolly-Freund, the former UC Irvine women’s volleyball coach

who guides the boys and girls programs at Sage Hill, is also the

assistant athletic director.

Miller credits her with helping Scherbart create a foundation for

athletic success last year.

Gordon McNeill, a varsity assistant in boys basketball and baseball at

Corona del Mar High, will guide the boys basketball squad tutored last

year by Scherbart. McNeill will also coach boys golf.

The coaching staff, which Miller estimates is about 30% walk-ons, also

includes softball coach Norm Borucki, a former Laguna Beach High baseball

coach who is also recognizable to men’s college basketball fans as a

longtime official.

Miller said the student body this year will represent approximately 40

different feeder schools. In addition to Newport Beach, Corona del Mar,

Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Irvine, which provide the core of

student body, Miller said the Lightening campus has also drawn a selected

few from as far away as San Diego and Los Angeles counties.

The school does not have tennis courts or a pool. Tennis teams

practiced and played last season at the Irvine Racquet Club and aquatics

teams used the CdM High pool. Miller, however, said a recent rate

increase at CdM may force the school to find another aquatic host.

There is no softball field, but Miller said there are plans to build

one before the spring season begins.

The football team, coached by Tom Monarch, will play varsity contests

Sept. 21 against Saddleback Valley Christian and Oct. 5 against Fairmont.

The latter will be a home game at 3:15 p.m.

Joining Sage Hill in the Academy League are Capistrano Valley

Christian (listed in last year’s CIF Southern Section Directory of

Schools with an enrollment of 249), St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano

(350), Calvary Chapel of Downey (380), Huntington Beach-based Brethren

Christian (315) and Anaheim-based Oxford Academy (380).

“I think we’re positioned well with the appropriate competition,”

Miller said. “This will be a challenging year, but, I think a year from

now, we’ll be very successful in our league.”

Sage Hill has scheduled a handful of fall contests against

Newport-Mesa schools. Boys water polo will visit Estancia Oct. 4 and also

play in the Estancia Tournament. Girls golf will play Newport Harbor

(Sept. 12 and 19), Estancia (Oct. 1 and 4) and Costa Mesa (Oct. 8).