Shadowlands

Bryce Alderton

Looking back, 5 years ago this week:

Former Estancia High and Costa Mesa coach and Orange Coast College

player Ryan Bettencourt takes over the reins as girls basketball coach at

Newport Harbor High. The 30-year-old replaces Bob Dukus as the team’s

third coach in four seasons, bringing a 23-28 career head-coaching

record. The Fountain Valley resident began his coaching career for the

boys basketball team at Woodbridge and was an assistant to Billy Brewer

at Costa Mesa High. He comes to Newport Harbor after guiding the Santa

Margarita High girls during the 1995-96 season.

The Minnesota Twins select Corona del Mar High standout Kevin Stuart

as a pitcher in the 19th round of the annual amateur draft, a year after

the Seattle Mariners tabbed him as a third baseman in the 32nd round.

Stuart stands at 6-foot-6, weighing 205 pounds. He went 3-4 with a 5.36

ERA as a freshman at Golden West College. In 45 1/3 innings, he struck

out 29, walked 20 and yielded 53 hits. Stuart led Golden West in home

runs (five) and RBIs (39), batting .298. He hit .380 as a CdM senior and

his nine home runs tied a school and district single-season total.

Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor boys volleyball players lead the

North All-Stars to a 21-24, 24-22, 24-18, win over the South in the 20th

annual Orange County High School Boys Volleyball All-Star match at

Newport Harbor High. CdM’s Blair Hoppe starts the match tallying five

kills and two blocks, while Newport Harbor’s Dana Mesenbrink plays in all

three games, recording two kills and an assist. The South takes the first

game and leads, 20-16, in the second. But the North rebounds, tying the

game at 22 when Woodbridge’s 6-foot-7 middle blocker Jarred Dennis blocks

a ball over the net. Brigham Young-bound John Alleman from Esperanza

takes Most Valuable Player honors.

In the girls all-star match, Newport Harbor’s Joanna Fielder is the

only local player on the South team, which defeats the North, 14-24,

24-21, 24-20, at Newport Harbor High. Fielder is the tallest girl at

6-foot-2 on a South team coached by Santa Margarita’s Eddie Rapp. The

North starts five athletes at least 6-0. Fielder tallies six kills and

two blocks and, in the third game, comes up with a blistering kill to

give the South a 7-6 lead and adds more kills to make the score, 22-20.

Costa Mesa senior runner Eric Solis gains a fifth-place medal in the

800 meters at the CIF State Championships in Sacramento, running in

1:54.51 at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium. Solis wins the

school’s first medal at the boys state meet, according to Costa Mesa

Coach John Carney, and breaks his own school-record mark of 1:54.88 he

set at the previous week’s CIF Masters Meet. He is also the only

Newport-Mesa area athlete to medal at the year’s state meet. Corona del

Mar freshman Liz Morse reaches the state final in the girls 800, but

finishes eighth (2:14.51). Solis celebrates by driving home in a car from

Sacramento all day. In capturing fifth, Solis defeats nemesis Devin

Lindahl of Dana Hills, who beat Solis the previous night, and topped him

at the year’s Orange County Championships and CIF Finals.

Looking back, 10 years ago this week:

The North rallies for a 15-17, 16-14, 15-10 decision at Golden West

College in the 15th annual Orange County High SchoolVolleyball All-Star

match at Huntington Beach. The North team features the Newport Harbor

trio of setter Russell Gan, Justin McIntee and Frank Griffo. McIntee

leads the tean with 13 kills and Gan is selected as the match’s Most

Valuable Player. Estancia senior Matt Fuerbringer is a force for the

South, posting nine of his match-high 16 kills in the first game as the

South takes the early lead. The first game takes nearly 50 minutes to

complete. Game two is tied late at 14 when a South passing error and a

block by El Toro’s Mike Gledhill ends the game.

In the girls match: The South wins, 15-9, 17-15, 16-18, in a

best-of-three contest. Newport Harbor players Maureen McLaren and Tara

Kroesch team up with Corona del Mar senior Charmayne Conley in leading

the South to victory. Conley posts six kills as Kroesch adds five for the

victors. Down, 7-3, in the first game, the South wakes up and wins the

game, 15-9. Stanford-bound McLaren is named Most Valuable Player.

The United States men’s water polo team, coached by Newport Harbor

High Coach Bill Barnett, defeats Italy, 9-7, to win the Alamo Cup trophy

at Corona del Mar High. Barnett must make one cut from the current

14-player roster to finalize the U.S. Olympic team for the Summer Games

in Barcelona. Among the players hoping to survive the cut is CdM High

water polo coach John Vargas, a former All-American at UC Irvine. In the

match, the Americans go up, 3-0, in the first five minutes, on a pair of

goals by Doug Kimball, sandwiched around one by Chris Humbert. The U.S.

leads, 7-3, at the half, after converting five of six man-up

opportunities in the first two periods. The teams trade goals to begin

the second half and Italy goes on to score three times to close out the

third period. Italy’s best chance at a tying goal comes on a four-meter

shot midway through the fourth quarter, but U.S. goalie Craig Wilson

makes the save on Italy’s Amadeo Pomilio to preserve the lead. The Alamo

Cup is the first international tournament the U.S. has held.

Newport Harbor freshman Tina Bowman becomes the school’s first female

high jumper to qualify for the state championships, clearing 5-6 in her

third attempt at the CIF State Championships, elevating her to a medal.

Bowman attempts to clear 5-7 three times, but knocks the bar down each

time. Teri McCunniff holds the school record at 5-9, established in 1980.

Newport Harbor’s Tony Mancuso, who stands at 5-10 and is bound for Orange

Coast College, throws a personal-best 59-3 1/4 to qualify for CIF State

shot put final, then finished fourth in the final. He opens the final

tossing 59-1, faults in his second attempt, then notches three more

throws in the final, 57-6 1/4, 55-4 and 58-11, to close out the

competition. Mancuso improves each year at Newport Harbor, going to the

CIF 3-A finals as a sophomore, the Masters Meet as a junior and the state

finals his senior season. This is the first time in Newport Harbor Coach

Eric Tweit’s 13-year-career that three Newport Harbor athletes --

Mancuso, Gina Heads in the girls discus and Bowman in the girls high jump

-- reach the state championships.