The year in sports

Mike Sciacca

The local sports year that was encompassed many emotions,

victories both small and large, and defeats that were crushing and

educational.

Area prep and youth sports teams had many successes in the past 12

months, and, as the final days of 2002 tick away, each of those teams

is looking to the future.

Gym-Dandy

The end of the 2002 sports year saw the second of four local

schools win a CIF Southern Section championship.

In late November, Marina High’s girls’ volleyball team capped an

improbable run to a championship season by defeating perennial power

Mira Costa in the I-A final at Cypress College.

“The girls’ just never gave up. I’m just really so proud of them,

knowing where they came from and how hard they have worked to get

here,” Vikings coach Jeff Caughthran said after that victory.

Gym-Dandy, Part II

History was made on Dec. 18 when the first indoor basketball game

was played at the middle school level.

Spring View had the honor of opening its doors to the first-ever

games, as the Spartans’ eighth-grade boys’ and girls’ teams hosted

teams from Vista View. The next day, Dec. 19, the eighth-grade teams

from Marine View and Mesa View took to the court.

Fittingly, all four middle schools had at least one team emerge

victorious: in eighth-grade girls’ play. Host Spring View defeated

Vista View in the very first game played in the new facility, and

Marine View beat Mesa View the next day. In boys’ eighth-grade

action, Vista View downed Spring View and Mesa View defeated Marine

View.

Ocean View School District Supt. James Tarwater was on hand for

the historic event.

The gymnasium/auditoriums at the four middle school sites did not

go up without a fight, as various lawsuits had been filed against the

projects.

But the sound of bouncing balls on the newly laid court was music

to Tarwater’s ears.

“This has been 2 1/2 years in the process, but coming here and

sitting and listening to the kids cheering, hearing the ball hit that

floor well, that makes all this worthwhile,” said Tarwater, who

appeared to be on cloud nine. “What I’m really proud of is the fact

that we did this without asking taxpayers for money.”

Fall

Huntington Beach High running back Patrick Harrigan tore up the

gridiron in the fall by rushing for several school records and topped

the county’s rushing list for most of the season before the senior

was sidelined by a late-season injury.

Edison was the lone area school to advance to the CIF football

playoffs.

The eighth-grade and seventh-grade girls’ basketball teams at

Sowers Middle School won league championships.

Mesa View Middle School turned back the competition to win the

school’s second straight Ocean View School District seventh-eighth

grade cross-country championships.

Summer

The big news was the staging of what has become a Huntington Beach

staple in the last few years: the U.S. Open of Surfing, which was

part of the 2002 Philips Fusion sports and music festival, which

featured competition in men’s and women’s surfing, BMX and

skateboarding

Spring

The Assn. Of Volleyball Professionals kicked of its 2002 AVP

season with the Huntington Beach Open, an event that included the

play of Ocean View High products Tracy and Katie Lindquist.

Senior Kristen McGregor set a new Marina High and Orange County

mark in the pole vault at 12 feet 9 inches at the CIF Southern

Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College.

McGregor and Marina junior Cara Walker advanced to the CIF State

meet, as did Huntington Beach High’s Brian Ruziecki, who finished

fifth in the boys’ shotput and eighth in the discus.

Winter

Edison wins the CIF Southern Section Division II girls’ soccer

championship.

“I think our girls did a tremendous job the entire season,” Edison

coach Kerry Crooks said.