Eagle swimmers top feats

Chris Yemma

Two new additions to the Estancia High girls swim team this season

helped the Eagles win their first league championship in recent

memory to top the school’s list of girls athletic accomplishments

during the 2004-05 school year.

The tennis team also made its presence known, finishing second in

the Golden West League and moving on to the second round of the CIF

Southern Section Division V playoffs.

Liquid assets Shea Kopp and Meagan Kunert, both freshmen, led the

swim team to a 6-0 league dual-meet record for the second straight

year. The Eagle newcomers dominated at league finals by winning two

individual events each and contributing to two winning relay teams to

share Most Valuable Swimmer honors at league finals.

Kopp, league champion in the 100 backstroke and the 100 freestyle,

went on to place fourth in the 100 back and fifth in the 50 free at

the CIF Division III championships May 14.

Kunert, who won the league 200 and 500 free titles, was 13th in

the 500 free at CIF finals.

Kopp and Kunert, along with junior Carolina Barnes and sophomore

Sydney Barloon, comprised the 200 free relay that was fourth at CIF

finals.

In the fall season, the tennis team, led by Sarah Stratton, Marci

Kirchberg, Sara Muradian, Sage O’Toole and Cathy Pittman, defeated

Sierra Vista in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to

Aquinas in the second round.

Stratton swept her singles sets against Sierra Vista while doubles

teammates Kirchberg and Muradian, as well as O’Toole and Pittman,

also swept their sets to key a 14-4 win.

The tennis squad’s season included a league sweep over crosstown

rival Costa Mesa as the Eagles finished the year 13-5 with Coach

Rachel de los Santos at the helm.

Barloon brought rise to the cross country team in the fall,

finishing sixth overall at league finals at Central Park in

Huntington Beach to pace the team to a fourth-place finish.

Eunice Rodriguez finished 19th, while Paula Negrete (21st), Lucy

Leon (26th) and Okairy Lomeli (27th) were other top finishers for the

Eagles.

Coached by 16-year veteran Charlie Appell, who was also at the

helm of the track and field team in the spring, the Eagles cross

country had just three seniors in Leon, Lomeli and Britanie Starn.

Sophomores Jaye Hellmich and Ashton Henderson paced the track and

field team, as Hellmich placed second at league finals in the high

jump with a clearance of 5 feet.

Henderson finished third in the discus (81-7 1/2 ).

Hellmich also contributed on the volleyball team that finished

8-9, 6-6 in league. Senior Hillary Larson led the squad, which did

not earn one of the league’s three guaranteed playoff berths.

Tennis star Kirchberg, as well as Hellmich, played for the girls

soccer team, which finished 6-7-4, 2-6-3, also out of the top three

league spots under first-year Coach Natalie Rainey.

Other key players were junior Haley Rosner, sophomore Avery West,

along with freshmen Taylor Carpenter and Taylor West.

Ernie Wright experienced his first year as coach of the basketball

team, leading the young squad -- anchored by 5-foot-1 Be Diep -- to

fifth in league.

Diep, a junior, led the league with 44 three-pointers and averaged

13.8 points per game.

Diep also contributed to the softball team that finished 10-12,

3-9 for sixth in league. Senior Hilary Ockey led the team and took

over when junior star Muriel Mason was injured midway through the

season.

Ockey led the team with a .554 batting average and tallied a

team-leading 18 RBIs and was named to the Daily Pilot Dream Team. Her

batting average was third in the league while her ERA of 3.43 was

second.

Mason, who eventually returned to the lineup for the last few

games of the season, had early success for the Eagles, going 8 for 9

at the plate over a three-game stretch in March. She was 4 for 4

against Laguna Beach March 15, with two runs scored. The golf team

was led by Bridget Gleason and Lina You, who placed fourth and fifth,

respectively, at the league individual tournament.