Breakers come up big in athletics

Mike Sciacca

During the course of the 2004-2005 school year, Laguna Beach High

School athletes gained acclaim for their accomplishments in various

sporting venues.

Some won individual awards, while others played on championship

teams. One program reached new heights, and several welcomed new head

coaches.

Here’s a look back at some of the highlights from the athletic

year.

September-December

Six new head coaches joins Laguna Beach High athletics at the

start of the 2004-05 school year: Jimmy Nolan, football; Greg Weiss,

girls’ tennis; Giovanni Vlahos, boys’ soccer; Bill Rolfing, girls’

soccer; Barbara Williams, girls’ golf; and Dave Dopf, baseball.

Football takes center stage in the month of September.

First off, the varsity squad plays its first game on its new

OmniGrass turf at Guyer Field. The Breakers fall to Palos Verdes,

14-7. A few weeks later, the school holds a celebration of 70 years

of football in a game against Ocean View. The Breakers win, 48-13.

Laguna Beach 2004 graduate Jake Wheeler is selected as the West

Region High School Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2004 by the

National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. He is awarded

a $2,000 scholarship in recognition of his football and academic

achievements and school and community service.

The school’s girls’ tennis team, girls’ volleyball team and boys’

water polo team, advance to CIF Southern Section competition. The

girls’ tennis team falls to Peninsula in quarterfinal action; the

girls’ volleyball team has its season ended by top-seed Marymount in

a semifinal match; and the boys’ water polo team drops a first-round

match to El Toro.

Junior Claire Rietsch wins her second Pacific Coast League singles

crown in three years.

Sophomore Sasha Speare advances to the Pacific Coast League girls’

golf finals and places seventh, overall. It is the highest individual

finish by a Laguna golfer in the history of the high school’s

program.

The boys’ cross-country team grabs the spotlight by running all

the way to a state championship in Division IV, just the second time

in school history -- the first state title was won in 1989.

“Winning this thing is an incredible feeling and beyond what we

thought was possible,” team member and senior team captain Shane

Riehl says.

The girls’ cross-country team also runs strong at the state meet

and finishes seventh in Division IV.

The state meet is run at Woodward Park in Fresno.

“I’m thrilled for the girls,” said Laguna girls’ coach Earl

Towner, whose squad finished second two weeks earlier at the CIF

Finals.

January-June

When the girls’ basketball team defeats host University, 53-30, on

the night of Feb. 3, it accomplishes something that no other team in

the program’s history had done: win a league championship.

The historic season includes the program hosting its first-ever

playoff game, which Laguna wins, 52-43, over St. Monica. The

Breakers’ season ends in a second-round loss to No. 5 seed St. Mary’s

Academy of Inglewood, 66-51.

Five Breakers earn All-Pacific Coast League laurels, led by junior

forward Claire Bevacqua, who is named the league’s most valuable

player.

Bevacqua, a junior forward on the girls’ team, earns the

distinction of being named first-team All-CIF.

Ivan Kovacevic, a senior forward on the boys’ team, was named

co-MVP of the Pacific Coast League and was named first-team All-CIF.

For the second straight year, the boys’ basketball team wins its

first-round playoff game, but loses to Serra in the second round.

Following the end of the basketball season, boys’ coach Mark Hill

and girls’ coach Stacy Howard announce their resignations. Their

replacements are Bret Fleming and Nicholas Ilagan, respectively.

Justin Rovin claims a CIF Southern Section title in track and

field by winning the 110-meter hurdles with a personal best time of

14:83 at the track and field championships at Cerritos College.

Also at the meet, Jeremy Eaton runs the fastest school time

(1:58.5) in the 800-meters in the last 15 years, and Sean Fuszard’s

time of 4:28.1 in the 1,600 also is the fastest mile at the school in

15 years.

Aman Bhatia wins the Pacific Coast League title in the boys’ 1,600

in a time of 4:29. Other PCL titles are won by Jeremy Eaton in the

boys’ 800, Rovin in the boys’ 110- and 300-hurdles, the boys’ 4 x 400

relay team, Brittany Clark in the girls’ 100 and Addison Doud wins

both the shot put and discus.

In boys’ volleyball, Laguna defeats Santa Ynez in a second-round

sweep to advance to the quarterfinal round of the CIF-SS playoffs. It

is the 25th time in the 32-year history of the playoffs that Laguna

reaches the quarterfinal round.

Senior Luke Morris is named first-team All-CIF Division II, and

senior Andrew Chapel makes the second team.

In swimming, Laguna qualifies nine athletes for the CIF Southern

Section Preliminaries at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach. Qualifying for

the competition are Ryan Fair (100 free, 50 free, 4 x 100 relay, 4 x

50 relay); Cameron Brinkman (4x50 relay); Trevor Frimond (4 x 100

relay, 4 x 50 relay); Shawn Pflender (100 backstroke, 4 x 100 relay),

Adam Kaplan (100 free, 50 free, 4 x 100 relay, 4 x 50 relay) and the

girls’ 4 x 50 free relay team that is composed of Breanna Dupliesa,

Jessica McKee, Erin Reid and Brittany Forrest.

The boys’ 4 x 50 relay, which has broken seven school records this

year, has qualified second overall in the preliminaries with a time

of 1:29.73.

“The overall success of this year is due to the outstanding effort

put in by each and every swimmer,” coach Rick McKee says. “They

worked extremely hard, and they are enjoying the fruits of their hard

work.”

The school year ends with basketball and boys’ volleyball player

Ivan Kovacevic being named the male athlete of the year in the

Pacific Coast League.

It’s the first time the honor is bestowed on a Laguna athlete in

the 10-year history of the award.

“I’m happy to receive the honor, and once it kicked in, once I

heard that I was the first Laguna athlete to win the award, I felt

very proud,” says the 17-year-old, who graduated from the school

Thursday.