Volleyball reclaims throne

Bryce Alderton

After years of coming so close, the Corona del Mar High boys

volleyball team finally reached its goal of winning a CIF Southern

Section championship, the crowning feat for Sea King boys athletic

teams in 2004-05.

The Sea Kings sealed their first CIF title in five years with a

three-game sweep over Valencia of Valencia in the Division II title

match May 28 at Cypress College.

CdM, which has advanced to at least the CIF section semifinals

seven times in the last eight years, finished the season 27-6. Coach

Steve Conti’s Sea Kings won their third straight Pacific Coast League

title and sent 10 seniors off with a CIF crown.

Senior four-year starter and outside hitter Kevin Welch claimed

CIF Division II Player of the Year honors while Conti was named Coach

of the Year.

Senior Tom Welch, Kevin’s twin brother, earned first-team All-CIF

honors for the second straight season while sophomores Adam Smith

(outside hitter) and Phil Bannan (setter) earned second- and

third-team laurels, respectively.

Water polo, tennis, as well as track and field all won at least a

share of the league title.

In tennis, senior Wesley Miller claimed the league singles crown

for the second straight season while teammates Spencer Reitz and Matt

Chou, both seniors, were league doubles champions.

Miller reached the CIF singles final while Chou and Reitz advanced

to the doubles quarterfinals. The Sea Kings finished 20-2 and reached

the CIF Division I semifinals.

First-year coach Sam Bailey helped resurrect the water polo team,

which finished 8-19 in 2003 but rebounded with a trip to the CIF

Division I semifinals last fall.

The Sea Kings lost to Foothill, 12-9, to finish 20-9.

Bailey was named Coach of the Year in Division I, but announced in

March that he would leave the school to become the assistant men’s

coach to former CdM head man John Vargas at Stanford.

Seniors Thomas Pearson (two meters) and Gaston Sanford

(goalkeeper) each earned first-team All-CIF honors while senior Bryan

Buhagiar and junior Tom Money both garnered second-team recognition.

Junior Jacob Murphy was named to the third team.

The baseball team finished 18-10, was second in league and reached

the CIF Division III quarterfinals. There, the Sea Kings fell to

top-seeded La Quinta, 4-0.

Senior pitcher Ben Maggard, the Newport-Mesa Player of the Year,

and senior catcher-outfielder Wess Presson, each were named

second-team All-CIF and first-team all-league.

Senior infielder Taylor Alston joined Presson and Maggard as a

first-team all-league pick, while sophomore Jake Lemmerman and senior

Tyler Lance were second-team choices.

Lemmerman, Presson, Alston and Maggard were each named to the

Newport-Mesa Dream Team.

The football team placed third in league and finished the season

6-5 after falling to La Habra, 34-31, in overtime in the first round

of the CIF Division IX playoffs.

All-CIF honorees included tailback Presson and receiver Kevin

Welch, along with junior defensive end Matt Burgner.

Burgner made 109 tackles and recorded 16 sacks, both teams highs,

while Welch led all Newport-Mesa pass catchers by averaging 18.9

yards per reception. He finished with 735 receiving yards, nine

touchdowns and 39 receptions.

Presson gained 1,328 yards on 188 carries with 14 touchdowns and

was among six Sea Kings selected to the Dream Team.

Quarterback Tom Welch threw for 16 touchdowns while completing 83

of 166 passes and joined Presson and brother Kevin and on the Dream

Team.

Burgner was a repeat Dream Team honoree and senior cornerback

David Del Fante was also selected.

In wrestling, seniors Andrew Keligian (215 pounds) and Brian

Feeley (130) each placed third in their respective weight classes at

the CIF Southern Section Southern Division tournament to qualify for

the Masters Meet.

Keligian, needing three victories to reach the state tournament,

went 2-2 at the Masters Meet.

The track and field team went undefeated in five dual meets and

won a share of the league title with Northwood.

Andrew Wong leaped 42 feet, 3 inches, in the triple jump at the

CIF Division III preliminaries to finish sixth and earn CdM’s only

trip to the division finals.

Junior Jack Turner and Taiki Sakai each claimed league titles.

Turner bested the field in the 3,200 meters (10:05.61), just ahead of

Laguna Beach’s Aman Bhatia (10:05.82), while Sakai won the 200 in

23.25.

Sakai also finished second in the 100 (11.75) while Shawn Engmann

(42.30 in the 300 hurdles) and Ryan Guthrie (10:06.95 in the 3,200)

each placed third at league finals.

Buhagiar starred in the pool during the swim season, winning the

league 100-yard backstroke title in 56.23.

CdM freshman Yutero Yamashita was second in the 200 freestyle

(1:46.72) and third in the 500 free (4:47.06) as the Sea Kings

finished fourth as a team.

Yamashita dropped time in both the 200 free (1:43.61) and 500 free

(4:44.31) at the CIF Division II finals, placing fourth and seventh,

respectively.

Buhagiar shaved more than a second off his time from league finals

to place 10th in the 100 back (55.11) at the CIF Division II finals.

Six Sea Kings earned all-league recognition in soccer, helping CdM

finish second in league and make the CIF Division II playoffs.

Seniors Shane Collins, Brandon Barrett and Grant Almquist earned

first-team recognition while Nick Ossipoff, Andrew Dialynas and Paul

Kenezevic all garnered second-team accolades.

The Sea Kings finished 12-7-3 with eight shutouts. They allowed

just one goal in two other games.

The cross country team reached the CIF Southern Section

preliminaries for the 20th straight year in the fall after placing

second in league.

Guthrie led the Sea Kings with a third-place finish at the league

meet (15:32) while junior Kenneth Wong was 12th in 16:15.

Guthrie finished 29th at the CIF finals in 16:21, but the Sea

Kings placed 11th as a team, 10 points shy of qualifying for the

state finals.

The basketball team (9-16, 4-6 in league) finished fourth in

league. Guards Ryan Lance, a junior, and Brett Hirata, a senior, as

well as the front-court players junior Scott Slaughter, senior Ted

Slaughter and senior Tyler Lance and freshman Stefan Kaluz anchored

the Sea Kings.

The golf team finished seventh among 21 teams at the CIF Southern

Section South Coast divisional team championships.

Sophomore transfer David Su finished sixth at league finals and

represented CdM in the CIF Southern region individual championships.

Su shot 79 and missed the cut by three strokes.