Sailors’ CIF crown tops list

Newport Harbor High football wins CIF Division VI title to highlight Newport-Mesa’s best in 2005.The top 25 Newport-Mesa sports stories of 2005, as selected by the Daily Pilot sports staff.

1 Newport Harbor football: The Sailors captured the CIF Southern Section Division VI championship, the program’s third section crown and first since 1999.

Senior tailback Ryan Rippon’s inspirational and unusually quick return from reconstructive knee surgery helped Coach Jeff Brinkley’s squad make the most of its final season in the Sea View League and Division VI.

The Sailors, bound for the Sunset League -- and likely Division I -- in 2006, won their last six games to finish 11-3.

Rippon, who rushed for 1,681 yards in 11 games, earned Newport-Mesa Most Valuable Player laurels.

Senior quarterback Tom Jackson was named Dream Team Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 1,505 yards and 22 touchdowns.

The Tars needed overtime to get a 32-31 playoff-opening win on the road against El Dorado, then upset No. 3-seeded Charter Oak in the quarterfinals. They blanked Tustin, 28-0, in the semifinal, then rallied from a 14-7 halftime deficit to post a 28-21 victory over Valencia in the Dec. 10 title game before 7,500 at Orange Coast College.

Along the way, Brinkley -- in his 20th season at the helm of the Sailors and his 28th as a high school head coach -- earned his 200th career victory.

2 Beer Man wins Toshiba: Mark Johnson, who drove beer trucks regularly for 18 years to pay the bills before dedicating his career to golf, won the 11th Toshiba Senior Classic on March 20 at Newport Beach Country Club.

Johnson shot 13-under-par for 54 holes, four shots better than runners-up Wayne Levi and Keith Fergus.

Johnson, who had not won previously on the PGA Champions Tour, earned $247,500 for the victory. The prize money was more than he had made in his previous professional career.

Johnson led Fergus by two strokes heading to the 18th tee, but pushed his drive into the right rough and had to pitch out with a 6-iron.

Still 91 yards from the pin, he then lofted a gap wedge that bounded past the hole, then rolled back into the cup. The shot clinched victory and prompted a roar from many of the 25,000 spectators on hand for the final round.

“It was a Cinderalla finish,” Newport Beach Country Club General Manager Jerry Anderson said.

The tournament raised about $1.07 million for charities, including Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

3 Peirsol remains golden: A year after winning Olympic gold in Athens, Greece, former Newport Harbor High swimmer Aaron Peirsol was named USA Swimming Athlete of the Year.

A backstroke specialist, he set two world records and won three gold medals at the world championships in July in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He won the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events in Montreal, setting a world record of 1 minute, 55.66 seconds in the latter.

He was also on the winning 400 medley relay at the world championships.

He broke his own world record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.17 at the world championship trials in April in Indianapolis, Ind.

4 Surge of Lightning: Sage Hill School, in its sixth year, earned a reputation as an athletic power.

The Lightning won CIF Southern Section championships in girls’ volleyball (Division IV-A) and girls’ tennis (Division V).

Senior girls’ volleyball player Cat Dailey was named CIF Division IV Co-Player of the Year and is bound for Cal.

In addition: The girls’ soccer team reached the CIF Division VI semifinals; the football team went to the CIF Division XIII quarterfinals and finished 9-2, earning the program’s first postseason win; and the girls’ basketball team reached the CIF Division IV-A quarterfinals.

The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams also advanced to the CIF state Division V meet this fall.

5 May-Treanor dominates: The Newport Harbor High product had the most successful year of her sterling professional volleyball career, earning 17 victories in domestic and international tournaments, including 11 on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals beach tour.

May-Treanor, who teams with Kerri Walsh, was named Most Valuable Player of the AVP in 2005 and was also the circuit’s Best Offensive Player for the second straight year.

Her 17 victories -- including the Swatch-FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Berlin, Germany -- are the most in a single year by a women.

May-Treanor and Walsh were also named Team of the Year in the AVP for a third straight season.

6 Breakers align stars: The stars were out at Palisades Tennis Club, where the Newport Beach Breakers played their World Team Tennis home matches last summer.

Maria Sharipova, the 2004 Wimbledon women’s singles champion, played for the Breakers in a 22-16 victory over the St. Louis Aces on July 23.

On July 8, Anna Kournikova paid a visit as a member of the Sacramento Capitols and two-time U.S. Open men’s singles champion Patrick Rafter played there July 12 as a member of the Philadelphia Freedoms.

The Breakers, who won the WTT title in 2004, went on to lose to the New York Sportimes in the championship match on Sept. 18 in Citrus Heights, Calif.

7 John Emme trial: The Corona del Mar High baseball coach was awarded $700,000 in damages in a countersuit against the parent of a former Sea King player.

A jury awarded Emme $500,000 in compensatory and $200,000 in punitive damages on Jan. 27.

The jury ruled that Marc Martinez -- who pulled his son, J.D. off the CdM team in 2001 because he believed Emme was hurting the pitcher’s arm by asking him to throw too many pitches -- had acted with “oppression, malice, despicable conduct or fraud” against Emme.

Marc Martinez had sued Emme twice, but both suits, including one that accused the Daily Pilot of defaming him, were thrown out.

The case received national attention and generated debate over interaction between coaches and parents.

8 Aimée’s Big Break: Newport Beach resident Danielle Aimée outlasted nine opponents to win “Big Break III: Ladies Only,” a television show on the Golf Channel.

The victory provided Aimee entry into two LPGA tournaments, though a back injury limited her to just one.