BREAKERS ROUNDUP: Hofmeister, Newton-Neal advance

Laguna Beach High juniors Blake Hofmeister and Tommy Newton-Neal were the only Breakers to advance Saturday at the CIF Southern Section Division III preliminaries at Estancia High.

Both athletes will compete Saturday at the finals at Cerritos College.

Hofmeister qualified second in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9 minutes, 22.02 seconds. Coach Scott Wittkop said it wasn’t a bad time for Hofmeister.

“He’s run faster,” Wittkop said. “It was one of those things where he wanted to move on. He ran a 9:17 at the OC Championships.”

Newton-Neal qualified in the 1,600 meters, where he finished seventh in 4:26.16. The top nine from prelims moved on to finals.

“It’s around his [personal record],” Wittkop said. “We’re hoping he’ll run about a 4:20 at finals.”

Hofmeister has a good shot at qualifying for the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, which is May 29 and also at Cerritos College. To do it, he’ll need to again finish top nine at Division III finals. The top five finishers at Masters automatically advance to the state finals, which are June 5-6 at Buchanan High in Clovis.

“We also believe he has a great shot for state; 9:14 is an automatic qualifier for state,” Wittkop said.

Laguna sophomore Christine Kinder finished tied for ninth at prelims in the high jump (5 feet even), but had more misses and ended up tied for 12th. Senior Holden Penney finished 13th in the 100, 15th in the 200, 16th in the long jump (15-11 1/4 ).

For the boys, senior Andre Parker (tied for 13th in the high jump at 6-0) and sophomore Matt Neev (13th in the 3,200) were also fairly close to moving on.

“I thought we did great,” Wittkop said. “We moved from Division IV to Division III this season. We were the second-smallest school in Division III, and we’re running against a lot of private schools like Servite and Orange Lutheran.”

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BASEBALL

The Laguna Beach High baseball team began its first CIF playoffs in nine years Thursday, as the Breakers played at San Dimas in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs after press time.

A win, and Laguna Beach would play either Victor Valley of Victorville or Sonora in Tuesday’s second round.

The Breakers (14-13), who finished second in the Orange Coast League, sent junior Casey Miller to the mound in their first-round game. They look to rebound in the playoffs after dropping their final three league games.

“There’s a lot of people out there who don’t expect us to come out with a win,” Coach Jeff Sears said. “They doubt our league and our competition, but we’re going to show up. Our kids are resilient. [CIF] is something new and something fun. It’s a good opportunity. That’s all life is, an opportunity. What you do with it is up to you.”

Top performers for the Breakers headed into the postseason include sophomore shortstop Chris Paul (.444, team-leading five home runs and 32 runs batted in) and senior catcher Gabe Stansbury (.415 and three home runs).

Senior outfielder Dillon Pierce is batting .363 and is second on the team in runs scored (26) and doubles (10).

Miller, the team’s pitching ace, finished the regular season 6-4 with a 2.86 ERA.

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BOYS’ GOLF

Laguna Beach High senior Duane Hewlett shot a 79 Monday at the CIF Southern Individual Regional at Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach, failing to advance to the individual finals.

The top 30 of 80 golfers advanced. Laguna Beach Coach Scott Finn said the cut was a 74.

“Duane shot 71 the week before on the same course [in a CIF team event],” Finn said. “It’s kind of the rub of the green. He said he hit three fairways all day.”

Still, Finn was proud of the Breakers, who won their second straight Orange Coast League title this season and also won a CIF academic award for highest cumulative grade-point average.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” Finn said. “They’re not only good golfers but they’re all gentlemen. It’s an honor to coach them.”