Lightning strikes at beach tourney

 Submitted by Heather McNamara

Continuing its successful 2009 club basketball season, the Newport Lightning seventh-grade boys’ AAU basketball team won the fifth annual San Pedro “Bad Boys at the Beach” tournament Sunday.

In the championship game, the Lightning beat a strong Palos Verdes Cagers team, 53-47, to take home the first-place trophy in the two-day tournament.

In pool play, Newport defeated San Gabriel Valley, 41-36, and then outhustled the PCH Spartans, 36-20.

“Our defense really came through this weekend,” Coach Mike Flamson said. “We have had a number of strong offensive performances this year, so it’s nice to see the team becoming more well-rounded, especially against such tall and physical AAU teams.”

The Newport Lightning’s fourth grade and eighth grade boys’ teams also participated in the San Pedro tournament, with the fourth-graders winning the consolation bracket title, and the eighth graders-reaching to the semifinals.

Killer Whales stay hot

 Submitted by Martin Klein

Some days it is hotter in the pool than out, and this past Saturday was one of those days, as the South Coast Swim Conference held their Relays Finals meet at Corona del Mar High, and sizzling swimmers from all teams helped to either tie or shatter eight different event records — five by the Relay Finals champ Newport Hills Killer Whales and three by the second-place finisher Green Valley Dolphins.

Harbor View finished third at the meet.

Newport Hills was led by its under-6 boys, 7-8 girls, 11-12 boys and 13-14 boys, as each age group swam to first-place finishes in each of its five relay races — medley, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle — and won the maximum 70 points for the team.

The Killer Whales 11-12 boys put their names on three Relays Finals meet records, two of which were also new team records. The quartet of Taylor Cortens, Danny Robertson, Brett Greenlee and Nick Schroeder tied the Relay Finals meet record in the 200-yard medley relay, 2 minutes, 5.33 seconds, and then broke the record of 1:53.40 in the 200 free relay, with a time of 1:50.80 — both were also new Newport Hills team records. In addition, Newport Hills swimmers Brett Greenlee, Danny Robertson, Ryan Cargile and Taylor Cortens set a new meet record in the 11-12 boys 200 fly relay, 2:05.25, beating the old time of 2:05.64.

One meet record was tied and a new team record established by the Killer Whales 13-14 boys group of Christian Garkani, Nick Furgatch, Blake Motal and Cameron Gehr in the 200 medley relay, 1:49.73.

Newport Hills 7-8 girls Sophie Wallace, Hana Cloherty, Sara Cargile and Chloe Harbilas set a new Relays Finals record time of 1:10.62 in the 100 fly relay, eclipsing the old record of 1:11.37.

Helping to win points for their team, the Killer Whale 9-10 boys swam to first-place honors in all events except the back, the under-6 Killer Whales were winners in both the breaststroke and the back and the 11-12 girls were blue ribbon winners in the back.

The Harbor View Dolphins, which only finished behind Green Valley by two points, were led by their 7-8 boys, who swam to first-place wins in the medley, breaststroke and back, as well as their under-6 girls who were victorious in the medley, fly and free. Additional wins for the Harbor View squad were in the 9-10 girls fly, the 9-10 boys back and the 13-14 girls fly.

Fourth-place Lake Forest II Dolphins had a very strong showing from their 15-18 girls, who were first in the medley, fly, back and free events.

Each of the six teams had at least one event that highlighted their swimmers and team.

The final score of the South Coast Swim Conference 2009 Relay Finals:

1. Newport Hills Killer Whales 586

2. Green Valley Dolphins 508

3. Harbor View Dolphins 506

4. Lake Forest II Dolphins 374

5. Greenbrook Gators 276

6. Pacific Sands Penguins 262

Newport Mesa takes second

The Newport Mesa Soccer Club boys’ under-9 team had another successful weekend on the UC Irvine soccer fields Saturday and Sunday.

Newport Mesa followed its Irvine Memorial Classic Tournament championship in May on the same fields with another trip to the championship final. To advance to the final, Newport Mesa defeated the Slammers FC, 4-2, and sandwiched a tough loss to the LA Rampage with a solid 5-0 win over C Z Elite Pasadena.

In the final — even though the score was tied, 1-1 at the end of the first half — it proved to be the Rampage’s weekend, as they went on to win the title with a 3-1 victory.

Newport Mesa’s next tournament will be the Xtreme Cup in Huntington Beach.

Costa Mesa American downed

 Submitted by Tamer Omran

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The Seaview All-Stars put forth a tremendous effort against Costa Mesa American to end the Majors Division game early in the fourth inning, 19-1, winning by mercy rule Monday.

At the end, Costa Mesa had a glimmer of hope, scoring on an RBI single. Johnny Bloomer hit a single fly ball to center field, bringing in his teammate Keith Marshall and ending the game with a score of 19-1.

The Costa Mesa American All-Stars opened the tournament with a 9-4 win over Costa Mesa National. Costa Mesa American then lost to Ocean View, 13-1.