Capping an undefeated Tri-County Athletic League season, the
Live Oak High swim team played with host North Salinas en route to
an easy victory last week.
Capping an undefeated Tri-County Athletic League season, the Live Oak High swim team played with host North Salinas en route to an easy victory last week.
Because North Salinas could only field a competitive girls team, the Live Oak boys team didn’t formally participate in Friday’s meet.
But the Acorn girls outdistanced the Vikings 100-60 in a scrimmage-like event, according to Live Oak swim coach Mack Haines.
“A lot of swimmers competed in events that aren’t their specialty,” Haines said.
Winners for the Live Oak girls included: Laura Melroy (200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke), Ronni Gautschi (100 freestyle and 100 backstroke), Heather Hayes (50 freestyle), Breanna Sennert (500 freestyle), and the 400 freestyle relay team.
Live Oak’s Breanna Stevenson also won the diving competition.
Both the Acorn girls and boys teams are preparing to compete in the TCAL finals this week.
The TCAL Diving Championships will be held on Wednesday, and the TCAL Swimming Championships will be held on Saturday.
Both events will be held at Live Oak High.
LO track & field
It was a successful trip to Salinas to compete at the Alisal Festival Invitational for the Live Oak High track and field team last weekend.
For one thing, the Acorn girls team rode the exploits of Cobbie Jones, Azucena Atanacio, Heather Molyneux and Tanya Tenorio to a fourth-place finish out of 12 teams at the event.
And, six Acorn varsity boys turned in personal bests in their respective events at the meet.
Jones won the 800 and 1,600, and Atanacio won the discus, while Molyneux placed third in the 200 and Tenorio took third in the discus to lead Live Oak’s girls team.
Molyneux also took fourth in the 100 and sixth in the long jump, while Atanacio was fourth and Tenorio was fifth in the shot put.
Meanwhile, Acorns Billy Wong and Jonathan Kamei turned in PRs in the 800, and Jesus Atanacio, Eric Danner and Ismael Marisclan all had PRs in the 1,600 at the event.
In addition, Live Oak’s Brandon Powell had PRs in the 110 high hurdles, in which he finished third, and the 300 intermediate hurdles, in which he took fifth, at the meet.
Live Oak hosts Gilroy in both teams’ TCAL finales on Thursday this week.
LO boys volleyball
With the TCAL title sewn up and nothing to play for but pride, and fun, the Live Oak High boys volleyball team had a little of both in a four-game victory against host Salinas Friday night.
The fun came when back-row specialist Dan Adams, all 5-foot-8 of him, switched places with 6-foot-9 Chris Deem during Game 2 of the match.
The pride came when Live Oak rebounded from the Game 2 loss that resulted, at least in part, from the switch to win in convincing fashion 25-13, 21-25, 25-11, 25-23.
“We had a blast,” Live Oak coach James Uthes said. “I promised (Adams) he could play in the front row. We wouldn’t do it in any other game but this was a good game to (switch positions).”
Cameron Bassett had a game-high 11 kills for Live Oak, while Deem added nine kills.
The victory kept the Acorns undefeated in league play at 12-0 going into this week’s final league matches.
Live Oak hosts Gilroy for its Homecoming match on Wednesday, then hosts Alisal in the TCAL finale on Friday.
As the TCAL champion, Live Oak has already sewn up the league’s lone automatic berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs, which begin next week.
To improve their seeding chances, the Acorns have scheduled a non-league match at Scotts Valley on Tuesday, and are hoping to add a non-league match against Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Mount Madonna, the No. 1-ranked team in CCS, on Thursday.
