Sports

What the Oakwood High swimming and track and field teams lack in facilities and numbers, they make up for with hard work and talent. One has to look no further than sophomore Annie Rickard, who is one of just two—yes, two—athletes that make up the swim team (freshman Brendon Tompkins is the other).

Lexi Parish is usually focused and having fun in the circle. But on this particular day, something was off. Her sister—who also happens to be her catcher, Samantha—saw this, called time and approached the circle.

With one powerful throw, Mackenzie Turnipseed put herself into the Sobrato High record books. The senior had a personal-record (PR) throw of 32 feet, 10 inches in the shot put in a dual meet against Evergreen Valley High on March 29. An ecstatic Turnipseed chalked up the performance to great weather conditions—temperatures were in the mid 80s—and continually putting in the work in practice.

Kai and Karrine Leong can finish each other’s sentences, expand upon the other’s comments and laugh over memories. The Live Oak High siblings—Kai is a senior and Karrine a sophomore—have a deep bond that most brothers and sisters lack. It’s a byproduct of the two swimmers spending literally thousands of hours in the pool training together since they started from a young age.

Mark Cummins never saw this coming. Last Saturday, the Live Oak High baseball program honored Cummins before its annual alumni game, retiring his No. 17 jersey in a ceremony that caught the longtime coach and teacher off guard.

More than 740 runners were on their marks for the 35th annual Wildflower Run Sunday, March 25. The run, hosted by the American Academy of University Women (AAUW), began and ended at Live Oak High School in northeast Morgan Hill and is the group’s largest annual fundraiser providing scholarships to women and young girls, as well as community action grants.

For the majority of the talent-laden swimmers in the Central Coast Section, their goal is pretty simple: hit a Central Coast Section-qualifying time. Sobrato High has a handful of swimmers who have already done just that, with the possibility of more to follow. On the girls side, the Bulldogs 400 free relay team of Helena Baty, Annie Ly, Kassidy Prim and Nina Aliamus hit the CCS qualifying time in the first meet of the season in early March.

After winning just one game last year, the Live Oak High boys volleyball team has already doubled its win total this season. The Acorns are in the midst of rebuilding a program that doesn’t have the numbers to field a junior varsity team. Live Oak entered the week with a 2-4 record in the Blossom Valley League’s Santa Teresa Division, with a goal to become a consistent, competitive team.

Alex Nguyen spent his first 3 ½ years of high school at the Gilroy Early College Academy (GECA), the early college high school located in Gilroy. Even though Nguyen—a Morgan Hill resident—said he enjoyed his time at GECA, he had a burning desire to play organized volleyball (GECA doesn’t have sports teams).

When Brenden White unleashed a personal-record (PR) shot put throw of 46 feet, 2 inches in the first meet of the season, he was mildly surprised. But White doesn’t plan on stopping there; in fact, he has a goal of throwing 50 feet by the end of the season. If the Live Oak High senior hits that mark, he’ll be a strong contender to finish on the podium at the Central Coast Section Championships in May.