Sports

On the field, Gavin Vallez directs his pitchers and infielders on certain scenarios, a byproduct of being a catcher. Off the field, Vallez takes charge at school and in the studio. The Live Oak High junior—he’s the class president of the junior class and has already been selected to be the president again for the 2018-2019 school year—carries a 4.3 GPA and constantly writes rap songs for himself and other small recording labels.

Dan Bergeron is the new Live Oak High boys basketball coach, succeeding Jeff Yeung, who stepped down from the position after the recently completed 2017-2018 season. The 31-year-old Bergeron spent the last four years coaching Fremont High-Sunnyvale, the last two as the varsity head coach.

Karlie Lema said she likes to compete at everything. And when she says everything, the Live Oak High freshman means it.

One week after its grand opening, Pound 4 Pound Sports Fitness, the new boxing gym on Monterey Street in Gilroy, was popping with the sounds of the sweet science.

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.