The Live Oak cross country team was down two strong runners, but
with the help of a first place finish by Billy Wong, the Acorns
took fourth at the Monterey Bay Invitational.
The Live Oak cross country team was down two strong runners, but with the help of a first place finish by Billy Wong, the Acorns took fourth at the Monterey Bay Invitational.
Cobbie Jones, the Acorns top female runner, was in Fresno competing on the same track used for the CCS state championships where she took second.
Billy Wong won the race with a time of 16:23 which helped propel the team to a fourth place finish out of 12 teams that competed.
Jesus Atanacio and Jonathan Kamei both turned in their best times on the track with 17:24 and 18:33 respectively.
The girls faired well also. The top three finishers for the Acorns, Yesenis Miranda, Danielle King and Ragina Vawdon all turned in their best times on the track. Miranda and Vawdon both took more than one minute off their previous times.
Daniel King was next with a time of 22:04 – her best time. Ragina Vawdon was the third fisher and bettered her time by more than one minute.
Coach Dean Raymond said he likes what he is seeing and he hopes that the team can keep it up.
“I’m real pleased with all the performances,” said Raymond. “I hope that we’re peeking at the right time.”
The team competed against North Salinas on Monday. Results were not available at press time.
Water polo
The Acorns boys water polo team had a strong showing at the Live Oak Polofest on Saturday, finishing second with a 2-1 record.
In their first two games, the Acorns took care of Los Gatos and Sunnyside (Fresno) easily, winning by scores of 17-9 and 15-6. They lost the championship game to Leland 13-5 in double overtime.
Although the tournament finale against Leland went into two overtimes, Live Oak Head Coach Mack Haines said Leland may have been caught off guard at the beginning of the game, getting a little more than they bargained for before turning it up a notch and fending off the Acorns.
“We surprised them,” Haines said, “They were a superior team.”
Leland, who’s squad is made up of mostly seniors, was a physically bigger team than Live Oak, who’s roster is made up of mostly underclassman, Haines said.
“They just dominated us,” Haines said. “(They are) very big, very physical.”
Leland – who had 12 ejections in the game – put its biggest, most physical player on Ryan Gautschi to shut him down. Gautschi had 10 goals in the team’s first two games.
Despite Live Oak’s lose on Saturday, Haines said he’s happy with the way things have gone this season.
“That was the first time we had a team come out and dominate us,” he said.
In the Acorn’s first game against Sunnyside, Gautschi scored seven of the team’s 17 goals. In the second game, Mark Ahlin and Gautschi had three goals each against Los Gatos.
The Acorns – 6-0 in the Tri-County Athletic League and ranked No. 10 in the Central Coast Section – have one game remaining in league play before the league finals and CCS playoffs.
Live Oak is scheduled to play San Benito High School in Hollister on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Tennis
The Live Oak Acorns won their first meet of the season when they defeated Hollister 4-3.
The girls won their first three singles matches behind Mallorie Stevens, Amanda Bouchet and Shaila Patel who all won in straight sets.
Clenching the win for Live Oak was the double team of Megan Smart and Rachelle Abby who came from behind to win in three sets 2-6, 7-6(7-5), 6-2.
Head Coach Ignacio Herrera was pleased with his team’s performance. He says that despite the team being young and relatively inexperienced, he sees improvement with each match.
“We’ve got perfect strategy, we just need to follow up on that,” said Herrera. “A lot of these kids are new. Megan never played competitive tennis, she just played around in the court. Rachelle has a little bit more experience. They all should do well against Salinas. Last time we lost 4-3, but we should do well this time.”
While most of the team is still up and coming, the team does have some of the top talent in the league.
Stevens, according to Herrera, is on track to being one of the best players in the league this season,” Herrera said.
She dominated her match 6-1, 6-1 and has only lost once during the entire season. Herrera says she has a “good shot” at the T-CAL league championships.
Herrera is pleased with his entire squad. Even though Kim Wakatsuki lost her match, she has “a very good mental approach to the game,” Herrera said.
During her match, Wakatsuki won the first set 2-6. The next two were hard fought, but she would end up losing in consecutive tie breakers 7-6(8-6), 7-6(7-2).
