Cunningham coaches US World Cup teams
Three-time Winter Olympic bobsledder Nick Cunningham will be coaching the men’s and women’s United States bobsled teams at the World Cup and 2021 World Championships this month in Germany.
Cunningham, who represented the United States at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics in the two-man and four-man bobsled teams, retired from the sport as a competitor.
Yet, the current Carmel High track and field coach, who has been both a brakeman and driver on bobsled teams, was coaxed into coaching the U.S. men’s and women’s teams at this year’s World Championships.
Cunningham, a Monterey
High grad and former Boise State sprinter, competed and medaled as recently as last fall in a bobsled series for the United States. He has worked with potential Olympic bobsledders in the past for Team USA.
A two-time state meet qualifier in the 100 and 200-meter sprints and a former school record holder in both events for Monterey, one of Cunningham’s pupils is former world class hurdler Lolo Jones.
Sanchez wins Race the Commons
Former Alvarez High and
Hartnell College standout Jorge Sanchez went out and ran the fastest time for the month at the Eastern Theater 9.5 -mile Race the Commons series run in Fort Ord.
Sanchez, who ran for AlaskaAnchorage University last season, covered the hilly course in 58 minutes and 58 seconds, holding off former Hartnell College teammate Eduardo Orozco, how was clocked in 59:47.
The Race the Commons is a series of races, where anyone can register and run the course as many times as they like for the month, record a time and post it against other competitors.
Last year Orozco was competing in the Division II National Indoor track and field finals for Alaska-Anchorage when the season was halted because of COVID-19.
Alan Samuels placed third overall with a mark of one hour, 35 minutes. Rudy Tovar finished fourth in 61:52, while former Monterey High baseball slugger and current teacher RJ Roach took fifth in 63:06.
Roach qualified last year in his age division for the Boston Marathon, but was unable to compete after the world-famous event was canceled because of the pandemic.
Marina Hobson of Carmel won the La Entrada al Gran Norte 1,859 foot climb in Carmel Valley, covering the 2.95mile race in 36:37 on her second attempt, knocking more than a minute off her first time.
The 15-year-old shaved 14 seconds off the top mark, which was held briefly by Emily Motz, who clocked 36:51. Isabella Davi,14; finished third overall
Remembering former Seaside football coach Carl Stephenson
The Seaside High family lost an icon with the recent passing of former football coach Carl Stephenson.
Stephenson was the first black head football coach in the old Monterey Bay League in the early 1970s, taking the program to its first league titles in 1976
and 1977.
Stephenson, who passed away at his home in Texas, coached current Seaside football coach Al Avila and Washington NFL coach Ron Rivera, as well as NFL defensive back LeCharls McDaniel.
Bouyea sizzling for USF basketball team
Showing up on the big stage has put Jamaree Bouyea’s name among the elite in college basketball, as the senior leads the University of San Francisco in scoring and assists this winter.
The Palma product is averaging a career-high 18 points a game for the Dons,
erupting for a season-high 24 in a conference-opening win over San Diego.
Bouyea was a bright spot for USF in a loss to Gonzaga, the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, finishing with 18 points. He has led the team in scoring in eight of their 12 games this year.
The playmaking sharpshooting guard scored 18 points earlier this year in the Dons’ upset of thenNo. 4 ranked Virginia.
The 6-foot-2 Bouyea also leads USF in assists at 3.9 and minutes played, and is second in steals. He is shooting 44.5 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 55.1 percent from the field.
Dating back to last season, Bouyea has started 46 straight games for the Dons. He has recorded career highs in every statistical category in each of his first three years.
Foster’s NFL career at a crossroads
While he hasn’t made it official, it appears that linebacker Mason Foster has played his last game in the NFL.
The 31-year-old Seaside High graduate hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2018, having been released by Washington just before the start of the 2019 regular season.
In eight years in the NFL with Tampa Bay and Washington, the 6-foot-2 Foster recorded 668 tackles, leading Washington in tackles in his final season in 2018.
Foster, who quarterbacked Seaside to the program’s first-ever Central Coast Section divisional football title in 2006, added nine sacks and six fumble recoveries in his career.
A third-round pick out of the University of Washington in 2011 by Tampa Bay, Foster also intercepted four passes, returning two for touchdowns.
Foster’s eight-year career ranks sixth all-time among county athletes that played in the NFL, tying him with Palma product and former 49ers center Chris Dalman.
North Salinas’ Kassim Osgood spent 12 years in the NFL. Monterey’s Nate Wright played 11 years, while Salinas’ Evan Smith and Monterey’s Herm Edwards each had 10-year careers, and Seaside’s Ron Rivera nine years.