Championship events wrap up year
More memorable moments await in baseball, softball, track and field.
It’s the final weekend of the 2015-16 high school sports season, and what a season it has been.
There have been some extraordinary performances from athletes. There was Mique Juarez of North Torrance in football, Lonzo Ball of Chino Hills in basketball and Michael Norman of Vista Murrieta in track. There was Grant Shoults of Santa Margarita setting two national high school swimming records.
Standouts among the girls included basketball star Valerie Higgins of West Hills Chaminade, softball star Aniesa Maulupe of Carson and track champion Lauren Rain Williams of Westlake Village Oaks Christian.
The stories have been unforgettable. Last fall, Corona Centennial averaged 45.2 points a game in winning the Pac-5 football title. Chino Hills finished as the No. 1 basketball team in the country with a 35-0 record while scoring 100 or more points 18 times, matching a state record.
It’s only fitting that the state track and field championships Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis will be the final high school appearance for Norman, one of the nation’s most gifted athletes.
The opportunity to see what Norman can do in peak form is not to be missed.
“When you start looking at what he’s been able to accomplish — No. 2 in the 100 all-time, state record in the 200, state record in the 400 — you go, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” Vista Murrieta Coach Coley Candaele said.
It’s going to be scorching hot this weekend, with tripledigit temperatures forecast, but expect Norman to run his best.
“Everything is exactly where it should be,” Candaele said. “He should be ready to roll.”
Candaele has watched Norman grow from a 5-foot-8 freshman into a 6-1 senior with Olympic aspirations.
“I’m amazed every day,” Candaele said. “I don’t think about the end. I’m going to enjoy every day, every workout, every race. When it’s time to move on, I will have time to reflect back on how good he was.”
The Southern Section baseball championship games are set for Saturday at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino and UC Riverside.
The Division 1 final matching Studio City Harvard-Westlake against Murrieta Mesa at 7:30 p.m. is about as improbable a final as anyone could ask for. Harvard-Westlake finished third in the Mission League. Its sophomore pitcher, Jesse Bergin, shut out the No. 1 team in Southern California, San Juan Capistrano J-Serra, in the semifinals.
Then there’s the biggest surprise of all, Murrieta Mesa, which opened in 2009 and has reached the final in its first playoff appearance. Its 40-year-old coach, Bryn Wade, grew up hearing tales about his third cousin, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson.
Murrieta Mesa uses multiple pitchers, bunts, steals bases and tries to have fun. Its center fielder, Austen Salcedo, is so fast that he ran on the school’s Division 2 champion 400 relay team but had to skip Friday’s state track prelims to focus on baseball. He wears neon green sleeves, so you can’t miss him.
Then there’s Zac Filos, the team’s pitcher-infielder-best player. On his Twitter page he says he wants to be drafted by the Chicago Cubs. He’s only 5-10 but, Wade said, “He plays so big, he plays as if he’s 6-4, 220 pounds.”
The Southern Section softball finals are Friday and Saturday at Barber Park in Irvine, with the Division 1 final on Saturday at 6 p.m. pitting Orange Lutheran against Santa Ana Mater Dei. Orange Lutheran has won 18 consecutive games.
So far, it has been a memorable season, and there’s no reason the final weekend won’t produce even more great moments.