Page 9 - Sanger Herald 5-10-18 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2018
Volleyball team continues winning
ways
kudos to the bench for its contributions.
Gomez, Grant Harrison, Maine and Kennedy Navo together did major damage offensively, dishing kills, tips and dinks that frustrated the Knights at nearly every turn. And they weren’t the only ones. The entire Apache lineup contributed, with Adrian Mercado, Luis Villegas, Brennan Taylor, Britton Navo, Gohan Thao, Alan Lor and Aidyn Jalao pitching in.
Gomez explained his kill strategy. He said he looks for the opening, constantly reading the court, not trying to go for kills every time. But when he spots an opening, he exploits it where the opposing team is weakest.
Libero Alan Lor never lost his touch, getting digs and returning everything the Knights front line sent his way no matter how close to the court it got. “We were still cold early on,” he said. “After the first game, we started to find our rhythm. We should roll through teams.”
Lor said communication
See Volleyball, Page 2B
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Midway through the first set in Sanger, long-time Bullard boys volleyball coach Roy Verduzco called a timeout.
His Knights had fallen behind by four points, and the surging Apaches looked ready May 1 to do to Verduzco’s team what the young crew had done to so many other teams this season. And that was to win decisively. Verduzco, it should be noted, is California’s all- time winningest boys volleyball coach, according to his bio on the Fresno City Rams’ web page. He is also an assistant on the Rams’ team.
But Bullard made Sanger coach Scott Okada’s athletes flinch, going on to win the game 25-22. That timeout made a difference.
“You took a full set to warm up,” said Apache assistant coach Colby Hashimoto after the game. “But once you warm up, you play volleyball.”
These Apaches did. On senior night. On the final season for Seth Moua, Kacy
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Jesus Gomez, left, and Kennedy Navo block an attempted kill by a Bullard player.
the team undefeated (8-0) in the County Metro Athletic Conference. “The honeymoon phase is over,” said assistant Apache coach Marcos Mireles. He said winning and playing well for this group “is almost expected” and he encouraged the team to channel their energy and enthusiasm as much as possible throughout the rest of the season and post season.
“You’re a team that can tear it up when you’re all on,” Mireles said.
Okada said his Apaches “still have a lot of volleyball left to play.” He said losing the first set proved to be a reality check.
But for that post-game moment at least, most of these Apaches were pleased. Not arrogant, not strutting around. Just happy the season had turned out well, happy they had continued the tradition of the school motto, “Always With Pride.”
“As long as we play together,” Jesus Gomez said. He acknowledged messing up on a couple plays, but he said the team played well. He gave
Maine, Jesus Gomez and Luis Gomez, the team with the overall record of 34-8, according to MaxPreps, won the final three sets, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-15.
The Knights just couldn’t
reignite the passion of that first set.
And Luis Gomez said he thinks his team’s got more wins coming. “They have improved a lot,” he said. “I still believe they’re going
to get better than they are now.”
Sanger defeated Edison in the next match May 3 in three straight sets.
But Valley dominance won’t be easy, even for
The girls sprint medley relay team is, from left, Andee Poole, Chin Agina, Cu-Nisha Mitchell and Kaley Cardenas. They beat a school record in the books for seven years.
The boys sprint medley relay team is, from left, Ivan Topete, Mohamed Saleh, Jose Porras and Trever Jones. They beat a record on the books from 1980 when Blondie's "Call Me" debuted.
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Something happened on the way to the Sanger Metric Classic this year.
Something big.
The varsity boys sprint medley relay team obliterated a Sanger High record that had stood about 38 years, while the varsity girls sprint medley relay team did the same for a record set more recently in 2011.
“That was almost a 40-year-old record,” said Clay Manning, head track coach, of the boys’ feat.
Manning said both teams had just the right athletes in a combination that “doesn’t come around very often.”
“It’s a great group,” he said of the teams. “A hard- working group. They’re selfless. They gave up getting better times in their own events to run that race. They all gave up something to chase that relay record.”
The boys team was made up of freshman Jose Porras, sophomore Ivan
Topete and seniors Trever Jones and Mohamed Saleh. The girls team was made up of seniors Chinenye Agina and Andee Poole, junior Cu-Nisha Mitchell and freshman Kaley
Cardenas.
The sprint medley
relay is an assortment of distances with the first two legs being 200 meters each, the third leg 400 meters and the fourth 800 meters. The boys clocked a 3:24.47 minutes to shove aside the old record of 3:36 minutes set in 1980 by Louis Rodriguez, Guy Martin, S. Dyer and Louis Calderon.
The girls ran a 4:14.01 minute race, beating the old record set by Rakia Falcon, Veronica Gines, Y. Cuevas and Colleen Rooney. Sanger master statistician Ron Blackwood provided the details and did his best to look up the first names on both old record-holder teams.
Jones said he’s glad he ran the relay rather than his signature 400 meters. “I definitely think I made
the right choice,” he said. “Last year, we almost had it. We knew coming into it (this year) we had it in the bag.”
And Jones said he will remember the moment they ran the race. “This will definitely be high up in my memory,” he said. “It’s just a good experience to have.”
Jones plans to attend the University of Oregon and “hopefully” be a walk-on in the school’s track program.
Running coach Sean Marzolf said going into the races they knew they had a good chance. “We’d been talking for weeks we wanted to break that record,” he said. “Mo needed to run a 1:59. He ran a 1:57 (for the 800 meter portion).
“The exchanges were perfect. It all fell into place. I’m proud of them.”
And Marzolf said for a couple of freshmen and a sophomore to be in the group of record setters — “that’s big.”
Porras agreed. “It’s like a 40-year-old record,” he
said. “It feels great to have broken it with my team.”
Porras said his goals are to continue to score points for the Apaches in meets “and go on breaking records like the 100, 200.”
Topete said the entire race was exciting. “When I saw him (Saleh) cross the finish line, all my tiredness went to happiness,” he said. “I could see in his face that we had the record.”
Saleh said he was scared at first that he wouldn’t run fast enough. “I wanted to beat it,” he said. “But the last 10 meters I knew I had it. I got happy. I got really happy.”
He said he was disappointed they didn’t beat the four by 800 relay record, and Jones vowed to break the four by 400 record. On the latter, they got close with a sixth place behind the 1980 team.
Cardenas had predicted her team would take the relay record weeks before it actually happened. She said her team was that good. “I did,” she said. “I knew we had the best
girls to do it. It was just a perfect team.
“We wanted it. We went out there and we crushed it.”
Cardenas said it was her team’s collective drive, working on their speed “every single day. The way these girls would work. Their work ethic is so amazing. I was nervous because I had the longer leg. I went out the first lap and had a pretty big lead. I knew I had to keep that pace.”
Poole said she was certain they would achieve their goal of a new record. “The way I calculated it, we would beat it by 9 seconds,” she said. “We had the math.”
Poole also beat the school’s record for the 100 meter dash record set in 1994 by Maricela Negrete, clocking a 12.41 seconds. Poole plans to attend Fresno State on a full- ride scholarship to study biology.
Agina was more focused on closing out her senior year with making a good
showing at the Valley championships and in state. She’s been to state the past couple of years in high jump and said her goal this year is 6 feet. “We have a lot more work to do,” she said.
Agina plans to attend Azuza Pacific and compete for the school in high jump.
Mitchell said she and her teammates each got a shirt commemorating the broken record with their names on the back. “They’re amazing,” she said of Agina, Cardenas and Poole. “We put so much work into it. I’m going to miss them so much. This is like the best group of athletes.”
And she said she meant that team-wide. “My goal is just to stay dedicated,” she said.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Apaches obliterate relay records