De La Salle, CVCHS win NCS team championships
De La Salle High wrapped up another strong athletic year by winning North Coast Section team championships in baseball, lacrosse and golf this spring while Clayton Valley Charter won the boys NCS Meet of Champions title for the second time in three years.
Several local track and field athletes earned medals at the CIF State Meet as another high school sports calendar drew to a close.
Baseball – De La Salle won its fourth consecutive North Coast Section Division I championship and sixth in eight years with perhaps their most dominate season ever. The Spartans (29-1 overall) finished the year with a 28-game winning streak and a top 5 national ranking.
DLS had one close call at NCS as they edged league rival Monte Vista 2-1 in the quarterfinals. They played the Mustangs four times this season and three of them were tight games decided by a total of four runs.
Junior pitcher Kyle Harrison, the Northern California player of the year, got three RBIs and pitched DLS to the NCS championship game victory 10-1 over Heritage.
Fellow all-NorCal player Chris Santiago was one of four Spartan regulars who batted .395 or higher. Junior Vince Bianchina, sophomore Blake Burke and Nick Fursari were the others.
Clayton Valley Charter won its first NCS game before losing to Amador Valley in the quarterfinals.
Golf – De La Salle golf had a great post-season run beginning with victory at the EBAL championships with Jack Gardner as co-medalist. The Spartans won the NCS Championship at Monarch Bay Golf Club in San Leandro by 14 strokes over their league rivals Amador Valley as all six DLS golfers shot between 72 and 74.
At the CIF Northern California championship DLS finished second behind Jesuit of Sacramento at El Macero Country Club. Sophomore Mitchell Hoey was low scorer in seventh place among the field of 90 high school golfers.
The season concluded on the Monterey Peninsula at Poppy Hills GC at State where the Concord school was fifth. Senior Gardner was the top Spartan golfer with a one over par score in 18th place.
The lineup at State also included freshmen Joey Hayden and Ted Davenport, sophomore Justin Hopkins and junior Andrew Bagasbas. Other team members were Josh Fenstermacher, Jack Hazard, Shayad Missaghi and Matt Neufeld.
Lacrosse – De La Salle came into the NCS Division I playoffs as the eighth seed. Four one-point victories later they were the Section champions, the school’s sixth title since 2007.
The Spartans stunned top seed San Ramon 11-10 in overtime in the NCS quarterfinals, then beat fourth seed Redwood 6-5 in the semi-finals and in the championship game edged No. 3 seed and defending Division II champion Marin Academy 11-10. All three of those wins were with DLS as the visiting team.
Softball – Carondelet won the NCS Division II softball championship last year and moved up to DI this spring. The Cougar lost to eventual runner-up Heritage in the quarterfinals. Clayton Valley Charter and Concord highs each lost their DI openers while Northgate fell in the opening round of DII.
Track & Field – Clayton Valley Charter’s boys won their second NCS Meet of Championships title in three years after taking second in 2018. The Ugly Eagles were again led by cousins Cameron Reynolds and Justin Lowe.
At a rain-soaked MOC at Diablo Valley College Lowe beat Reynolds in the 400 meters as the seniors finished one-two. Reynolds later won his second straight 200 title. The two were part of the winning 4×100 and 4×400 Ugly Eagles relay teams.
At the State Meet the CVCHS boys relays both were seventh while Reynolds took second in the 200 and fourth in the 400. Lowe took 8th in the 400 at State.
Concord middle distance star Rayna Stanziano took third at State in the 800 meters for the second year in a row. It was at the MOC that the senior was part of a remarkable story. Stanziano looked like she was on her way to a second straight NCS title in the 800 when she fell to the DVC track with about 100 meters to go.
Sophomore Samantha Wallenstrom of Marin Catholic was in second place and quickly passed Stanziano with clear sailing to victory. Instead, Wallenstrom turned around to help her fallen rival. Stanziano got up on her own and they finished 1-2 and both qualified for State.
Wallenstrom then may have had some extra karma carrying her to the State championship in Clovis a week later. Stanziano was third there.
Her teammate Airiana Dargan continued her great junior season at State with fourth place in the triple jump and 11th place in the long jump. She was one spot behind Carondelet’s Aryel Coats in the LJ. Dargan had swept both jumps at MOC.
Carondelet junior Kelly Kern set a meet and section record of 13-4 in the pole vault, winning her second straight MOC crown and then was fourth at State.
De La Salle’s Connor Livingston was the other local State finalist with a ninth-place finish in the 3200. He had finished second at NCS.
Daylon Hicks of CVCHS was second in the high jump at NCS but failed to get a height in the State finals. The senior had been second at State as a junior.