Top performances

Mike Sciacca

Sasha Speare did something late last week that no other female golfer

had done in the history of Laguna Beach High.

Claire Rietsch accomplished something she did as a freshman.

As a team, Laguna’s boys’ cross county unit ran to the top once

again.

This past week was a busy one for Breaker athletic teams, and it

proved to be a very fruitful one for Laguna Beach athletics.

Competing at the Pacific Coast League finals at El Prado Golf

Course in Chino Hills, Speare scored an 83 and finished seventh --

the highest individual finish by a Laguna golfer in the history of

the school’s program, Coach Barbara Williams said.

Speare, a sophomore, had advanced to the league final by recording

an 85 on the first day of competition.

The top 12 players advanced to the final.

Thirty golfers had competed in the prelims, including Laguna

junior Hannah Thames and senior Meredith Nilsen.

“I thought I had a pretty good shot at reaching the finals because

I had gone up against these players all year,” Speare said. “I felt

as though I played better as the season went on.”

Speare, 15, played for Laguna as a freshman, but said her game

improved when Barbara Williams came on as head coach this year.

“Barbara is a really good teacher,” Speare said. “She helped me on

little things that made my entire game better, like looking at the

next shot, instead of just on the shot I am currently on.

“Next year, I’m looking to get even better, make league and hope

to make CIF. That’s a big goal of mine.”

Claire Rietsch had set a goal of capturing the Pacific Coast

League girls’ tennis singles title she won as a freshman and, a year

after finishing runner-up to the top prize, the junior accomplished

that feat.

Overcoming a slow and frustrating start, Rietsch, seeded first in

the singles tournament, scored a 7-6, 6-3 over No. 2-seed McCall

Jones of Tesoro at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

The win marked the third time this year that Rietsch had defeated

the Tesoro freshman.

“I went into the final thinking I would win because I had already

beaten her twice,” Rietsch said. “I think I may have been a little

over-confident at the start, and I got behind.

“I was getting really frustrated, too, but I settled down. I tried

to move the ball around more and work on my consistency. It worked.”

Rietsch rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the first set, a comeback

which set the tone for her sweep.

She also earned the PCL MVP award and was named first-team

All-PCL.

Rietsch said her win over Jones was as satisfying as winning the

singles title as a freshman.

“It’s exciting any time you can win a league title,” she said. “I

wanted to be McCall badly. She’s just a freshman, and I won the

league title as a freshman, which was really thrilling. I knew it

could be a tough match.”

At Irvine Regional Park, Laguna Beach’s boys’ cross country squad

won its second straight league championship.

The Breakers’ Sean Fuszard won the boys’ race with a time of

15:16.

Laguna dominated the run by earning half of the Top 10 finishes.

In addition to Fuszard’s triumph, Max Mullender (15:34) was

fourth, Jeremy Eaton (15:42) was fifth, Ryan Hedden (15:50) was

seventh and Aman Bhatia (16:02) was ninth.

“I have to first say that the boys’ varsity race was probably the

most dominating Laguna win since the 1989 state championship meet,”

Laguna Coach Dave Brobeck said. “Last year’s league championship was

a close, very emotional race. At this year’s championship, we wore

our training shoes, ran calculated and smart races, and just took

care of business.

“I literally watched a sea of maroon shirts work their way through

the pack. When your fifth runner finishes in ninth-place overall, you

know that you have done more than just win. I really wasn’t expecting

it to be by such a convincing margin.”

Brobeck made note one primary ingredient to this team’s success.

“I believe that we prepare better than any other team in league,”

he said. “I have become a taskmaster and pore over our training

program to no end. The guys have bought into my coaching philosophy

and have embraced the methods we use.”

In girls’ volleyball, Laguna opened the CIF-Southern Section

Division IV-AA playoffs on the road Tuesday and returned home with a

dominating, 25-6, 25-12, 25-17 victory over Milken Community.

The Breakers were led by Stephanie Darnall with 12 kills and seven

digs, Dana Hutchinson’s 12 kills and five digs, seven kills by

Blakely Burns and 24 set assists by Paige Obradovich.

Milken Community was the Heritage League champion and entered the

match with a 16-3 record.

Laguna, now 14-9, received an at-large bid to the playoffs.

The Breakers, who came into the match following a loss to Corona

del Mar in their regular season finale, hosted St. Paul Thursday in a

second-round match.

The outcome was not available at press time.

In boys’ water polo, Laguna dropped a close match to visiting

Corona del Mar, 8-6, in the final Pacific Coast League match of the

year.

The Breakers (17-10) finished third in the league standings and

earned a playoff berth. They opened the Division I playoffs Wednesday

at South Coast League champion El Toro.