President William Henry Harrison caught a cold while standing at the podium for his inauguration in 1841. It developed into pneumonia, and he died less than a month into office.
Ignoring the lessons learned through history, Round Table president Rick Wilson valiantly stood at the podium on Monday and ran the show despite suffering from a nasty cold of his own.
The SBART president wasn’t the only contagious entity in the local sports world this week, as winning was certainly something shared by many of those present at Harry’s.
Male Athlete of the Week Trayone Harris took the task of winning upon himself for the SBCC football team, amassing a school-record 316 all-purpose yards with four touchdowns as the Vaqueros won their third straight game, 38-30, over L.A. Pierce. The running back averaged almost 10 yards per carry, which is astounding considering he had 23 of them.
“He works as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen,” said coach Craig Moropoulos, who also brought quarterback Austin Civita and special teams/wide receivers coach Jason Fowle, two more reasons why the Vaqs are tied for second place in the American Pacific Conference.
SBCC hosts West L.A. at La Playa Stadium on Saturday.
The Female Athlete of the Week also lifted SBCC to an important victory. Dos Pueblos High graduate Asaka Sim shot 3-over at Santa Barbara Golf Club (one-under on the back nine) as the Vaqueros improved to 34-1 in Western State Conference competition. They defeated rival College of the Canyons by 20 strokes in last Monday’s match.
Sim is the WSC scoring leader, and older-sister Sumika has been a nice addition to the team as well.
“She brings a great deal of wisdom and intelligence to the team,” said coach Chuck Melendez of the elder Sim.
Sisters Claire and Sara Borneman, big-hitter Jenna Boyle and Jackie Molstad were also introduced for the state-title contenders.
San Marcos football coach Dare Holdren was lucky to avoid catching a cold after being dunked by players after Friday’s 24-17 overtime win against DP. The Chargers couldn’t catch the Crook — Royals quarterback James Crook, that is — on the night, as he finished 16-for-21 with 157 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was a freakin’ battle,” said Holdren. “One of those games where you hate to see anyone lose.”
Both of Crook’s scoring passes went to standout receiver Max Cavalier. Holdren brought senior Brendan Caldwell, who forced the fumble that sealed the win, and senior leader Marcos Arredondo. He also recognized JV coach Bobby Brown for his team’s win.
DP coach Jeff Uyesaka congratulated San Marcos, but now must look ahead to a Halloween matchup against Ventura on Friday night. the Cougars will provide a tough test, as they went into halftime against powerhouse St. Bonaventure down only 10-6.
The Chargers will need their big guys against the Cougars, including luncheon attendees Bryan Heller and Mario Pizano. The latter has a broken thumb and has been clubbing people with his cast on the field, according to Uyesaka.
Defensive coordinator Jaime Melgoza stepped in for head coach Will Gonzales to speak of the Santa Barbara Dons, who will have a frightening night before Halloween in Thursday’s home game against St. Bonaventure.
“I think we’ve got a chance to get ’em,” said Melgoza.
The confidence is certainly there for the Dons, who picked up a 35-18 win at Buena on Friday to improve to 2-0 in the Channel League.
Melgoza introduced kicker Chase Chandler and cornerback Mico Pulice, who is out after tearing his ACL in a preseason scrimmage but continues to provide the team with a lift as a positive presence on the sidelines.
Bishop Diego will also play on Thursday night, hosting 2007 nemesis Santa Clara at La Playa Stadium. Last year, the two met in the CIF title game, where the Cardinals lost in overtime. Superstar Santa Clara running back Cierre Wood will return to lead the charge on Thursday.
Athletic Director Dan Peeters brought along junior free safety Alex Robitaille and senior receiver/defensive back/kicker Sam Verhasselt.
Laguna Blanca took care of business on Saturday afternoon, beating Condor League-foe Dunn 42-14 on Founders’ Day. Quarterback Connor Murphy had a monster game for the Owls, throwing five touchdowns to four different receivers. Coach Ray Robitaille’s team must win out against Ojai Valley and Thacher to make the postseason. He introduced 3-sport athletes Seth Judson and Jason Kurilla.
The Dos Pueblos water polo team tasted a new kind of victory on Saturday, winning its first varsity tournament under six-year coach Chris Parrish. Ian Kistler scored 18 goals in the four-game Tustin Tournament and garnered MVP honors, while Loren Drewisch had four goals and four steals in the championship game. Both were at Harry’s with Athletic Director Dan Feldhaus.
Mark Walsh’s Santa Barbara Dons poloists were invited to the ultra-prestigous North-South Challenge, an 8-team tournament that puts the state’s best in the pool to battle it out. The Dons finished seventh, and also posted a big win earlier in the week by beating DP in overtime.
Walsh shared exciting news received by star senior Ian Gamble, who recently found out that he has been accepted to and will play at Stanford next year. Goalie Hunter Ploch had 66 saves on the week for Santa Barbara.
Walsh introduced another pair of top Division-I prospects in Brandon Cowan and Parker Peterson.
Holdren pinch-hit for Jeff Ashton by recognizing two Royals poloists in attendance — David Madden and Billy Stephens.
Sports Information Director Ron Smith was at Harry’s to report on the Westmont men’s and women’s soccer teams, both of which are gearing up for playoff runs. The women’s team is ranked 19th nationally, and Smith brought along the team’s star player, Amy Lawson. The Hawaiian forward was named NAIA Offensive Player of the Week and has “an intensity and compassion that is contagious,” according to Smith.
SBCC sports information specialist Dave Loveton talked about the Vaquero soccer teams The men’s squad has been led by Mark Knight, a scoring machine who has 18 goals on the season and had four in a 19-minute span in a win earlier this week. Loveton also mentioned former female Athlete of the Week Megan Maiwald, the goalie for the women’s team who is also on the U.S. Women’s Deaf Olympics team.
UCSB men’s soccer assistant coach Neil Jones reported about the team’s overtime win in front of a sellout crowd of 11,000 fans at Cal Poly.
“To celebrate in front of 11,000 Cal Poly Mustang fans was quite fun,” he said.
Jones brought surprise freshman Luis Silva, who was relatively unheralded coming into this season amongst the Gauchos’ star-studded recruiting class, but has become the class’ best overall player according to Jones.
The UCSB women are 11-5-1 on the season after a 6-10-4 campaign last year. Much of the success is due to the emergence of former walk-on Kailyn Kugler, who has gone from defender to forward and has five goals with four assists on the season. The Gauchos have been ranked as high as 20th in the nation and are now at 34th. Associate head coach Kai Edwards introduced Kugler and provided the crowd with the team update.
UCSB’s water polo team is coming off of a 7-overtime win over UC San Diego in front of a packed pool deck. Coach Tim Seddeck came to the luncheon to report on the success for the eighth ranked Gauchos, who seem to be heating up as temperatures cool down.
You never want to be cold during flu season.
