Weekly Sports Beat (1-27-12)

Another week, another Weekly Sports Beat. This week we will take a look at how the C-M-S men's basketball team bounced back from its first loss of the regular season, the women's version of the Sixth Street Showdown in C-M-S and Pomona Pitzer women's basketball and the improvement of the Claremont High School varsity wrestling team. Let's get to it:

-Last Saturday, the C-M-S men's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking double overtime loss to Whittier, 88-85, to record its first loss of the 2011-12 season. The Stags then bounced back on Wednesday with a 75-64 victory over Occidental to capture its 16th win. C-M-S currently stands at 16-1 overall and will host Cal Lutheran at home tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Landus' Note: An undefeated record is always a great accomplishments but sometimes it can be a heavy burden to carry. With the undefeated record no longer a factor, C-M-S can now focus on reaching the postseason and seeing what they can when they reach there. Coach Ken Scalmanini will have his team ready the rest of the way and I am sure the players will very much be looking forward to the Feb.4 rematch with Whittier. In sports, every team will eventually lose but it's always about how you bounce back after a loss.

-The Claremont High School varsity wrestling team suffered a 52-27 defeat at the hands of Ayala on Thursday. Parker Blakeslee (heavyweight class), Daniel Soto (170 lbs), Vicente Lopez (113 lbs), Malik Webster (132 lbs) and Alexander Merritt (160 lbs) were all victorious for the Wolfpack. Coach Gerald Escalante said that he has been pleased with the team's improvement from last year and looks forward to the years ahead. The full story on Thursday's wrestling meet will be in Saturday's edition of the COURIER.

Landus' Note: This year's team looked significantly more competitive than the CHS wrestling teams of the recent past. Lopez and Webster are 2 freshmen that people should keep an eye on going forward. Their victories against Ayala are big confidence boosters and the it will be interesting to watch the development of them and other returning grapplers by next season.

-The C-M-S men and women's swim teams continue to remain undefeated in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) meets this seasons as the 2 squads improved to 5-0 in conference meets last Saturday with the men's team defeating Occidental, 235-53, and the women's team taming the Tigers, 203-93. Vincent Pai led the way for the Stags with victories in the 100 (58.81) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.33) while teammates James Stevick, Brad Perfect, Jeff McNerney, Cameron Whiting and Austin Hallett were also multi-event winners. Michele Kee (50-yard free, 400-yard IM) and LillyBelle Deer (500 & 1650-yard free) led the way for the Athenas in last Saturday's meet as the 2 C-M-S teams will be in action tomorrow at Cal Lutheran.

Landus' Note: The swim program at C-M-S continues to be amazing. The Stags and Athenas only have 2 more meets to go to reach the SCIAC Championships with an undefeated conference record. To put it in perspective just how good C-M-S has been in the pool, the women's team has won the last 9 SCIAC championships while the men's team has won the last 4. We can call it a SCIAC dynasty.

-The Webb School's varsity boys basketball team is currently in 2nd place in the Prep League with a 10-5, 3-1 record. The Gauls' last few games have been against nonleague opponents but Webb will return to league play tonight at Flintridge Prep, who currently sits at the Prep League's top team with a 4-0 league record.

Landus' Note: This is a big game for Coach Rick Duque and company tonight in La Canada. If the Gauls can win tonight's game, Webb will move into a tie with Flintridge Prep for first place in the Prep League.

El Roble Cheer team wins state championship

Congratulations to the El Roble Intermediate School cheer team for winning the first place trophy in the junior high school division at the Cheer Pros State Cheer and Dance Championships held in Long Beach last weekend. The team will be moving on to the Best of the West Invitational to be held at the Long Beach Pyramid on March 11.

On Tuesday afternoon, I had a chance to spend about an hour with the El Roble group as they practiced on the routine they will showcase at the Best of the West event. Co-coaches Yolanda Gonzalez and Nicole Phillips have done a great job with the 25-member team and they are all looking forward to competing once again.

Look for a full story on the El Roble cheer team's most recent achievement in the upcoming Saturday edition of the COURIER.

Weekly Sports Beat (1-19-12)

(photo courtesy of Pomona-Pitzer Athletics)

Welcome to the 2nd installment of the Weekly Sports Beat, a new feature on the COURIER Sports Beat blog that will serve to cover some of the bigger highlights of the week in Claremont sports. This week involves a basketball rivalry, an update on the Claremont High School boys and girls soccer teams and more. Let's get to it:

-The battle of the undefeated men's basketball teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference resulted in a closely contested 57-55 win for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps over Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday night. The undefeated Stags (15-0, 4-0) won the game when Remy Pinson went the whole length of the court to score a layup with 0.5 seconds remaining. Chris Blees (11 points), Tyler Gaffaney (11 points) and Pinson (10 points) all scored in double figures for C-M-S. Jack Klukas (13 points) and Michael Cohen (12 points) led Pomona-Pitzer (8-6, 3-1).

Landus' Note: Anytime the C-M-S and Pomona-Pitzer men's basketball teams get together, it is guaranteed that you will see an intense and close contested game. Wednesday's game proved to be no different for the 2 rivals in a game that was up for grabs down to the final seconds. Yet the Sagehens should had focused more on defense after Klukas tied the game at 55-55 with a 3-pointer because allowing a layup with under 10 seconds to play is inexcusable, especially when that player goes the entire length of the floor. These 2 teams will meet again very soon, giving the Sagehens a chance at revenge.

-The CHS varsity boys and girls soccer teams both posted shutouts against Charter Oak on Wednesday with the boys team blanking the Chargers, 8-0, and the girls team winning its first match since its defeat to St. Lucy's last week, 4-0. Stephen Barba scored 2 goals and Jason Umansky contributed a goal and 2 assists as the CHS boys team (13-2-2, 3-0) scored 5 of its 8 goals in the 2nd half. Madison Stark, Briana Holmes, Leandra Escobar and Megan Renken all scored for the CHS girls team, who improves to 16-1-3 overall and 2-1 in Sierra League play.

Landus' Note: There is no doubt that both the boys and girls soccer teams are very strong and are CIF contenders this year. Though Charter Oak was not a tough opponent for either team, it is still important to get the "W," which is what CHS did. This was a big win for the girls team as it should boost the confidence of the squad that recently suffered its first defeat and then played to a tie with Chino Hills. No matter what the level of competition is, every win in sports is significant.

-The C-M-S men and women's swim teams both improved to 4-0 in SCIAC by dominating the University of La Verne last weekend. The Stags coasted to a 258-81 victory while the Athenas triumphed over the Leopards, 267-66. Click HERE for full results of the meet. (Photo courtesy of C-M-S Athletics)

Landus' Note: Claremont is a destination for swimming as C-M-S, CHS and the Claremont Club all field highly competitive and successful teams each year. Pomona-Pitzer's defeats to C-M-S and Redlands shows that the Sagehens still have a ways to go to be among the SCIAC elite. Both the Stags and Athenas may go undefeated in SCIAC this season but the February 4 meet against Redlands will prove to be their toughest challenge of the season.

-This afternoon, the COURIER will attend the Sierra League girls water polo match between Claremont and Ayala in Chino Hills. Look for coverage of today's match in Saturday's edition of the COURIER. The match begins at 4:15 p.m.

As always, your comments are welcome. What are some of your highlights of the week?

Undefeated No More: Claremont suffers first loss of season to St. Lucy's

The Claremont High School varsity girls soccer team is no longer undefeated. After posting 15 wins and 2 ties in its first 17 games, the Wolfpack fell victim to a couple of defensive lapses on Wednesday that lead to a 2-1 loss to St. Lucy's in a Sierra League match.

I had the opportunity to attend Wednesday's game and it was a tough defeat for the Wolfpack. St. Lucy's was ready for Claremont as they seemed to have players in the right place at the right time throughout the contest. Meanwhile, CHS didn't seem to match St. Lucy's energy until the 2nd half but by that point the Wolfpack trailed, 2-0. Overall, I believe this loss can be an effective building block for a team loaded with talent. Even though the Pack surrendered 2 goals yesterday, Claremont has only given up 8 goals in 18 total games.

Perhaps Coach Tim Tracey is relieved that the No.1 national ranking hype and undefeated streak are over so that the Wolfpack can put its full focus on the remainder of the season ahead. Sometimes rankings and not losing can give teams a false sense of security when there are areas that could use improvement. So the most important thing for Claremont is how the team bounces back.

The full story on Wednesday's game will be featured in Saturday's COURIER. And I'm sure we'll be seeing the girls soccer team again this year.

Weekly Sports Beat debuts

Beginning with this post, the COURIER Sports Beat blog will now feature a weekly update that will cover multiple sports teams throughout Claremont with a little bit of commentary included. The blog will still also feature individual updates but this will be a way to provide more highlights of what is going on with the sports teams in Claremont. Let's dive right into what will now be called the "Weekly Sports Beat."

Photo courtesy of C-M-S Athletics

-Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball coach Jodi Burton reached the 500-win milestone last Saturday as the Athenas defeated Caltech in Pasadena, 51-36. Coach Burton has been with C-M-S for 32 years and has a career record with the Athenas of 500 wins to 293 losses for a winning percentage of .631. The C-M-S coach becomes the 5th coach in Division III history to win 500 games and she is the all-time wins leader in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play.

Landus' Note: I first met Coach Burton as a public address announcer for C-M-S men and women's basketball during the mid 2000's and have always respected the class in which she carries herself. She is very deserving of the award and when I spoke to her this morning, she humbly tried to downplay her accomplishment but we all know better. Coach Burton is truly an exceptional coach and C-M-S has been fortunate to have her for the past 3 decades.

Photo by Michael Balchunas

-The Claremont High School girls soccer team returns to the field today against St. Lucy's at Damien High School at 5:30 p.m. The Wolfpack enters tonight's match with an undefeated 15-0-2 record and is currently ranked No.1 according to MaxPrep's national rankings. CHS is led by Madison Stark (11 goals, assist), Rebekah Evans (5 goals, 7 assists) and Merin Arft (6 goals, 2 assists) and other members of a experienced and talented roster.

Landus' Note: I am really looking forward to today's match as this will be my first chance to see the 2011-12 version of the Wolfpack in action. And being that Claremont is facing St. Lucy's, the Pack's sworn rival and Sierra League foe, I am anticipating a very competitive match. The teams split their 2 matches last year and I'm expecting for the Regents to give the No.1 rated Wolfpack its biggest challenge to date.

-Just in case you missed it, the C-M-S men's basketball team went through its entire preseason with an undefeated record of 11-0 and then opened SCIAC play with an easy 77-42 win over Caltech for its 12th win of the season. The Stags are led by Chris Blees, who averages 14.9 points and 8 rebounds per contest and is shooting an impressive .558 clip from the field.

Landus' Note: I've followed the Stags for a number of years and what I've always been impressed by with the program is how head coach Ken Scalmanini knows how to get the most out of his roster of players and not just one player. While Blees is the top scorer for C-M-S, players such as Mani Maceira (11.4 ppg) and Cody Mivshek (9.3 ppg) are also contributing to the Stags' success. What's more, C-M-S typically fares even better in SCIAC play. Watch out for this team.

-Congratulations to the CHS varsity basketball team for a big resurgence that has resulted in 7 wins in their last 8 games and a current 3-game winning streak. Claremont's most recent win was a 65-52 win over Ontario on January 6. The Wolfpack (10-7) will host Damien tonight in search for its 11th win of the season.

Landus' Note: Sometimes all that is needed for a team to gel is time. And it seems that with the more time that passes, the better Claremont has become. Entering into Sierra League play will be a different beast altogether and will be the true test to let us know where the Pack stands.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts and look for the next installment of the "Weekly Sports Beat" next week.

Wolfpack girls soccer... you are not forgotten

Photo courtesy of www.chsgirlssoccer.org

The story of this year's Claremont High School varsity girls soccer team has been a special one so far with the Pack being ranked No.1 in the nation according to MaxPreps and the the squad remaining undefeated with a record of 15-0-1 after 16 matches. The COURIER is watching and next week, I will get a firsthand view of just how good this team is when Claremont plays St. Lucy's on January 11.

Our normal way of coverage at the COURIER allows each CHS varsity team to receive a full spread of coverage at least once during each season. While larger papers focus on which teams in the area are more successful, we take a different approach because we are the "Claremont" COURIER and each of the varsity teams we cover at CHS represent our home teams. It doesn't matter whether they have a winning record, a .500 record or a losing record, if they represent CHS at the varsity level, they are included in our coverage.

Which brings me back to the varsity girls soccer team. I am hoping that the Wolfpack will pick up its 16th win today against Alta Loma because it will add even more intrigue to the rivalry match against St. Lucy's next week. And being that it will take place at Damien High School, it will be a short drive for CHS supporters to check out what should be a fantastic contest. Rivalry games will do that automatically but the chance for the Regents to knock the Pack from the No.1 spot will no doubt have them ready to play. And the chance for Claremont to stay No.1 will no doubt have the Pack motivated.

To the CHS varsity girls soccer team, you've done a terrific job kicking off the 2011-12 season and should celebrate all of the success that you've had to date. In 16 matches, you've only allowed 5 goals, showing impressive effort on defense. The old adage "defense wins games" is definitely true with your team. I look forward to next Wednesday and being able to see your talents on display for myself.

Congratulations and know that we haven't forgotten about you.