Carter, Lantz qualify for state meet

Claremont High School's Kori Carter and Webb School's Andrew Lantz will be the only 2 competitors from Claremont when the CIF State Track & Field Meet takes place starting this Friday.

The preliminary round of the state meet will be held on Friday followed by the the final round on Saturday to decide who is the best in California in all events.

Carter's 3^rd place finish in the 100 meter hurdles (13.95) and the 300 meter hurdles (43.20) at last Saturday's CIF Southern Section Masters Meet secured her spot in both events for this weekend's state meet. By competing the 800 meter run in 1:53.11 (7^th place), Lantz also qualified for the same event for this Friday's prelims.

CHS edges Lakewood in battle of undefeated teams

It was a grueling affair at yesterday's CIF Southern Section Division III Boys Tennis semifinal but Claremont would not be denied. In the battle of 2 undefeated teams, CHS defeated Lakewood 83-70 in games after the 2 squads played to a 9-9 tie.

The Wolfpack (18-0) trailed 7-5 going into the final round before Clarke Spinosa and the doubles teams of Carter Hafif/Andrew Lieu and David Standerfer/Pranay Yeturo all posted wins to force the 9-9 tie. Claremont with without Trevor James, who was away on a family vacation.

The stage is now set for the CIF-SS Division III Boys Tennis Championship, which will take place next Wednesday at the Claremont Club with a 12:30 p.m. start time. CHS will play Placentia Valencia in the final.

Claremont boys tennis part of CIF's remaining quartet

The Claremont High School boys tennis team is one of 4 teams who will be competing today for a chance to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division III Boys Tennis Finals today.

The Wolfpack will host Lakewood in one of the CIF-SS semifinal matches while Placentia Valencia will travel to Oaks Christian for the other semifinal encounter. Both matches begin today at 3 p.m.

CHS has been on a roll throughout the 2010, remaining flawless in competition with a 17-0 record to date. The Pack are the defending CIF-SS Division III champion. If Claremont wins today, the Wolfpack will play in the CIF-SS Division III championship next Wednesday at the Claremont Club.

Look for an update of today's match on the blog later tonight and also results from last weekend's CIF-SS Track & Field Finals in Wednesday's edition of the COURIER.

Claremont boys volleyball gives valiant effort

While the Claremont High School boys volleyball team went further than it has ever gone in school history, Westlake High School made sure to cut the Wolfpack's journey short on Tuesday night.

A 5-game CIF-SS Division II semifinal thriller at Claremont High School saw the Warriors narrowly escape with a tough win to end CHS' greatest boys volleyball season, 16-25, 25-10, 19-25, 33-31, 15-11. Geoff Powell led the way for the Pack with 29 kills. Look for more coverage of the playoff match in Saturday's edition of the COURIER.

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In other CIF news, Claremont boys tennis trounced La Quinta, 15-3, to advance to CIF-SS Division III semifinals. CHS will host Lakewood at home next Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Also look for updated coverage of the CIF-SS Masters Meet in Saturday's COURIER. Sam Jardine place 6th in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:35.64 and 7th in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.85.

Championship dreams within reach

Photo special to the COURIER

After upstaging Valencia on Saturday night, the CHS boys volleyball team embarked on uncharted territory by qualifying for a CIF-SS Division II semifinal match. The Wolfpack returns home on Tuesday night to host Westlake High School in a semifinal clash at 7 p.m. at Claremont High School.

We'll have results of Claremont's historic first boys volleyball playoff semifinal on the blog this Wednesday.

Claremont teams advance to next round of playoffs

It was a successful 2 days for Claremont teams in the latest CIF Southern Section playoff competitions, ensuring that that Claremont will stay alive for another week of postseason action.

The Claremont High School boys tennis team advanced to the CIF-SS Division II quarterfinals on Friday night, continuing its undefeated season (16-0) with a 13-5 win at South Torrance. CHS will play at La Quinta on Tuesday in the quarterfinal match.

Claremont's Kori Carter (Girls 100h, 300h, 100m), Scott Jordan (Boys 200m, 400m), Brittany Brown (Girls 100m), Bailey Sanin (Girls 800m), Paul Ross (Boys 3200m), Katja Whitham (Girls Pole Vault), Klyvens Delaunay (Boys Triple Jump) and the girls 4x400 relay team all qualified for the CIF-SS Division II Track & Field Finals due to their strong performances at Saturday's preliminaries at Moorpark High School. Amara Berry (Girls 100h) and Andrew Lantz (800m) were the only 2 Webb competitors to qualify for the CIF-SS Division IV Finals on Saturday.

Look for more coverage of the 2 track meets in Wednesday's edition of the COURIER. The CIF-SS finals will take place next Saturday at Cerritos College.

The CIF-SS Division II Swimming Championships also took place on Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach. Claremont finished strong with the girls team placing 11th overall and the boys team taking 18th. More details of Saturday's meet will be available in Wednesday's edition of the COURIER.

The Wolfpack's drive to the CIF-SS Division II Boys Volleyball championship is still in full effect after Claremont bested Valencia in 4 games on Saturday, 25-22, 14-25, 25-23, 25-22. The win propelled CHS into the semifinals as the Pack will play Westlake on Tuesday.

Continue visiting the blog throughout the week our CIF playoff coverage.

Wolfpack volleyball stays in championship hunt, overcomes Crusaders

The Claremont High School boys volleyball team can at least rest until Saturday after defeating Village Christian in the 2nd round of the CIF Division II playoffs to advance to the quarterfinals against Valencia.

The Pack started strong by winning the first 2 games of the match (25-22, 25-17) before dropping the next game in a 26-24 thriller. CHS finally clinched the match in the 4th game, beating the Crusaders by a 25-22 tally. Geoff Powell led the Wolfpack with 22 kills.

With the Wolfpack's victory, here's how the playoff schedule shapes up over the next couple of days:

TODAY'S CIF PLAYOFF MATCHES
CIF Div. III Boys Tennis 2nd Round: Claremont @ South Torrance, 3 p.m.

SATURDAY'S CIF PLAYOFF EVENTS
CIF Div. II Swimming @ Belmont Plaza Pool, Long Beach, 4 p.m. (featuring CHS)
CIF Div. II Boys Volleyball Quarterfinals: Claremont @ Valencia, 6 p.m.
CIF Div. II Track & Field Prelims @ Moorpark High School, TBA (featuring CHS)
CIF Div. IV Track & FIeld Prelims @ Carpinteria High School, TBA (featuring Webb)

For more information and playoff brackets, visit the CIF website at www.cifss.org. Stay tuned for more CIF updates this weekend.