To say that Coronado High School’s Jamie Klages, is having a great senior year would be an understatement. A gifted three-sport athlete, Klages started her final prep year as Co-Captain of the Girls Volleyball Team. Despite a sprained right foot injury that caused her to miss much of that season, she returned for the end of the Eastern League Co-championship regular season and the Islanders playoff run.

As the soccer season ended Klages, a talented and athletic goalie, was named Western League Player of the Year. She was also placed on the CIF Division III First Team and helped her team win the CIF Division III Co-Championship, a title Coronado shared with USDHS. Klages, who will graduate from CHS with 10 athletic letters (four each in soccer and track, two in volleyball) has accepted a scholarship from the University of Nebraska to play soccer.

All of that background leads to her ‘second’ sport, which is track and field. In 2004, she finished tied for fifth in the state (all divisions) in the high jump, with a leap of 5-feet, 7-inches. Earlier in 2005 she had extended her personal best height to 5-8. All of which sets the stage for the following report from CHS Head Track Coach George Green:

"Jamie Klages set a personal record last Saturday at the Torrey Pines High School Falcon Track Invitational. She not only broke the meet record by over eight inches, but she tied one of the oldest CIF San Diego section records on the books with an astounding jump of 5-feet, 10 ¼ inches. She now shares the San Diego top all-time spot with Carlsbad’s Sue McNeal, who cleared the same height in 1978. Jamie almost topped 5-feet, 11 ¼ inches on her third try, just brushing the bar off on the way down.

Her jump, which would have won the state meet last year, is the best in the state so far this year and one of the Top 5 jumps in the nation. Next week she’ll be the top seed at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational, which draws some of the best athletes in the country. You can see photos of Jamie and even a movie of her jump at Islandertrack.com."

Lost a little in the excitement over Klages’ efforts is the fact that fellow CHS senior high jumper Adam Munns is also having a fine senior campaign. Munns was named to the All-Harbor League Second Team for his efforts during the winter sports season in basketball. We’ll return to Coach Green for the narration. "Munns’ winning jump of 6-feet, 6 ½ inches at the Falcon Invitational, was also a new meet record, and was six inches higher than the second place jumper, who was teammate Reid McLean, the owner of a personal best record of 6 feet, 3 inches. Reid is coming off of a sprained ankle and this was his first competition of the year. Sarah Player placed fourth with a jump of 5-feet."

Congratulations to Coach Green and to high jump Coach Kerry Elder for placing four athletes in contention at a fine interscholastic track and field competition.

Even though most of the rest of the CHS student body was collectively working hard on their tans over Spring Break, the Islander Baseball Team played twice in the City Conference Tournament, winning both contests. The victories over Francis Parker by the score of 7-5 and Kearney 5-1, runs the Islanders record to 10-4 for the season.

The victory over Parker avenges an earlier 13-1 defeat to the Lancers in the finals of the Bully’s East Tournament. Head Coach Sam Ceci saved his star hurler Kevin Couture (3-0 record, 1.11 earned run average) for the game and although he pitched well, with six strikeouts over 5.1 innings, Couture didn’t earn the victory. That distinction fell to sophomore Danny Cepin, who earned the win in relief.

The Islanders struck for two runs in the first inning on an unusual series of events. Ryan Nunn led off the game being hit by a pitch, and the same fate fell to the second hitter in the order Josh Okerman. Couture drew a walk and senior right fielder David West drove in two runs with a single down the left field line. Coronado took a 3-1 lead in the third when Couture reached base on an error, stole second base, and was driven in by Blake Spitzer with a timely two-out single.

The wheels fell temporarily off the Islander express in the sixth inning, when the Lancers sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four runs to take a 5-4 lead. Since a Pulitzer Prize isn’t hanging in the balance for my reporting of this half inning of play, let’s summarize the seemingly endless half inning by saying "it wasn’t pretty."

From a Francis Parker perspective, the Islanders three-run rally in the bottom of sixth inning to win the game wasn’t a breath of spring either. With one out, Mike Denson reached first base after he struck out on a wild pitch; Danny Cepin, who is hitting a robust .485 on the season, added a double down the third base line; Nunn tied the game with a single; Okerman reached base on an error; and Couture’s single and the resulting two-base error on the Lancer center fielder accounted for the Islander runs. Cepin worked the seventh inning for the victory, earning the last five outs of the game.

Defensively the Islanders had some nice outfield play from left fielder Okerman, who made two running, shoe-top catches and another nice catch by Nunn in center.

"The kids came back, which was nice," said Ceci of his team’s come-from-behind rally to win the game. "We could have tanked, but we battled back."

According to Ceci, the Kearny game Saturday "wasn’t ever really in much doubt. We were able to play three or four guys who don’t normally start and they did well. Cepin was 3-4 with two doubles and an RBI; Jimmy Gersonde was 2-2 with an RBI; and Blake Spitzer was 1-3 with a triple, which was a big hit at the time."

This week play in the City Conference Tournament continues, with a home game against Morse Tuesday at home and a road game at Patrick Henry Thursday. Both games are scheduled for 3 pm. "These are the last two pool play games in the tournament," explained Ceci. "Mission Bay is lining up as the opponent in the semi-finals, but we have to beat a very good Henry team Thursday."

Every so often one of the CHS teams gets involved in a scheduling situation that approaches comical proportions and that happened to the CHS Girls Softball Team Saturday. Due to rainouts from the Montgomery Tournament three weeks ago, play was compressed essentially into last Saturday. The concept, however, was simple – win and you keep playing. And so the Islanders did both of those things.

Tournament competition started with a five inning, 11-0 shutout of Hoover, highlighted by Sara Noceto and Juliet Zimmer combining for a no-hitter against the Cardinals. The second game was a seven-inning contest against Steele Canyon, won by the Islanders 7-5 in an unusual fashion. Head Coach Ed Shanholtz picks up the story. "Time for the game had run out, so we played an international tiebreaker, where you have a runner at second base to start the inning. We scored two runs in the tiebreaker and threw a runner out at the plate when they came up. The girls went on and played the tiebreaker like it was no big deal. The girls played tremendously well from the get-go."

Another win yields another game and this time the Islanders defeated Mission Bay 7-3, courtesy of a six-run fifth inning explosion. "Noceto pitched a complete game against Mission Bay and did really well. Kristin Barker pitched well against Steele Canyon.

Another win was followed by another game, this time in the tournament finals against Mountain Empire where Islanders came up a run short, losing 6-5. "We had the tying run on third base with two outs in the last inning," Shanholtz said. The girls refused to quit. It was a great team effort all day. We had solid offense, solid defense and the pitching was good. When you have that, you’re going to be successful and that’s what happened.

Shanholtz provided some additional highlights from the tournament. "Farrell Pompa went 10-13 at the plate for the day, with a home run, two doubles and seven RBIs. Alana Zimmer (Juliet’s older sister) did a very solid job catching. She was behind the plate for all four games, except for two innings. Jessica Davis-Ricci and Barker threw out runners from the outfield. We had solid infield play from Farrell, Lisa Bernardy and Christy Mebust.

Perhaps most significantly, the tournament put the Islanders above the .500 mark at 6-5, which is two wins better than their total from last season. This week the play gets easier in that there are fewer games on the schedule, but the level of competition ratchets up a notch as Coronado begins Western League play. The Islanders play at USDHS Tuesday, host University City Thursday, and have a non-league game at Kearny Friday. All three games are scheduled for 3 pm.

Compared to the Girls Softball Team, The Boys Volleyball Team had a relatively light week, playing five matches over two days in the La Jolla Beach Cities Tournament. Somewhat ironically the Bronze Division, which included the Islanders, played all of their games not in La Jolla, but in Coronado.

Friday, the Islanders competed in pool play, a group which included San Pasqual, St. Augustine, and Marian Catholic. The Islanders went 1-2 and qualified for the second day of play against Bonita Vista in single elimination play.

"We needed to win some matches," said Head Coach Phil Trotter. "We played in the opening round against Bonita Vista and were able to beat them. Then we lost to a very good Ramona team, which lost in the finals of the Bronze Division."

Trotter was pleased with his team’s progress. "We’re definitely playing better. We’re finally playing as a team and it’s starting to show. We’re playing with more confidence, supporting each other and playing defense for the first time. If we work hard, it will be a very nice season. Everybody played and everybody played well. This is a team where I’m not afraid to put anybody in."

In a somewhat unique scheduling quirk, Harbor League play doesn’t begin this week and the Islanders have no scheduled games, although Trotter is trying to put together a non-conference game with Santa Fe Christian. The Islanders next scheduled game will be in one week in another non-conference affair with Bishop’s. "We’re looking forward to that match," Trotter added. "It will be a nice test."