SAN JUAN PREPS ROUNDUP

BY ZACH CAVANAGH, THE CAPISTRANO DISPATCH

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JSerra Track & Field Sends 9 to State; Girls Win CIF-SS Title

Champion, a Louisiana State commit, threw four innings each with both giving up just one hit. Reimers collected five strikeouts with three walks, and Champion racked up four strikeouts with one walk and two hit batters.

The pair needed to stay sharp on the mound, as Santa Margarita starter Collin Clarke pitched all 7 2/3 innings for the Eagles with eight strikeouts and three hits allowed. Clarke retired 18 consecutive JSerra batters between a two-out single in the first inning and a two-out hit batter in the seventh.

With one out in the eighth inning, Jordan Marian smacked a single into right field, and Summers was subbed in as the pinch runner at first base. Tyler Dunner laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to put Summers at second base, and with Clarke’s pitch count at the brink of the 110-pitch limit, Susidko came up for what would be Clarke’s final JSerra hitter, one way or another.

Susidko caught a hanging slider and lined it to left field, and with Summers racing down the third-base line toward home, the Lions spilled out of the dugout to celebrate the winning run crossing home plate for another CIF-SS championship.

“I was just filled with adrenaline,” Susidko said of his game-winning moment. “Like, ‘Wow, I think we won it!’ ”

The CIF-SS Final was the final game of the season for JSerra, as the Lions declined their invitation to the CIF State Regional playoffs. JSerra won the SoCal Regional title after being CIF-SS runner-up in 2021, and the Lions were SoCal Regional runner-up after winning the CIF-SS title last season.

Following a record-setting girls performance at the CIF-SS Division 3 Finals, JSerra track and field sent a horde of competitors to the CIF-SS Masters Meet with a select few punching their tickets to Fresno.

JSerra qualified three boys athletes across five entries, including Masters shot put champion Brendon See, and six girls athletes across three entries, including a second-place finish in the inaugural 4x800-meter relay, at the CIF-SS Masters Meet last Saturday, May 20, at Moorpark High School.

The Lions move on to the CIF State Championships with preliminaries on Friday, May 26, and Finals on Saturday, May 27, at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

See won the shot put with a mark of 63 feet, 10 inches and also finished third in the discus to qualify for state. Jake Stafford also qualified in the discus along with qualification in the high jump. Josh Jornadal is the third JSerra boy going to state with qualification in the long jump.

On the girls side, the Lions finished second in the first-ever 4x800-meter relay in a CIF-SS championship event.

The relay was run by Amerie Johnson, Kaylah Tasser, Brooke O’Brien and Anastasia Snodgrass. The 4x800-meter relay is the first addition to the CIF State Meet program since girls pole vault was added in 1995.

Siena Lambert finished second in the discus to qualify, and Georgia Jeanneret finished sixth in the 800 meters to qualify for state.

CVC’S Luke Powell Qualifies to State Championships

Almost no one is hotter on the links this postseason than Capistrano Valley Christian senior Luke Powell.

Powell, in his third consecutive CIF/ SCGA SoCal Regional appearance on Wednesday, May 24, finished two strokes off the lead with a 6-under-par 68 at Los Serranos Country Club to take third at Regionals and advance to his first CIF State Championships.

Over the course of the CIF-SS/CIF/ SCGA postseason, Powell has carded a collective 18-under-par total through three tournaments, with a win at the CIF-SS Southern Regional and third places at the CIF-SS Individuals and CIF/ SCGA SoCal Regional.

On Wednesday, Powell rolled in seven birdies, including on four of the Los Serranos Country Club’s par-5s and one on the par-3 No. 6 hole.

Powell will round out his season at the CIF State Championships next Wednesday, May 31, at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.