San Diego Section Playoffs : Jorgensen, Tadese Expected to Lead Runners in Championships

There may be 203 boys and 166 girls who have qualified for today’s section cross-country finals at Morley Field, but there will be only one runner to watch in each race.

Kira Jorgensen of Rancho Buena Vista has dominated this season as a junior. In the preliminaries last Friday, Jorgensen completed the hilly, 2.4-mile Morley Field course in 14 minutes 1 second, which was 23 seconds faster than Kristi Bache of University of San Diego High School, who finished second, and 47 seconds faster than third-place Shamen Dugger of Coronado.

Jorgensen is also a favorite to win the state title next Saturday in Fresno. Jorgensen finished 15 seconds ahead of many of the state’s best at the Mt. San Antonio race earlier this season. Jorgensen’s time on the 3.1-mile was 17:27.

Goshu Tadese of Crawford is the favorite in the boys’ race. Tadese’s time of 15:00 in last week’s preliminaries was the best time by 22 seconds. Tadese also won the Mt. SAC race with a time of 15:15.

The girls’ race begins at 2 p.m. The boys’ will start at 3.

Individual Tennis

Angelica Gavaldon, of Academy of Our Lady of Peace High School, plays Cammie Foley of Bonita Vista today for the section individual tennis championship at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club.

Gavaldon was seeded fifth entering the tournament, and Foley was seeded third.

Gavaldon, a freshman, has defeated second-seeded Laura Richards of Vista and fourth-seeded Veena Prabhakar of Bonita Vista.

Gavaldon is ranked sixth nationally among 14-year-olds in singles, and she and partner Akiko Gooden of Los Angeles are the country’s No. 1-rated doubles team for 14s.

In the doubles, the No. 2 Poway team of Carla Quaresma and Charlotte Skive will play La Jolla’s No. 3-seeded Kim Khoury and Paige Patridge in today’s final.

The doubles final begins at 1 p.m. Singles play is scheduled for 2:30.

Volleyball

A new team will be the section 3-A girls’ volleyball champion when top-seeded Mt. Carmel plays second-seeded Grossmont in the final Saturday at University City High School.

The teams made sure a new champion would be crowned when Mt. Carmel (26-5) defeated three-time defending champion Poway and Grossmont (27-5) defeated three-time champion Torrey Pines in the semifinals. Poway and Torrey Pines combined to win all six 3-A championships.

Grossmont and Mt. Carmel split their meetings this season at the Francis Parker Invitational. Mt. Carmel won in pool play and Grossmont won the third-place match.

Defending champion and top-seeded University of San Diego High School (12-0) will meet La Jolla (11-2) in a rematch of last year’s 2-A final. La Jolla won four consecutive 2-A titles from 1982-85.

Defending state Division III champion and top-seeded Francis Parker (21-3) plays second-seeded Calvin Christian (19-1) for the 1-A title.

All matches are at University City High School. The 3-A match is at 7 p.m., the 2-A final is at 5 p.m and the 1-A contest is at 3 p.m.

Water Polo

University of San Diego High School has never played for the section water polo title.

Coronado has been in the final game in four of the last five years and won the title twice, in 1983 and 1984.

It would seem to be a mismatch when the teams meet in the section final at 8 p.m. Saturday at UC San Diego’s Canyon View pool. Coronado, the top-seeded team, has not lost to a San Diego County school this season. University, the No. 2-seeded team, lost to Coronado, 11-6, earlier this season.

But University Coach Nancy Harper believes the game will come down to stopping Coronado’s set offense.

“We have a very good transition defense,” Harper said. “They shouldn’t be able to beat us to the other end of the pool. The key is, we have to shut them down when they set up in our defensive zone.”

Coronado is led by Evan Galbo and Alex Frawley who had five and four goals, respectively, in a 15-8 victory over Valhalla in the semifinals Wednesday. University beat Fallbrook, 12-8, to advance.

Field Hockey

For the ninth straight year, the Serra field hockey team will play for the San Diego Section championship. Serra (19-0) plays San Pasqual (10-8) Saturday at noon at Diegueno Junior High School in Encinitas. Mira Mesa (16-4) plays San Marcos (15-6) in a 10 a.m. third-place match, which is a rematch of last year’s third-place game won by San Marcos.

Serra’s string of seven straight section championships and an 86-match victory streak was broken last year by Fallbrook, which won in overtime strokes after playing to a 1-1 regulation tie.

Serra, which has produced six of the past seven players of the year, is led by Kris Fillat, who has scored seven goals in the first two playoff games. Also leading Serra are Shirley Kessler and Julia Taylor.

San Pasqual (10-8) was defeated by Serra, 8-0, in a meeting earlier in November. Its is led by forward Kim Thomas, who has 10 goals and 6 assists, midfielder Sandy Shimooka, who has 5 goals and 12 assists and goalie Joann Reynolds.