Rachel Wacholder

School: Laguna Beach High

Sport: Volleyball

Position: Outside hitter

Class: Junior

With sister Ashley at Duke burning up the Atlantic Coast Conference, Rachel Wacholder is making her mark on at least a little bit of the Pacific Coast. Wacholder, who at 5 feet 8 is short for an outside hitter, makes up for her height disadvantage by jumping very high, Coach Mike Soylular said. Saturday, Wacholder had 23 kills, six digs, four blocks and four aces and Laguna Beach defeated Capistrano Valley, 15-8, 15-4, 15-7, in the Division I final of the Orange County Championships. Wacholder, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, has 101 kills, 40 digs, 11 blocks and 17 aces for the Artists (5-0). Soylular said Wacholder’s value comes from her versatility: “She’s one of the best all-around players in the state, not just the county. I think she is going to be somewhat better than her sister because she’s a better backcourt player, and she still has another year and a half left of high school.”

Other top performers:

Carrie Garritson, a Sunny Hills runner who had the fastest time of the day--17 minutes 21 seconds for three miles--at the Woodbridge Cross-Country Invitational.

Kelly Kuebler and Kirstin Laird, who helped unranked Los Alamitos upset No. 1 Long Beach Wilson in volleyball. Kuebler had 17 kills and Laird had 31 assists for the Griffins, who also defeated Cypress to win the Artesia tournament.

Jen Rudometkin, who was named the most valuable player of the Orange County Championships Division III after helping Whittier Christian to the volleyball title.