Breakers begin with wake-up call

The Laguna Beach High boys’ volleyball team launched its 2016 season on its home floor at Dugger Gym, and the Breakers were swept by Newport Harbor, 25-16, 25-22, 25-18.

Senior middle blocker Tyler Alter had nine kills and five digs, junior outside hitter Pete Obradovich eight kills, junior libero Cole Paxson 14 digs, and senior setter Isaac Wulff 25 assists for the Breakers.

Laguna, which returns five starters from a 2015 team that won the Orange Coast League championship, reached the semifinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs, and won the CIF Boys’ Volleyball Southern California Regionals Division III tournament title, entered the new season with a No. 3 ranking in CIF Southern Section Division 2.

Newport Harbor, the third-place team last year in the Sunset League, also opened its season Tuesday. The Sailors were unranked in the Division 1 preseason poll.

“I knew it would be a tough opener,” Laguna Coach Darren Utterback said. “We definitely got beat mentally.

“The bright spot, in all of it, is that the loss came to a Newport team that plays really nice, polished volleyball. It was a wake-up call and we responded by having a really good practice [for three hours on Wednesday]. The thing is, we’re trying to win every match, but it’s better to lose early than to lose late. There are great lessons to be learned in losing and practices become more motivated. A loss like this one is helpful as we continue to get better for the rest of the season.”

The Breakers return to play Tuesday, hosting San Clemente in a 6:15 p.m. nonleague match. The Tritons are ranked No. 5 in Division 1. The Breakers also hit the road Thursday for a 6:15 p.m. nonleague match at Santa Margarita.

“We still have some question marks and are still trying to find out how to fill some spots,” Utterback said. “I expect that we will come around. I know people say this a lot, but this really is a great group of kids to work with, and I really like them as people. I have really high hopes for this team and think we will improve a lot.”

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Track and Field

The Laguna Beach Distance Carnival was held Saturday at Guyer Field and was “a great meet,” Laguna girls’ Coach Steve Lalim said.

Individual event finishes turned in by the Breakers were:

Varsity: Girls’ 3,200 Meter Run: Taylor Alvarez (12:04.96, fifth); Boys’ 400 meter dash: Brody Seebass (53.92, third); Girls’ 800 meter run: Callista Helms (2:36.23, 12th), Bella Fonk (2:36.97, 14th); Girls’ 1,600 meter run: Pearl Shoemaker (5:34.28, sixth), Ana Kelly (5:57.97, 20th), Evie Cant (6:10.01, 28th), Crystal Curras (7:18.22, 46th), Kathleen Kimball (7:18.25, 47th); Boys’ 1,600 Meter Run: Ayrton Svenson (4:57.75, 25th), .

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Frosh/Soph: Girls’ 1,600 Meter Run: Alden Kramer (5:47.78, 10th), Molly Cohn (5:50.09, 13th), Charlie Hoffs (6:12.54, 28th), Emily Engel (6:17.98, 37th); Mara Eftimie (6:30.59, 42nd), Hannah Vogel (7:01.03, 60th), Ashley Flores (7:56.93, 74th), Deeba Saffarian (8:04.82, 77th); Boys’ 1,600 Meter Run: Luc LaMontagne (4:44.13, fifth), Sabastian Fischer (5:04.61, 30th); Cal Nielson (5:05.88, 35th), Jaden Orr (5:13.16, 49th), Sam Richardson (5:18.46, 63rd), Zach Falkowski (5:20.47, 71st), Luke Colburn (5:22.73, 74th), Luis Paquera (5:25.03, 81st), Kevin Smith (5:29.18, 88th), Tim Laughlin (5:31.72, 91st), Alex Bonnin (5:34.05, 97th), Zach Bonnin (6:00.19, 123rd), Louis Skaist (6:03.26, 125th), Conor Farley (6:07.57, 126th), Matt Ghere (6:11.56, 129th), Michael Mead (6:17.73, 132nd), Connor Giofreddi (6:38.88, 140th), Luc Pacheco (7:50.68, 144th); Boys’ 800 meter run: Carter Sokolovic (2:16.78, 16th), Luis Paquera (2:23.47, 29th); Boys’ 4 x 400 Meter Relay: Laguna Beach “B” (4:02.92, fourth), Laguna Beach (4:02.92, fifth); Girls’ 4 x 400 Meter Relay: Laguna Beach (4:22.20, second).

The Breakers took part in a nonleague dual meet Thursday (March3) against El Dorado. Results weren’t available at press time.

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Swimming

The Breakers swam their opening meet of the 2016 season Wednesday, and the girls’ team defeated Garden Grove Pacifica, 138-32, and the boys’ team beat the Mariners, 110-57.

Last spring, the boys’ team captured the program’s first CIF-SS championship by winning the Division 2 title. The girls’ team finished 16th in the Division 2 standings.

Among the highlights from Wednesday’s meet: senior Cameron Karkosa set both a new school record time and a CIF automatic cut in the boys’ 50-freestyle; senior Max Morgan recorded CIF times in both the 50-free and 100-free; junior Camden Benson hit a CIF time in the 100-butterfly; sophomores Kasey Karkosa (girls’ 100-Butterfly and 100-Breaststroke) and Harper Dix (girls’ 100-Free, 100-Backstroke) set CIF times in two events, and two boys’ relay teams and three girls’ relay teams won their respective events and achieved CIF consideration cuts in the process.

“I was very impressed with our performance today,” co-head Coach Kari Damato said. “It was a great start to our season. I’m excited about the depth of our girls’ team and think we have the potential to place well at CIF. On the boys’ side, we graduated some valuable athletes last year, but we bring back a strong group of juniors and seniors who I anticipate doing very well.”

Girls’ first-place finishers Wednesday: 200 Medley Relay: Keira Dailey, Abby Cohn, Sophie Leggett, Kyla Whitelock (2:00.75, CIF time); 200 Free Relay: Harper Dix, Sophie Leggett, Bella Baldridge, Kasey Karkoska (1:44.16, CIF time); 400 Free Relay: Kasey Karkoska, Sophia Lucas, Bella Baldridge, Harper Dix (3:50.03, CIF time); 200-Free: Sophia Lucas, 2:12.98; 50-Free: Bella Baldridge, 25.98; 100-Butterfly: Kasey Karkosa, 57.26 (*CIF time); 100-Breaststroke: Kasey Karkosa, 1:10.41 (CIF time); 100-Free: Harper Dix, 54.47 (CIF time); 100-Backstroke: Harper Dix, 1:00.76 (CIF time); 500-Free: Claire Kelly (5:36.99).

Boys’ first-place finishers Wednesday: 200-Free Relay: Cameron Karkoska, Billy Renner, Camden Benson, Max Morgan (1:31.12, CIF time); 400-Free Relay: Max Morgan, Billy Renner, Camden Benson, Cameron Karkoska (3:22.51, CIF time); 200-Free: Billy Renner, 1:54.16; 50-Free: Cameron Karkosa (21.20, school record, CIF time); 100-Fly: Camden Benson (59.37, CIF time); 100-Free: Max Morgan (48.56, CIF time); 100-Breaststroke: Cameron Karkosa (58.88, CIF time).

The Breakers next swim a 3:15 p.m. nonleague meet on Tuesday at El Toro.

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Baseball

The Breakers began their season Saturday in Orange and took on host El Modena in a nonleague doubleheader. The Vanguards won both games by scores of 7-0 and 4-0.

Senior catcher Will McInerny had Laguna’s lone hit, a double, off El Modena winning pitcher Samuel Gutierrez in the opening game. In the second game, senior Zak Kovacic went three for three and accounted for half of the Breakers’ six hits. Sophomore Jeff Bruyntjens doubled and senior Jack Simon and junior Cole Coscino both singled.

The Breakers started play Thursday at the Newport Elks Tournament. The score from their game against Troy, the preseason No. 9 team in CIF-SS Division 4, wasn’t available at press time. The Breakers also play an 11 a.m. tournament game Saturday at Beckman, the preseason No. 7 team in Division 3.

Laguna also will play tournament games on Monday and Wednesday. The tournament concludes March 11.

“This is a great tournament with great teams,” Laguna Coach Mike Bair said. “It serves as a great measuring stick to see what areas we need to focus on in practice.”

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Softball

The Breakers begin their season Saturday at the Costa Mesa Tournament.

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Boys’ Tennis

The Breakers went to 2-0 on the season by handling host San Juan Hills in a nonleague match Tuesday, 17-1.

Earning sweeps in singles player were No. 1 Ryan Gee (6-1, 6-0, 6-0) and No. 3 Charles Keller (6-2, 6-3, 6-2), and Dean Hodes, who subbed in for injured player Tristan Krogius at No. 2 singles, won his two matches (6-2, 6-3) at the No. 2 line. It was a clean-sweep in doubles for the Breakers teams of No. 1 Ryan Gee/Hayden Seitz (6-1, 6-0, 6-0), No. 2 Mason Lebby/Nick Besso (7-5, 6-0, 6-1), and No. 3 Taylor Sokolovic/Blake Hawkins (7-6 w/7-5 tiebreaker, 6-3, 6-1).

The Breakers opened their season Feb. 23 and defeated Laguna Hills, 16-2.

“We have three, veteran singles players who are starting in our varsity lineup, and we look to them for leadership while there are four new players who are starting in the doubles lineup,” Laguna Coach Don Davis said. “And so, we have been working hard at getting these four players to understand the core strategy that shall lead them forward.

“During our first two matches, we have only dropped one set of doubles, and two sets of singles, so we are off to a great start, while the four new players, the doubles teams of Nick Besso and Mason Lebby, and Taylor Sokolovich and Blake Hawkins, have improved greatly.”

The Breakers play a pair of 3 p.m. nonleague matches twice next week, hosting JSerra Tuesday and visit Trabuco Hills Thursday.

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Surfing

At the Scholastic Surf Series Event No. 4 at Golden West Street beach in Huntington Beach, the Breakers won the team competition against St. Margaret’s, 67-43, and also had several individual winners.

In the Boys’ Shortboard division, Breakers Jake Levine and Travis Booth surfed to a tie but Levine edged Booth for first place on a count back. Vann Allen was seventh in the competition. Levine and Jameson Roller tied in the Longboard final standings and a count back gave Roller third place and Levine fourth. Spencer Davis won the Bodyboarding division final.

In the Girls’ Longboard, Anika Pitz won the division, her third consecutive competition title. The Girls’ Shortboard division saw Claire Kelly finish second behind St Margaret’s Kelly Smith, a resident of Laguna Beach.

The Breakers will compete Sunday in Event No. 5 of the Scholastic Surf Series. The state championships are April 16-18.