Nitros walk off with rivalry win
BASEBALL
Glendale 4, Hoover 3: Though the Glendale High and Hoover baseball teams will not qualify for the postseason, the teams created some suspense in the final inning of their Pacific League finale Friday afternoon.
It came down to the final plate appearance.
Jason Marquez singled home Sean Harris with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give Glendale the victory.
Glendale finished at 5-16, 3-11 in league and Hoover wound up 5-16-1, 3-11.
Hoover scored three runs in its half of the seventh off Marquez, who came in to try to pick up the save.
“That’s baseball in that it’s a game where you get a chance to prove yourself again,” Glendale Coach Jesus Osuna said. “It’s a great game and, at the end of the day, we made it count.”
Hoover knotted it at 3 in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Michael Zalin with one out.
Glendale took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Harris. It extended the lead to 3-0 on a two-run single by Evan Norton.
Hoover Coach Joe Cotti said the Tornadoes battled.
“They stuck together and got some runs late, but we just came up short,” Cotti said. “It’s been a tough season and there’s lots of room for improvement.”
BOYS’ SWIMMING
Crescenta Valley, Glendale in CIF Southern Section Division II preliminaries: The qualifying meet for today’s Division II championship meet went swimmingly for the Falcons, with its top individuals foreshadowing dominance and crucial fringe qualifiers clearing the bar Friday at Riverside Aquatics Center.
Harrison Thai, Young Tae Seo and Louis Wojciechowski each pinned down No. 1-seed times in at least one event, with Thai doubling in the 200-yard individual medley in 1 minute 51.98 seconds and the 100 backstroke 50.49. Seo is seeded No. 1 in the 100 breaststroke (57.20) and second in the 500 freestyle (4:31.34), while Wojciechowski is the top seed in the 50 freestyle (21.12) and third in the 100 freestyle (46.54).
“Young Tae and Harrison and Louis, they’ve been in these situations so many times, myself and the whole team can’t feel anything but confident that they’re going to have a great day tomorrow,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju, whose team, based on prelim projections, has an eight-point lead over its nearest competitor, Damien. “It’s a much more positive feeling than last year at this time.”
The top 10 swimmers or relay teams in each event from the prelims qualify for the championship “A” championship heat at today’s final meet, which begins at 10 a.m. Qualifiers 11-12 qualify for the “B” consolation final, where they can score points for their team, but cannot compete for CIF titles.
Crescenta Valley will also have three relays in the championship finals, as the 200-medley team of Thai, Seo, Jake Ksendov and Antonio Camarillo are the top seed (1:37.09) as are Thai, Seo, Wojciechowski and Edward Yi in the 400 freestyle.
Camarillo, Ksendov, Stephen Woo and Wojciechowski are seeded fifth in the 200-freestyle relay (1:28.00).
Adding to the Falcons’ finals scoring potential are Yi, who qualified eighth in the 100 butterfly (52.23) and 10th in the 500 freestyle (4:46.47) and Ksendov, who qualified 15th in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.12).
“It couldn’t have gone any better,” Sakonju said. “Key performances that we talked about going into this were, ‘Could Edward Yi move from being in the consolation [heat] to getting into two finals for his events and could Jake Ksendov qualify in the top-20?
“Those were two huge performances.”
Glendale’s Mickey Mowry held fast to the No. 1 seed he carried into the prelims in the 100 butterfly in 49.91 and he will also be seeded fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:42.57).
GIRLS’ SWIMMING
Crescenta Valley in CIF Southern Section Division II preliminaries: Several Falcons advanced to today’s Division II finals with top-20 performances on Friday at the Riverside Aquatics Center.
Iva Icheva will be seeded in two championship heats after placing ninth in the 50 freestyle (24.93) and sixth in the 100 backstroke (59.02).
Sabrina Hatzer qualified ninth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.32.
The Falcons’ 200-medley relay team of Icheva, Hatzer, Nayiri Keshishyan and Jesse Gabor qualified 12th in 1:55.23 and the 200-freestyle relay team of Icheva, Gabor, Heather Abrams and Hatzer qualified 11th in 1:42.79.
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in CIF Southern Section Division I preliminaries: The Tologs qualified a pair of relay teams for the championship heat of the Division I finals with top-10 performances in Thursday’s prelims at Riverside Aquatic Center.
Meg Ryan, Kirsten Vose, Katie Altmayer and Emily Balog notched the sixth-best qualifying mark (1:49.62) in the 200-medley relay, while the 200-freestyle relay team of Altmayer, Balog, Ryan and Vose is seeded eighth (1:39.60).
Vose also qualified second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.04.
Altmayer qualified 17th in the 100 butterfly (58.0) and Balog qualified 14th in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.95) to advance to consolation heats.