Roundup: El Capitan girls golf wins CCC tournament to clinch their third straight conference title.
El Capitan High senior golfer Esther Sheu told everyone during warmups she felt she was going to shoot a 67 at Tuesday’s Central California Conference Tournament at Pheasant Run. Everyone chalked it up as another 6-7 joke the kids love so much. Sheu went out and backed it up, shooting a personal best 6-under, 67 to help the Gauchos clinch their third consecutive CCC championship.
“She claimed she, ‘Woke up and immediately knew we were going to win,’” El Capitan High coach Michael Davenport. “So whatever she was feeling ended up coming true because she did shoot an incredible 6-under par, bogey-free round of a 67.” The Gauchos tied Buhach Colony with a 9-1 record in dual matches, but El Capitan edged the Thunder for the CCC team title by winning the mid-season and end of season tournaments.
Sheu wasn’t the only El Capitan player on fire on Tuesday as all six of the Gauchos turned in their top 18-hope score. Mady Dietz finished with an 87. Payton Zeller (91), Raija Sebestian (97), Lucca Jorgenson (99) and Evelyn Cook (115) all contributed to the Gauchos victory as they finished with 441 as a team score. Buhach Colony finished second with a score of 477.
Atwater High’s Paisley Garcia shot a personal best 83 for a second-place finish behind Sheu and Buhach Colony’s Amanda Englert placed third with an 85.
Sheu won CCC Most Valuable Player for the fourth consecutive year. The all-CCC first team was composed of Englert, Dietz, Garcia, Merced’s Abby Rosa, Buhach Colony’s Alana Hamilton and Zeller. Making the second team were Buhach Colony’s Jayden Cardoso, Ryen Cardoso and Addison Englert, along with Merced’s Maya Rodriguez and El Capitan’s Jorgenson.
El Capitan and Buhach Colony advance to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championships on Monday at the River Oaks Golf Course in Nicolaus. “Incredible stuff and I'm extremely proud of all of them for showing their true potential in a moment when the stakes were at their highest,” Davenport said. “Now to try to recreate that confidence and high-quality play at Divisionals next week!”
Girls Tennis
El Capitan 8, Los Banos 1 – The Gauchos defeated Los Banos to clinch the CCC championship. Lia Garcia Del Castillo, Gabriela Garcia Del Castillo, Amberly Her, Mikayla Santiago and Emma Weber all won singles matches for El Capitan, which improved to 20-1 overall and 9-0 in the CCC.
Girls Flag Football
El Capitan 25, Merced 20 – The Gauchos defense came up with the big stop on fourth-and-one at the El Capitan 21-yard line in the final minute to seal the victory. Aallyah Simonian threw for 253 yards and ran for 53 more on the ground and accounted for four touchdowns for the Gauchos (18-4 overall, 6-3 CCC). Avnoor Bains had 113 yards receiving and a touchdown. Leyonni Attkins added 70 yards receiving and a score and Mady Dietz finished with 73 yards receiving a touchdown.
Defensively Keely Castillo recorded 10 tackles and an interception and Bains and Isabella Magana both finished with two sacks. “I think we put in the work. We studied them,” said El Capitan coach Juan Valdovino. “I think in the end, it just came out of the girls. They were disciplined, it meant something to them, they got the job done.”
Atwater 51, Los Banos 6 – Madi Hiler threw for 150 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for 74 yards and another score as the Falcons clinched at least a tie for the CCC championship. Atwater improved to 17-4 overall and 8-1 in the CCC. Kaylee Gunnin added two passing touchdowns, one rushing score and two more receiving touchdowns. Riley Leonardo also hauled in two touchdown passes. Natalie Melgoza and Emma Flores picked up interceptions for the Falcons, who can win the title outright with a victory over Merced on Thursday.
Buhach Colony 37, Golden Valley 0 – Emily Gallegos scored two touchdowns on offense and returned an interception on defense for the Thunder (14-8, 5-4 CCC). Lesli Gutierrez, Gloria Alvarado and Genna Trossen also scored touchdowns for Buhach Colony.
Girls Volleyball
El Capitan 3, Merced 0 – The Gauchos clinched the outright CCC championship with a 25-16, 25-10, 25-21 victory over the Bears. It’s El Capitan’s fifth consecutive conference championship. Sophie Fernandez led the way with nine kills, 18 assists, nine digs and two aces. Bette Lua added 19 kills and five digs.
Buhach Colony 3, Golden Valley 0 – Taylor Martin recorded 11 kills and five aces and Kylie Key added 12 kills, seven digs and two aces as the Thunder picked up a 25-11, 25-15, 25-23 victory over the Cougars. McKenna Hill also compiled 32 assists, 12 digs and two aces for BC.
Boys Water Polo
Merced 20, Buhach Colony 4 – The Bears extended their winning streak to 18 in a row as they improved to 23-2 overall and 7-0 in the CCC with a victory on Monday. Kade Slocum, Reid McCall, Eli Hamm, Hunter Gossett and Mathew Hamilton all scored three goals for Merced. Cord McCall added two goals, five assists and two steals and Hamm also recorded five assists and six steals.
Atwater 11, Los Banos 3 – Josh Borba poured in five goals and Maverick Shepherd added two goals as the Falcons improved to 12-12 overall and 4-3 in the CCC.
El Capitan 16, Golden Valley 3 – Colby Schanze scored four goals and Joseph Rodriguez added three goals and two assists as the Gauchos improved to 6-1 in the CCC. Matthew Brown chipped in with two goals and four assists and Jack Nutcher recorded six saves for the Gauchos.
Livingston 22, Lathrop 15 – Ten different Wolves players scored as they improved to 15-3 overall and 12-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. Kelvyn Edwards scored give goals and Aydan Ramirez picked up nine assists for the Wolves.
Girls Water Polo
Merced 17, Buhach Colony 1 – Eleven different Bears players scored goals as Merced improved to 22-2 overall and 7-0 in the CCC. Elise Metcalf paced Merced with three goals, two assists and one steal. Sarah Slocum added two goals and three assists and Gianna Fragulia chipped in with two goals and two assists.
El Capitan 17, Golden Valley 6 – Jynessa Schwerdtfeger, Molly Akers and Peyton Adrian both scored three goals to lead the Gauchos (18-5 overall, 6-1 CCC) past the Cougars. Adrian also saved five shots. Brooklyn Ramsey finished with two goals, two assists and two steals for the Gauchos.
Livingston 12, Lathrop 7 – Claire Reynoso had a nice all-around game with two goals, four assists and three steals for the Wolves. Teammate Mariah Ramirez finished with two goals, two assists and three steals.
Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.