The spring sports schedule has reached the postseason, and local teams still alive in the playoff race highlighted their squads at the penultimate Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon on Monday at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
While the local high school teams are vying for CIF-SS titles, Santa Barbara City College’s track & field and swim teams have already put up strong postseason showings.
The weekly SBART luncheon is presented by Maho Prentice LLP, Investec and Fidelity National Title Group Santa Barbara.
SBCC Swim, Track & Field Compete in Championship Season
While the local high schools will begin their postseason track & field and swim action this week, the Vaqueros were in action last weekend.
The SBCC women’s swim team captured second place at the 3C2A State Tournament over the weekend, marking the program’s third consecutive top-two finish in California.
Trinity Link led the charge for the Vaqueros, claiming state titles in the 100 butterfly and 100 IM. She broke her own school record in the 100 IM at 57.56 seconds.
Meanwhile, the Vaqueros secured four top-two finishes in the relay races to help power the team to a second-place showing.
“The college girls had an epic weekend. It was very, very eventful and exciting,” SBCC swim coach Chuckie Roth said. “The highlight really came into our team performance, the depth of our team and what we were able to do. These kids, a lot of them water polo kids, just get gritty.”
On the track, SBCC competed in the SoCal Regional Prelims last Saturday in Bakersfield and will have six female student-athletes in the SoCal Finals this Saturday.
The Vaquero 4×400 relay team of Audrey Kobayashi, Serenity Jones, Syriah Jones and Kiala Haas recorded a season-best time of 4:02.84 in the prelims and will look to keep it rolling in the finals.
Kobayashi will also compete in the discus SoCal Finals, while Serenity Jones is the first alternate for the 100 hurdles.
“(It was) one of the more inspiring races I’ve seen in a long, long time. Anytime you can beat Mt. SAC in anything, you take it,” SBCC track & field head coach Don Willis said of his 4×400 relay team’s prelim race.
“I’m just in awe, and I love getting ready to do this, and being with [the team]. They keep me young.”
CIF-SS Playoff Action this Week
Plenty of local high school spring sports teams will either begin or continue their postseason runs this week, with Wednesday serving as the busiest day of playoff action.
Bishop Diego and Dos Pueblos are the final boys volleyball teams left standing in the CIF-SS playoffs, as both teams will hit the road this week for their Division 5 Quarterfinal matchups on Wednesday.
The Cardinals will head down to take on Brea Olina, while the Chargers have a matchup with El Dorado. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, local girls beach volleyball individual pairings will compete in the CIF-SS Pairs Tournament on Wednesday in Huntington Beach.
Wednesday also marks the beginning of the CIF-SS Boys Tennis playoffs, headlined by a local matchup between Santa Barbara High and Cate in Carpinteria to begin the Division 3 bracket.
Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Laguna Blanca will all start their postseason runs at home, while Carpinteria High is set to hit the road. The full first-round preview can be found here.
Later in the week, local swim standouts will compete in the CIF-SS swim prelims and finals from Thursday to Saturday, while track & field student-athletes will begin playoff action with the prelim rounds on Saturday.
Most teams will be on the road competing, but Carpinteria High will host the CIF-SS Div. 4 track & field prelims on Saturday at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium.
Student-Athletes in Attendance
SBCC Track & Field: Serenity Jones, Audrey Kobayashi
Dos Pueblos Baseball: Liam Shea, Esteban Garcia
San Marcos Baseball: Quinn Melton, Will Wrenn
Carpinteria High Baseball: Brayden Real, Brick Trumble
Carpinteria High Track & Field: Izzy Scott, Jeshua Magana
San Marcos Swim: Kate Crowder, Anna Holmes, Will Stuart, Cole Racich
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