IRVINE – River Valley League champion Jurupa Valley seemed strong enough to launch a bid to nail down a Southern Section Division 7 boys’ water polo championship.
But the Audrey Loftin-coached Jaguars, following powerful wins over Santa Ana Valley and Oxnard, got tripped up in the semifinals, 9-8, by No. 2-seeded San Dimas.
So when San Dimas lost to No. 1 Rio Mesa, 12-9, in the finals, Jurupa Valley’s 26-6 overall record might’ve seemed impressive – especially when compared to San Dimas (20-12) and Rio Mesa (14-9).
Back in September, the Jags prepped for their playoff run in back-to-back tournaments – Riverside Poly and San Gorgonio-San Bernardino. While the Jags couldn’t beat host powerhouse Poly, losing 19-5, they knocked off a pretty talented J.W. North-Riverside squad twice.
They unloaded on all comers in winning the San G tournament – Indio, 26-3; Arroyo Valley-San Bernardino, 19-4; and 14-6 over Arlington-Riverside in the semifinals.
Armed with a suffocating defense and an active goalie, the Jags handed Murrieta Mesa its first loss, 9-5, in a tournament championship – a reversal of last year’s San Gorgonio Boys Varsity Water Polo Tournament.
“This was our first tough game this season,” said Jurupa Valley goalie, Anthony Diaz, who came up with 13 blocks. “They beat us last season. The difference, I think, is that we’re stronger and a year older.”
C.W. Loftin scored three times for Jurupa Valley, supported by two goals each from Bryan Diaz and Nick Mize.
The CIF, Division 2 Rams had taken a 14-0 record into the finals against the Div. 5 Jaguars.
“I didn’t know they were undefeated,” said Diaz, whose own team improved to 14-3 after sweeping all five tournament games. “They are really tough, really aggressive.”
It was CIF playoff-type defense, including a tough man-on-man duel at both ends of the pool.
“I think they were a little frustrated,” said Diaz. “They put up some nice shots, but we’re a strong team. When teams get the ball into the hole against us, we’re very tough.”
It was a sign of things to come for the Jags. Other than an eventual non-league loss to Poly-Riverside, the only other team Jurupa Valley would lose to was San Dimas, 10-9, at the Nogales Fall Classic on Oct. 16.
After 10 straight wins, including all eight against River Valley League matchups, Jurupa Valley finally lost again – to San Dimas, 9-8, in the Division 7 championship.
GIRLS TENNIS
Murrieta Valley (23-4) – For three straight years, the Nighthawks have lasted until the finals, including this year’s Division 2 championship against unbeaten Arcadia, which prevailed, 13-5. Murrieta Valley, incidentally, reached its Div. 2 finals after a 9-9 deadlock with top-seeded Valencia, winning 79-76 on games won.
Faith Person, a freshman, came up with a 6-2 singles win while doubles teammates Kelsey Lajom-Alana Andrews and Tina Yueh-Sunny Ng came up with doubles wins in the loss.
In the end, Murrieta Valley got a berth in the Southern California USTA Regional Tournament against another unbeaten team, Torrey Pines-San Diego, which won, 5-2.
Riverside Poly (22-3 final record) – Doubles strength was apparent in the Bears’ rise to their CIF Division 4 championship match, which resulted in a duel against top-seeded South Torrance at The Claremont Club on Nov. 13. Torrance knocked off second-seeded Poly, 13-5.
Poly’s five wins came from Makenzie Nelson-Jasmine Dhalla, plus Torrey Mateljan-Laney Baum in doubles, plus Jalyn Kornblum coming up with Poly’s lone singles set.
Inland Empire tennis notes – Citrus Belt League co-champion Yucaipa, beaten by Long Beach Poly, 13-5, lasted one round longer than co-champ Redlands (loser to division finalist Yorba Linda) in Div. 3 … Serrano-Phelan lost in the Div. 4 semifinals to South Torrance … Alta Loma was beaten by eventual Div. 5 champion Thacher-Ojai in the semifinals. It was Rim of the World-Lake Arrowhead, the San Andreas League champion that lost to Alta Loma in the quarterfinals.
CROSS COUNTRY
Great Oak-Temecula was easily the highlight for any of the San Bernardino or Riverside county teams. The Wolfpack boys notched its first-ever Southern California Division 1 championship at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
The Wolfpack girls? Top-flight runner Destiny Collins, suffering from shin splints, wasn’t even a scoring runner in Great Oak’s sixth Div. 1 title over the past seven years.
Sultana-Hesperia’s Stefani Gaskell, competing individually in girls’ Div. 3, scored a win in a brilliant 17:27.1 clocking.
It might’ve been the duel waged by Citrus Valley-Redlands’ Claire Graves in the girls’ Division 2 finals that drew huge raves.
Battling with top-ranked Amanda Gehrich, the two dueled in heartfelt fashion until the Tesoro-Mission Viejo senior started inching away to win in 17 minutes, 24 seconds – four ticks ahead of Graves.
As for Serrano-Phelan, the Lady Diamondbacks made their presence felt in a stirring duel with perennial power Saugus, which won the girls’ Div. 2 team finals, 79-83.
Serrano’s scoring – 9-12-17-19-26 – couldn’t match up with Saugus’ runners, 4-14-15-22-24. The Lady Diamondback’s best runner was Kelly Fairchild (18:18).
As for entry into this week’s state finals – top six teams from each division finals qualified – in Fresno from the San Bernardino-Riverside county squads, here’s the breakdown:
BOYS
Colony-Ontario (Div. 3)
Rancho Cucanonga (Div. 1)
Rubidoux-Jurupa Valley (Div. 3)
Xavier Prep-Palm Desert (Div. 4)
Yucca Valley (Div. 4)
Individuals
Tyler Janes, King-Riverside (Div. 1)
Uriel Mercado, Sultana-Hesperia (Div. 1)
Manuel Ramirez, Sultana-Hesperia (Div. 1)
GIRLS
Sultana-Hesperia (Div. 1)
Vista del Lago-Moreno Valley (Div. 3)
Woodcrest Christian-Riverside (Div. 5)
Yucaipa (Div. 1)
Individuals
Claire Graves, Citrus Valley-Redlands (Div. 2)
Jennifer Sandoval, Summit-Fontana (Div. 1)
GIRLS PREP GOLF
Vista Murrieta’s Alli Kim, who’s set for Nevada-Las Vegas, shot 75 at the Southern California Championships at Goose Creek Golf Club in Jurupa Valley on Thursday.
A standout career ended short of hopes to reach the state championships for the second time. As a freshman in 2012, she was the last area player to play at the California championships.
One day before the SoCal Regionals, Kim signed to play collegiately at UNLV.
Andrea Lee, of Mira Costa-Manhattan Beach, shot seven-under par, 64, to win.
One player that did advance to state from Riverside County was Palm Desert senior JiYoon Jang, the Southern Section individual champion who shot 69, having shot 66 in the Southern Section qualifier at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills on Nov. 5.
Golf notes: In team play, Palm Desert (398) and Great Oak-Temecula (403) were no match for Walnut High School’s 364 at the winning Southern Section-Eastern Division – not with individual scores of 70-71-71-75 and two rounds of 77 at Jurupa Hills Country Club. Incidentally, Vista Murrieta (led by Kim’s 75) deadlocked with Southwestern League rival Great Oak for third place at 403, but the tiebreaking sixth score came down, 85-87. Jang shot 74 to lead Palm Desert.
MORE WATER POLO
Flying under the radar throughout the season, unseeded Redlands East Valley’s playoff path took the Wildcats into the CIF, Southern Section Division 5 championship match against defending champion Claremont High School on Saturday.
REV won, 7-5, in a defense-dominated duel in which freshman goalkeeper Harrison Land blocked 14 Claremont shots.
Freshmen ruled the pool at REV, getting strong play from Chad Gornay, Jared Gornay, Nick Flemington, junior Jacob Bills and senior Zach Jenson.
Ironically, the strong aquatics program at REV has not yet produced a Southern Section team championship until this year. Coached by Ryan Williams, the Wildcats and Claremont took identical 23-8 marks into the title match played in Irvine.
Trailing 3-2 at halftime, Wildcat defenders held Claremont to just three goals in the second half.
Winning three playoff games by a total of six goals heading into the Southern Section championship, the Wildcats snuck past Ayala-Chino Hills, 9-8, then prevailed over Whittier-La Serna, 12-11 in overtime.
• Murrieta Valley – After Southern Section Division 3 playoff wins over Costa Mesa Estancia, Aliso Niguel-Aliso Viejo and Montebello, Murrieta Valley pulled off a 12-8 win over Capistrano Valley for the championship.
• Temescal Canyon-Lake Elsinore – The Titans cleared a pathway to the Southern Section Division 6 championships with playoff wins over Cate-Carpinteria, Beaumont and perennial powerhouse Malibu to square off against Segerstrom-Santa Ana. In the end, Segerstrom prevailed, 7-6.
