BOYS GOLF – League Meet
Laguna competed in their final Sunset event at the Wave League tournament held April 29-30 at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills. Breakers had three golfers make the first day cut of 12 golfers advancing to day 2 with senior Russell Franconi-Krychman 76, sophomore Kiyan Arshadi 80, and junior Luke Bo 81. Final 2-day scores were Russell 12th place at 160, Luke 14th at 165 and Kiyan 15th 167. Marina’s Diesel Roman won the event with a 146.
GIRLS LACROSSE (13-6, 0-5)
Laguna qualified for CIF in D3 and defeated Chadwick (Palos Verdes) 11-4 on May 2 at the Dolphin’s field. On Saturday night, May 4, Laguna fell in an upset loss to Cate 10-4 in a contest at Guyer Field marked by some tough officiating. Breakers completed their seventh season (4th at the varsity level) with their best success ever. Next season will be just as challenging in the Pacific Coast League.
SWIMMING
Ava Knepper finished 8th in the 50 Yard Free (24.05) and 15th in the 100 (52.64) at the SSCIF D-1 finals held at the Mt San Antonio Swim Center on May 3. Santa Margarita won the team title, Breakers were 31st off Ava’s events. In D2 Boys, Laguna finished 38th off the points from Chase Shipp’s diving last week. Shipp will be competing in the state meet on May 9.
TRACK & FIELD
Laguna had a number of athletes qualify for the D4 SSCIF Track finals to be held at Moorpark High School on Saturday, May 10. In the preliminaries held at Carpinteria on May 3, Jackson Kollock had the top toss in the shot put with a 48-9 three-fourths toss, while Sydney Sydney had the top times in the girl’s 3200-meter run (11:32.13) and the 1600 meter run (5:14.65). Breakers have won 16 events at the SSCIF finals, beginning with a relay victory in 1948 and last achieved in 2021 by Mateo Bianchi in the D3 1600-meter run.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Lance Stewart Retires as Breaker Coach
Coach Lance Stewart – the decorated Laguna athlete who returned on three different coaching runs, announced at the recent team banquet that his most recent five-year run is his last. He came back to Breakers in 2020 and guided the program through a very disrupted and challenging COVID period. In 16 season, of boys volleyball (88-90, 2004-11, 2020-24), he had an all-time record of 246-159, seven league titles, one CIF Section title, and three State Regional CIF titles.
Lance attended Laguna as a student from 1977-81, where he earned Orange County, CIF and State Player of the Year honors as the setter for the undefeated Artists in 1981. He also earned league MVP and All-CIF honors as a quarterback in football and All-CIF in basketball. A talented artist, he received his Art degree from Cal. Stewart was also a very successful girls volleyball coach at both Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach, with 11 league titles, four CIF titles, two state titles in 15 seasons.
2024 Laguna Boys Volleyball Team Awards:
VARSITY: Coaches Award: Parker Gapp, Ben Goodwin; Captain’s Award: Kai Patchell; Most Improved: Quinn Halloran Junior Varsity (Coached by Cliff Amsden): Coach’s Award: Truman Smith and Grey Bulloch
Most Improved: Jonah Goldstein, Jacob Bystrom
WINTER AWARDS
Boys’ soccer awards were recently provided to celebrate the squad’s most successful run in the six seasons at the Sunset Conference. Coach Andy Thomas completed his 13th season with Laguna (1997-04, 2020-) with a 119-129-27 overall record. Breakers were 4-2-0 this season in league edged out by Huntington Beach (4-1-1) for the title.
Breakers lost in the SSCIF-D3 second round to Foothill Tech in Ventura.
ALL CIF: Julian Reichel:
All Sunset Wave League: Julian Reichel (Co-Offensive MVP), Dakota Guzman, Max Gardner, Scott Mead, Dylan Petrie-Norris (2nd Team), Jackson Arrasin (2nd Team), Luke Singer (2nd Team)
Team Awards:
Varsity – Scott Mead MVP, Max Garner Offensive MVP, Dakota Guzman Defensive MVP, Scott Mead Best Teammate
JV – MVP John Tavey, Defensive MVP James Schroeder, Offensive MVP Conal Buckley and Tyler Tafreshi, Best Teammate Landon Hutcheon
Frosh awards – MVP Alek Saravia, Defensive MVP Jack Pugh, Offensive MVP Sam Wong, Best Teammate Jack Liston
Alumni Note:
USC, coached by Laguna alumnus Dain Blanton ’90 , won the NCAA Beach Volleyball title at Gulf Shores (AL), defeating UCLA. Laguna was also represented by Peri Brennan ‘20 on the UCLA squad, who narrowly lost her pairs match 21-14, 19-21, 13-15. USC got to the finals by defeating Cal Poly in the semis. Piper Naess (Laguna ’20), representing the Mustangs, lost in a tough match 17-21, 26-28 to SC’s #4s.
The women’s Water Polo NCAA Finals are May 8-10-11, and the Breakers will be well represented with players from #1 seed UCLA, California and Princeton.
Have a note/question on Laguna Beach sports/correction/update? E-mail Frank at [email protected]. Looking for the 2023-24 high school schedules and scores? Check Laguna Beach High School on the Max Preps website.
