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SANTA CRUZ—The return of the Wharf to Wharf Race didn’t start off as planned after a law enforcement officer on a motorcycle was stuck, forcing competitors to run around him.     It may have slightly thrown off Emmanuel Bor and the rest of the elite pack...

Conditions for the Santa Cruz Scholastic Surf League’s opening contest of 2015-2016 were challenging, to say the least. When autumn swells from North Pacific storms hit the Santa Cruz coastline, Manresa Beach can get some heaving walls of whitewater, making the paddle out to the lineup a test of strength and courage even before a surfer spins around and takes the plunge down one of the rapidly-closing faces. On Sunday, October 25, local high school athletes from the Santa Cruz Mountains Surf Team braved just such conditions in team-on-team heats against the Harbor High/Carmel High team and prevailed with a 58-45 point win.The Santa Cruz Mountains team currently includes students from San Lorenzo Valley High School, St. Francis High (Watsonville), and several schools over the hill. Standouts contributing to their win on Sunday were: Sophie Northcott (SLV High) 2nd place women’s shortboard; and 3rd place women’s longboard; April Martin-Hansen (SLV High) 2nd place women’s longboard; Luke Colosi (St. Francis/Watsonville) 1st place men’s shortboard, 2nd place men’s longboard; Paul Colosi (St. Francis/Watsonville) 2nd place men’s shortboard — Heat 2; Liam Rielly (St. Francis/Mt. View) 1st place men’s longboard, 2nd place men’s shortboard — Heat 1.After the team heats, top finishers from all schools in the surf league advanced through some grueling rounds of individual competition. Conditions grew intense for the semifinals as the swell built steadily, and by the finals, a low tide added to the rising wave height meant surfers faced steep drops down big faces into about four feet of water.“In the finals it was more a matter of surviving than surfing,” according to SLVHS senior, Sophie Northcott. Northcott snagged several sizeable waves while some opponents chose not to take off at all, and she took second place overall in women’s shortboard, besting nearly all top competitors in the region. Also making it through the finals were Santa Cruz Mountains surfers, Casey Walsh of Los Altos Hills, who entered the contest as an alternate and surfed her way through five heats to a 5th place finish in women’s shortboard, and her sister Kelly Walsh, a freshman at Woodside Priory School, who also started as an alternate and ended up 6th overall in women’s longboard. 

The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League track and field finals took place this past Saturday and, for Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley high schools, several of their runners' seasons will continue at the Central Coast Section finals on May 24 at San Jose City College.

San Lorenzo Valley High junior Damian Aguilar took command of the mound and he was on full display for the Cougars baseball team in last week’s decisive win over Soquel High.  Aguilar finished with eight strikeouts in a 7-0 shutout win against the Knights in...

The San Lorenzo Valley High softball team went into last week’s season-finale against Soquel High with a shot of bringing back home a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League championship. It was a championship run that senior Erika Kindred was part of three years ago but...

Scotts Valley wrestlers fall to Aptos

Lewis Lahood, a standout Falcon lineman from 2010, former championship-winning JV coach, and 2018 Varsity assistant coach, has taken on the Varsity head coaching spot for the 2019 season.