Compiled By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
1. Modesto Water
No question that California is a hotbed for high school athletes. But Modesto? Hot yes. An athletic mecca? Not compared to Los Angeles, Orange County and Oakland. This prep year, however, three of the country’s best in three sports reside in Modesto: Modesto Christian junior basketball star Reeves Nelson (headed to UCLA, read story), Olympic swim hopeful and Downey senior Karlee Bispo (featured here last week) and now Riverbank cross country and track star German Fernandez (see state cross country story). On Thursday, under triple-digit temperatures at Modesto Junior College, Fernandez pulled off one of the most impressive doubles in state history, winning the 1,600 in the nation’s best time this season, 4:05.57, before taking the 3,200 in 9:00.10. Fernandez only had 1 hour, 20 minutes between events. Read the event story and blog by one of California’s finest journalists Will DeBoard of the Modesto Bee.
2. Gilman Goes for Super Tuesday Perfection
If the Gilman (Baltimore, Md.) Greyhounds are to be considered the finest boys lacrosse team ever, they have one more game to prove it. Like they’ve shown all season, the Greyhounds used balance as six different players scored goals in a 6-4 MIAA/STX semifinal win over McDonogh (Owings Mills) Friday at Towson State. Before close to 10,000 fans, Duncan Hutchins and Davey Emala scored early in the fourth quarter to help pull away as the nation’s top-ranked team (18-0) advanced to Tuesday’s championship to face defending champion and No. 4 Loyola (Towson), a wild 10-9 winner over second-ranked Calvert Hall (Baltimore). Steele Stanwick, considered the top player in the country, scored Loyola’s final three goals including the game-winner with 1:50 remaining. See the Baltimore Sun story on both games. The MIAA is considered the best lacrosse league in the country. See story.
3. Clarke Sizzles in Alaska
Bartlett (Anchorage, Alaska) track coach John Schmitz didn’t mince words when discussing his star shot putter Jordan Clarke. “He doesn’t choke,” he told the Anchorage Daily News. “He’s a natural.” A week after unleashing the country’s best mark of 67 feet, 10¾ inches, Clarke played his own little version of “can you top this?” by breaking the magic 70-foot barrier with a heave of 70-6 Friday in the Cook Inlet Conference meet in Anchorage.
4. Connecticut Hitters Are Fico-Fied
Her 56-inning hitless streak was snapped last week but it didn’t deter arguably the country’s most dominating pitcher this year. Rachele Fico, a junior for Masuk (Monroe, Conn.). The LSU-bound right-hander had five straight perfect games until Courtney Collins singled off the third-base bag with two outs in the first inning on Wednesday. Fico when on to fire a two-hitter with 21 strikeouts in a nine-inning 1-0 win over Lauralton Hall. As reported in this superb feature by MaxPreps correspondent Dave Stewart, Fico has a career 72-2 mark with 1,271 strikeouts in 533 innings and a staggering ERA of 0.04. Almost half of her wins (33) have been no-hitters. She’s gone 208 straight innings without allowing an earned run.
5. Long and Winding Championship
The good news for Boiling Springs (Spartanburg, S.C.) baseball fans is that the Bulldogs won their first Class AAAA state title last week following a 5-1 win at Conway. The bad news was that it took some extra “innings” to get the news back to Spartanburg. Seems an activity bus carrying fans for Boiling Springs was tampered with by some Conway faithful and broke down. The “reserve” bus had troubles as well. That turned the 4-hour, 235-mile trip celebratory trip into something of an adventure. See the story by Josh Hoke of myrtlebeachonline.com.
