Sports Shorts: Newport Harbor's South Helps Sink Foothill

Senior Farrell South scored five first-half goal and had two assists in Newport Harbor’s 14-3 victory at Foothill on Saturday, helping Robert Lynn get his first victory as Newport Harbor’s boys water polo coach.

Ryan Fowler, Curtis Fink and Andrew Silvers each scored twice for the Sailors, who are No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 coaches’ preseason poll. Foothill is No. 4 in Division 2.

Koby Yokota had 11 saves for Newport Harbor, which led 7-0 at halftime and plays host to Long Beach Wilson today (Tuesday).

Sailors Play Lights Out at Lightning Invitational

Senior Blake Bakkila swept four singles matches to help Newport Harbor’s girls tennis team finish 4-0 and win the team title of  the Lightning Invitational, a two-day, five-team tournament that concluded Saturday at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.

The Sailors posted 7-2 victories over Sage Hill and Tesoro and 9-0 victories over Cerritos and Santa Ynez.

Bakkila earned singles MVP honors, and was named the Orange County Register's girls tennis player of the week, while her teammates, Annie Radeva, Megan Bathen and Kate Knight, received all-tournament honors. Katie Bick and Ava Soleimany were also named to the all-tournament team after helping Sage Hill to a 3-1 record with 7-2 victories over Tesoro and Cerritos and a 9-0 win over Santa Ynez.

Newport Harbor opened its season with a 16-2 victory over visiting Laguna Beach on Thursday and this week plays host to Mira Costa on today (Tuesday) and Palos Verdes Peninsula on Thursday.

Sage Hill defeated JSerra, 16-2, in its season opener on Tuesday and meets Mater Dei on Wednesday at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.

Laguna Hills Cross-Country Invitational

Patch couldn't get out to Laguna Hills High on Saturday for the area's first cross-country meet of the season, and didn't feel like typing in all of the results, so go ahead and click on this ESPN/Rise link to see them.

Locally, Corona del Mar's girls team competed in Division 3 and won the freshman and senior team titles and finished third in the sophomore and junior class races. Ashlee Powers won the senior race in 18:20.92, more than 11 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Newport Harbor competed in Division 2 and finished fourth in the senior girls race and fifth in the sophomore girls race, which was won by Paige Tennison (17:43.55) by more than 12 seconds ahead of the next-fastest runner.

(Aside: I once asked a librarian friend of mine if people expected her to have all the answers. She said no, but added that she knew where to find them.)

What's next? The 31st annual Cross-Country Classic, co-hosted by Woodbridge, Estancia and Costa Mesa highs, begins Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. at Estancia High in Costa Mesa.

Have some high school news or a score that you'd like to share? Send it to O.C. Patch sports editor Bob Rohwer at bob.rohwer@patch.com.