A parade of runners from Mira Costa, Palos Verdes, Peninsula and Redondo will compete among the best at the CIF state championships Friday and Saturday in Fresno.
Erica Capellino of Palos Verdes, who finished fifth in the 1,600 at last weekend’s Masters meet, was among the leaders of the pack heading north. Redondo’s Lyndsey Mull and Cara Ulizio also advanced in the 1,600. Mull came in ninth at the Masters, while Ulizio finished 11th.
Rebecca Mehra of Palos Verdes, who earned a fourth-place finish at the Masters, and Aryn Foland of Mira Costa qualified in the 3,200.
On the boys side, Palos Verdes runner Jonah Diaz will compete in the 3,200 in Fresno. Diaz finished seventh in the event at Masters.
In the 1,600, Redondo’s Evan Malone-White qualified for state. He finished ninth at Masters.
Peninsula, PV tennis teams rack up semifinal appearances before falling
The doubles teams at Peninsula and Palos Verdes advanced to the final four of last Saturday’s CIF individual doubles tournament before falling.
Peninsula’s duo of top-seeded Shuhei Shibahara and Chris Dalton made it to the title match before losing to No. 2 Kona Luu and Drew Dawson of Irvine’s University High, 6-3, 6-2, at the Seal Beach Tennis Center.
Shibahara-Dalton had earned a trip to the final after defeating Ryo Shimizu and Tyler Lu, who also play for University, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in a semifinal match the same day.
In their semifinal win, Shibahara and Dalton took a 5-4 lead heading into the final game, then broke the University pair for the victory.
Unfortunately for Shibahara and Dalton, they might have run out of gas in the final after the competitive semifinal match. Regardless, they couldn’t overcome the play of Luu and Dawson in the title match despite their efforts.
Meanwhile, the Palos Verdes duo of Jeff Hawke and Erik Lim advanced to the semifinals before being stopped by Luu and Dawson, 7-5, 6-3.
The defeat ended the prep careers of Hawke and Lim, the top two players for the Sea Kings this season. Hawke, who was named the athlete of the year at Palos Verdes during a banquet this week, will continue playing tennis next season at the University of Washington. Lim is headed for UC San Diego.
“They’ve accomplished so much in the four years that they’ve been here,” Palos Verdes coach Danny Moscovici said. “They’ll be missed obviously. Chase Ruth is another senior that has been a top doubles player for us. Chase will be missed, too. All three of them have done an outstanding job for us at PV.
“I felt like we accomplished a lot this season. My boys got a lot of individual recognition and captured quite a few local events. Jake Douglas had a very good season. Jeff and Erik won at Ojai and finished high in CIF. I’m pleased with our achievements. We’ve taken a lot of titles and we’ve done very well. The future looks bright because I have a dominating freshman class.”
Still, Moscovici will be hard-pressed to top this season. His team advanced to the semifinals of last week’s CIF playoffs before Harvard-Westlake tripped them up. That loss ended a 17-game winning streak for the Sea Kings, who had beaten Harvard-Westlake in the regular season.
“I had a team in 06 that had a run to the semis, but I think this team is definitely first on my list,” Moscovici said. “But it’s hard to compare. Still, this was a great team. I can’t say enough about them.”
