Sportstars
Chase Saldate | Gilroy Wrestling Star’s Countdown To Liftoff
National No. 1 And CIF State Wrestling Champion, Chase “Satellite” Saldate Is An Other-Worldly Sensation — And Our NorCal Wrestler Of The Year • 10. For Chase Saldate, the countdown for his liftoff into orbit begins now. After he graduates from Gilroy High, the 152-pound InterMat National No. 1... Read more
Viral Disruption: NorCal Teams Cope With State Basketball Cancellations
Twelve NorCal Teams See Title Dreams End After CIF Is Forced Into State Basketball Cancellations As The Coronavirus Outbreak Accelerated • And then there were no championships. On the morning of March 12, the sudden CIF State Basketball cancellations brought the stark reality of the Coronavirus pandemic to the... Read more
SportStar Ashley Hiraki Mitty Girls Basketball
Ashley Hiraki, Archbishop Mitty-San Jose — Basketball – Senior named SportStar of the Week Amidst the concern and confusion of the COVID-19 outbreak, stellar student-athletes continue find ways of standing out. And wowing us! At the time this piece was written, girls (and all) high school basketball has been... Read more
Lindsey Berg: Volleyball Short Setters Handbook
MOVING TO THE BALL Olympian Volleyball player Lindsey Berg espouses one thing that she thinks all might agree on in the volleyball world. That there is a big possibility that a  shorter/smaller setter will make faster moves to the ball. But that wouldn’t be a good enough reason to... Read more
Salesian Basketball Sr. Jaden Lazo Scores SportStar of the Week
SportStar of the Week Jaden Lazo Salesian-Richmond – Basketball Senior Wing Thursday’s CIF Division 1 Norcal Regional quarterfinals pitted Salesian basketball against Grant-Sacramento. Jaden Lazo came out firing on all cylinders. The senior wing scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first quarter to help the Pride... Read more
Lujan, Nagao, Haas Join Prestigious State Champions Club
120 – Tristan Lujan (Selma, CS, 12) joins Nagao, and Haas in prestigious 2x California State Wrestling Champions Club There have been precious few to reach such achievement in four quick years of high school sports. These three men among boys, Lujan, Nagao and Haas) have entered the within... Read more
California Wrestling Championship Teams 1973–2020
SportStars wrestling Insider, Al Fontes (The California Wrestler) offers his retrospective report of California State Wrestling Championship Teams dating back to 1973. There’s a photo gallery included. Click this link also for a player-by-player list of 1973 & 2020 CIF State Individual Champions. Perpetual stalwart, Buchanan High School-Clovis caps... Read more
Peak Performance Training: Right Place, Right Time
Understanding How To Maximize Your Training So You Can Play Your Best Comes Down to Peaking In my last post, I shared the training concept called periodization. The idea of sectioning your training time and setting specific goals during each section of time. We reviewed the four phases to... Read more
Vista del Lago Softball | Viva Vista! Eagles Ready For Takeoff
A Deep, Young Roster Led By Sophomore Tayler Biehl Has Vista Del Lago Softball Thinking Big Things For 2020 And Beyond • They say that youth is wasted on the young. The Vista del Lago softball team hopes to prove that adage false in 2020. To do that, the... Read more
De La Salle Baseball: Spartans Bring Crossover Appeal
Boosted By Its Vaunted Football Program, De La Salle Baseball Opened 2020 As The State’s No. 1 Team — And Chasing A Record Fifth Straight NCS Title • De La Salle will always be known as a football school.  For as many championship banners as the Concord school’s other... Read more
St. Francis Soccer Wins Section D2 Title
St. Francis Soccer Wins Section D2 Title over Ponderosa (Feb. 17, 2020) Junior Jackie Stanco scored the game-winning goal in the final minutes of the second half to give St. Francis soccer a 3-2 win over Ponderosa in the Sac-Joaquin Section D-2 title game at Whitney High School. “What... Read more
Lilly Freitas (Pitman) SportStar Wrestler of the Week
Pitman-Turlock Girls Wrestling Sophomore Phenom, Lilly Freitas Selected SportStar of the Week Lilly Freitas won her second CIF state title in as many years on Saturday after a dominant three-day performance in Bakersfield. The Pitman girls wrestling phenom went a perfect 5-0 and won all five matches by pin.... Read more