SPORTS YEAR IN REVIEW:

The year in prep sports winds to an end this weekend with various tournament action in several winter sports.

Below are some of the key highlights that were reported to the Independent during the past year.

  January-June

Picking up where it left off at the end of 2006, Marina’s boys’ basketball team continued its assault from three-point range and went national: the Vikings established both the prep state and national single-season records for three-point baskets. They hit 437 shots from behind the arc and easily obliterated the previous state (303) and national marks (382).

Marina set the new national record during a 105-101 home court victory over Edison Feb. 2.

“It was unbelievable,” Marina Coach Roger Holmes said of a record-setting season that saw the Vikings use a new offensive scheme called, “The System.” “We shattered state records, 28 threes in a single game, old record, 24. We made 437 threes. Old state record was 303. Old National record, 382. Those are some amazing numbers that could only be had with the total commitment of the team.

“We were in Sports Illustrated twice and had a season wrap-up story on SI.com. We were on Fox Sports Net High School Spotlight and on a Laker Pre-Game show. It was incredible.”

Ocean View laid claim to both titles in the Golden West League boys’ and girls’ basketball races. The boys’ team was one step away from playing for a CIF title at the Honda Center in Anaheim but dropped a 71-68 heartbreaker to host Norco in a semifinal game.

Huntington Beach’s girls’ basketball team earned a share of the Sea View League title in its first year in the league. The Oilers, who finished 21-6, enjoyed their best season in 16 years.

Rocky Ciarelli, head coach of the Huntington Beach boys’ basketball team, won his 500th career match at his alma mater when the Oilers swept Woodbridge in April.

“It just shows I’ve been around a long time,” Ciarelli, 50, said. “Actually, it’s a pretty neat thing to accomplish.”

Edison’s baseball team earned a share of the Sunset League title with Los Alamitos. A young Marina softball team, meanwhile, finished runner-up to Los Alamitos in the Sunset standings and then went on to the CIF quarterfinals where the Vikings gave Valencia of Valencia all it could handle before succumbing, 1-0. Valencia was the top-ranked team in several national prep polls. The game marked Marina’s first trip to the quarterfinal round in eight years.

At the CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach May 15, Edison set new meet records in the 200-yard medley relay and girls’ 100-yard backstroke. The Chargers foursome of freshman Cindy Tran, juniors Jessie Knight and Yasi Jahanshahi, and senior Kiersten Colesen, set the new meet record. Tran won the 100-back in a meet-record time.

Edison also garnered another team title, winning the girls’ 400-free relay. The team of Jahanshahi, sophomore Monique Wilson, Colesen and Tran also won the girls’ 400-free relay at the meet.

During the course of the season, Tran established new school, Sunset League and Masters Meet marks in the 100-back. The 200-medley relay team also set new school, league and Masters Meet marks. The 400-free relay broke the previous school record by five seconds, a mark that had stood at Edison since 1991.

“It was very exciting to see the girls continue to improve and beat the teams that beat us in the final league meet,” Edison Coach Crystal Whitmore said. “Then, to place third at CIF was a real high point. Finally, at Masters, we won two relays. It was a great ending to an amazing season.”

A trio of local athletes made their way to Sacramento the first weekend in June for the CIF State Track & Field finals. Edison’s Meghan Foley, a sophomore, ran to a seventh-place finish in the girls’ 800-meters. Huntington Beach senior Chrissy Van Doornum came up with a personal best mark and finished 11th overall in the girls’ pole vault and Hillary Hayes, another Edison sophomore, qualified but didn’t place in the girls’ 1,600-meters.

Foley had set a new Edison record in the 800-meters at the CIF-Southern Section Maters meet May 26 at Cerritos College.

The state meet capped a big year for Hayes who in October finished in fourth-place in the Sweepstakes Races at the 40th annual Orange County Championships cross-country event at Irvine Park.

Also in track and field, Huntington Beach’s boys’ team posted its first winning season in 18 years.

Edison’s Hunter White, a multi-sport athlete, was named the Sunset League male athlete of the year for 2006-07. White, who will attend and play at Boise State beginning in the fall, was a key figure in Edison’s march to the CIF Pac-5 football championship in December.

The 200-07 school year ended with the Edison boys’ golf team, comprised of Matt Parkovich, Austen Dailey, Tom Moore, Joe Doody, Joel Gillin and Tyler Paul, winning the school’s first California state boys’ golf championship at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach. The Chargers finished runner-up in the Sunset League and CIF-Central Division tournament before advancing to the state tournament.

September-December

The big story in the fall wasn’t a result of what took place in athletics.

Rather, it had to do with Mother Nature.

Fallout from the fires and windy conditions that ravaged Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties in mid-October affected outdoor athletic practices and events for more than a week. Some games were postponed or rescheduled while others, simply, were canceled altogether.

“Everything was geared down and all coaches and teams were to use caution,” Edison Athletic Director Bruce Belcher said.

When play did resume, Ocean View and Edison went on to earn CIF playoff berths in football following successful regular-season campaigns.

Ocean View returned to the postseason for the first time since 2001 by finishing in second-place in the Golden West League. The Seahawks lost in the first-round of the Southeast Division playoffs to eventual champion La Habra which went undefeated.

“This is the first time in years that this school has been to the playoffs, and everybody’s excited,” Ocean View Coach Dean Yoshiyama said. “It’s great for the kids, the program and the community.”

Edison won the Sunset League title (the Chargers shared it with Esperanza) for a third-straight year. The Chargers advanced to the second-round of the Pac-5 Division playoffs where they were eliminated by eventual finalist Orange Lutheran.

In November, Edison’s girls’ cross-country team earned a spot in the CIF State Meet in Fresno where it went on to a seventh-place finish in the Division II race. The Chargers secured a spot in the state meet by finishing in fifth place in the Division II team standings at the CIF Southern Section finals at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut the week before state. Running for the Chargers at both meets were juniors Hillary Hayes, Melisa Olgun and Meghan Foley, senior Kirsten Linden and sophomores Dana Jorgensen, Casandra Owen and Caroline Yin.

A year almost to the date after it set the state record for three-point baskets in a single game, Marina topped its own record by one basket by drilling 29 three-pointers during a Dec. 15 win over Norwalk at the Beckman Tournament.

The Vikings also set a new national record by attempting 97 three-point shots in the game.

Sophomore Brendan Holmes, son of Vikings head coach Roger Holmes, hit 13 three-pointers in the game to set a new Marina single-game record en route to a 39-points, five-assists night. Junior guard Garrett James hit nine three-point shots and scored 35 points along with seven steals.

“We broke the record by creating a steady stream of turnovers and finding the open man,” Marina Coach Roger Holmes said. “We didn’t shoot all that well, but the guys did a great job of getting offensive rebounds and getting extra shots.”