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Corona del
Sol's 9-15 varsity baseball team
is fighting to keep its playoff hopes
alive. In two crucial region games the
Aztecs displayed why their growing
momentum provides hope for this season.
Corona
senior pitchers Casey Barnes and
Tim Martin paced the Aztecs to
12-4 and 9-3 victories over Marcos de
Niza.
“We’re not
a lock but I think we have a pretty good
chance at making state,” junior
Weston Stover said.
Aztec
baseball has fought hard in region and
played evenly with the competition.
“We’ve
split every region game with Basha,
Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista,”
Stover said.
With games
against highly ranked teams such as
Brophy and Hamilton, the Aztecs will use
their tough practices as motivation.
“We
practice hard so we can play hard,”
Stover said. “We practice playing tired,
we’ll do some drills and then stop and
run. We do this so when it comes to
games we can play through it.”
With a
sweep over the Padres, Corona baseball
hopes to build upon its growing
confidence.
“The
momentum we have built will help us keep
winning,” Stover said.
Boys
varsity volleyball at Corona rode a
balanced attack to third place in the
prestigious Brophy Invitational.
Defeating
central region foe Mountain Pointe twice
in the tournament was a highlight for
the team.
“It was a
great victory and a small step towards a
larger ambition of winning state,”
senior Aram Asadi said. “I knew
we were capable of beating them all
along.”
The Brophy
Invitational consisted of the top eight
teams ranked in the pre-season.
Volleyball powers Mountain View and
Brophy battled in the championship game
with Mountain View coming out on top.
“I thought
we did really well at this tournament,”
Asadi said. “Everyone exceeded their
level. It’s part of that great team
chemistry that we’ve needed a bit more
of.”
With the
current central region standings, the
Aztecs will need Mountain Pointe to
defeat the Desert Vista Thunder in order
to still have a shot at winning the
region title.
Track
and field at Corona has remained
competitive in region with the help of a
consistent core of discus and shot-put
throwers.
“So far we
have been pretty good,” senior Arthur
Ruiz said. “We’re not number one in
state, but we aren’t horrible either.”
Ruiz has
been aided by Coach Tim Kelly, who has
helped him for the past four seasons at
Corona.
“He’s a
good coach who definitely knows what he
is talking about,” Ruiz said.
A key
member of this year’s track squad is
junior Ryan Kelly.
“He has
been doing phenomenal,” Ruiz said. “He’s
throwing about 160 feet.”
Although
perhaps not the most glamorous events in
track and field, the shot-put and discus
throwers will provide a boost to the
Aztecs in the remaining region games.
Members of
track and field took time out of their
schedules to spend time with some of
Corona’s little ones, the Aztykes.
“We chose
them to come because of the people on
track,” said junior Amanda Bollard,
one of the Aztyke staff members. “A
lot of them had been on football and
asked to come back.”
The day's
activities were geared toward
competitions including a sprint, and
three-legged and wheelbarrow races.
“It’s a
new atmosphere and a new experience for
the Aztykes when you get high school
athletes to come in here,” Bollard said.
“Getting to hang out with a football or
baseball player and interacting with
them is important.” |
