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What's this?"At the end of the day, De La Salle is who the crosshairs are on," San Ramon Valley coach Peter Worstell said. "They've won the last two North Coast Section titles."
With that said, the Wolves have put themselves in a position to be the No. 1 seed in the NCS playoffs while De La Salle probably will be the No. 2 seed. That could make for a rematch in the section final if all goes according to seeding.
First, the Wolves will be thinking about taking care of business in their EBAL final where they will look to beat rival Monte Vista tonight and finish with a perfect 12-0 mark.
"We are taking it one domino at a time," Worstell said. "We crossed a little finish line winning league, but we still have to play Monte Vista and we're pretty dialed in for that."
De La Salle (16-3, 7-0) is also unbeaten in league play, as is Miramonte (16-3, 11-0). The Spartans have one more Bay Shore Athletic League game with a tough Bishop O'Dowd team, while Miramonte finishes the Diablo Foothill Athletic League with rival Campolindo.
All three of these teams figure to be legitimate contenders when NCS playoffs start next week, with San Ramon Valley ranked second in Northern California according to laxpower.com, De La Salle
On the girls' side, Amador Valley has emerged as the favorite, going 18-2 overall and a perfect 12-0 in league as it heads into the postseason.
The Dons are ranked No. 1 in Northern California and after losing 12-11 to California in last year's NCS title game, they are focused this year.
"I feel like we've accomplished what we set out to accomplish this regular season," Amador Valley coach Karen Church said. "We feel really good going into the postseason and we're ready to go all the way this year."
The Dons should be the No. 1 seed in the NCS playoffs, but much like San Ramon Valley on the boys side, they should have some stiff competition from the BSAL and DFAL champs.
Carondelet (17-4, 11-0) is the champ of the BSAL, ranked third in Northern California and should be the No. 2 seed. Amador Valley did beat them 15-8 this year as well as beating Miramonte, the leader of the DFAL.
The Mats (15-4, 8-1) are looking to wrap up the DFAL tonight against Northgate and should be the No. 3 seed. They are ranked No. 6 and Amador Valley was able to beat them 12-2 earlier in the season.
-- Matt Smith, correspondent
TRACK AND FIELD
The scenario would be improbable in a Hollywood script, let alone a real story.
In his first year of track and field, a senior practices an event for approximately a week, then in his first competition posts a mark that ranks among the state's elite.
But that's exactly what happened to De Anza's Trevor Rogers. He leaped 23 feet, 4 inches in his third attempt at the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League championships April 30 at Berkeley High School, a mark which has been bettered by only six athletes in the state under any conditions this season, according to DyeStatCal.com. There were no wind readings for jumps at the ACCAL championships last week.
"I didn't think it was that great until everybody started telling me how good it was," Rogers said. "I was just doing (the long jump) for points to help us win league."
Rogers, who went out for the De Anza track and field team to work on his speed for the fall football season at City College of San Francisco, was limited in his knowledge of the long jump entering the meet.
"I just learned (in the first week of long jump practice) that, basically, I have to jump off the board, and that was pretty much it," Rogers said. "(At the meet), I learned a little bit more about getting my stepping right. I learned when you land, that you are not supposed to step back. That happened on my second jump."
Then on his third jump, he busted 23-4.
"To me, it was just a regular jump. I was expecting to see everyone else jump around 23," Rogers said.
Two weeks after his first long jump practice, his goals for the event have soared.
"For the long jump, my goal would be to place for state," Rogers said.
-- Phil Jensen
GOLF
Campolindo coach Steve Robinson has known for the last three years that the future of the Cougars' golf program would rest with sophomore Bjorn Kallerud.
Even before Kallerud entered Campolindo, Robinson had seen him play at local golf courses and knew he would be going to Campolindo.
Now in his second season with the Cougars, Kallerud is hoping to send four-year senior players Alex Berber, Justin Goldberger, Jack Middlebrook and Ben Alexander off in style with their first appearance in the California Interscholastic Federation Northern regional tournament.
In order to accomplish that, Campolindo has to finish as one of the top three teams at Monday's North Coast Section Tournament of Champions at Franklin Canyon Golf Course in Hercules.
"We haven't made NorCals since I have been here," said Robinson, who is in his fifth season with the school. "Our guys are capable of it and capable of shooting in the 70s."
The Cougars will need 70s to advance to NorCals.
In Robinson's five-year tenure, Foothill and De La Salle have taken turns sharing the NorCal title with Foothill winning the last two and De La Salle the previous four.
In addition, the average score of the third qualifying team has been 376.
The Cougars' low 18-hole round for the season is 384, something they accomplished twice. The first time came at the Transbay Tournament at Rossmoor on April 21 and the second was at the Diablo Foothill Athletic League tournament April 28. Kallerud, the DFAL co-MVP, led the charge at both tournaments, which were both wins for the Cougars. Kallerud shot a 2-over par 74 at the Transbay and an even par 72 at the DFAL championships.
To advance, the Cougars will have to shave a few strokes off the 402 they shot at the NCS South Qualifier.
In the past six seasons, one team has shot above a 400 and earned spot to the NorCals. Maria Carrillo-Santa Rosa shot a 402 in 2005 to advance. That year was also the last time a DFAL team advanced to the NorCals. Acalanes shot a 399 to finish second that year.
Kallerud and the rest of the Cougars are hoping to duplicate that feat.
-- Robert Jordan
