EL SEGUNDO HERALD November 28, 2019 Page 5
Arend Verfaillie finished eighth overall at the CIF Cross Country
Division 4 Finals (photo provided by Marcos Bolanos).
It’s been an outstanding fall season for
the El Segundo High School Girls Varsity
Tennis team. The Eagles’ team played strongly
through a series of matches steadily advancing
toward the semifinal of the CIF-Southern
Section Division 3. On November 11, the team
clinched a victory over Rancho Cucamonga
at the CIF-SS team quarterfinal, and followed
that with a loss against Notre Dame/SO at
the CIF-SS semifinal on November 13th.
The team’s #1 singles player Nika Masuzawa
(senior) and #1 doubles pair Alli Armijo (senior)
and Mina Kreski (freshman) advanced
to the CIF-SS Individual Tennis Regionals
at the El Dorado Park Tennis Club in Long
Beach on November 25th. Nika won her first
School Spotlight
Eagles Going to State XC Meet Again
match but lost in the second round, while
Alli and Mina played two strong matches
but lost in the third.
Under the leadership of coach Kirby Onaga
and managers Roz Ahadzadeh and Rahma
Sudaramadji, every player on the 2019 ESHS
Girls Varsity Tennis team contributed to the
team’s great string of victories this fall. Nika
Masuzawa, Zoe Zechar, and Sierra Ahrablou
were the outstanding singles players. Doubles
matches were well-handled by Alli Armijo
with Mina Kreski, Sam Robert with Katrina
Smith, and Shelby McDonald with Kylie
Wheeler. The other Varsity players, Jillian
Farris, Daniella Garcia, Sam Kim, and Vanessa
Strutz, played for the team as well. •
AYSO B14 Soccer Team Champs
Sports
By Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School cross country
teams have both placed high enough during
their CIF Southern Section Division 4 Finals
meet to qualify for the CIF California State
XC meet this Saturday. The girls placed
fifth overall to earn their fourth consecutive
trip (sixth trip overall), while this will be
the boys ‘ second trip after finishing sixth
at the CIF Finals.
Lady Eagles to Run at CIF
California State XC Finals
Head coach Marcos Bolanos has been high
on both teams all season long. His motto
this year for the girls team was “no retreat
and reload with talent.” He said, “The girls
had some holes to fill after a big season last
year. We knew we had the potential, but
would it all come together at the right time?”
In the CIF finals, the two senior co-captains
Sophia Zago (18:23) and James Matlosz
(18:25) finished with PRs and paced their
team from start to finish. Sophomore sensation
Tyler Matlosz (19:07) maintained her spot
in the team rankings by finishing third for
the Eagles with a top 30 overall finish and
her best time. For the Eagles to advance to
the state meet, they would need the other
runners to do well. Coach Bolanos said, “We
had two girls who stepped up huge today
for us. Sophomores Erin Rifkin and Isabella
Mai brought it home and helped us get back
to Fresno.” Sophomore Ami Jacobson and
freshman phenom Makaela Fujimoto both
rounded out the top seven runners with
impressive times in the low 20s.
This was the fourth fastest team time in
school history for a CIF meet. The Lady
Eagles are an extremely young team with three
seniors, six sophomores and two freshmen
on the squad. The experience these runners
got this season will lend itself to setting up
for future trips to Fresno. Seniors Sophia
Zago and James Matlosz really made their
mark on their impressive careers. Both have
been huge reasons for their team’s success.
They have dedicated themselves to making
this team one of the elite XC teams in the
state. James Matlosz finishes her career as
the only Eagle to make four appearances at
the California State XC Finals.
Eagles Qualify
for State XC Finals
For the second time in school history, the
Eagles are sending a team to the CA State
XC Finals! In 2017, the team was filled
with impressive seniors who came together
and dedicated themselves to making a state
appearance a reality. In 2017 Arend Verfaillie,
then a sophomore, helped his team to an
impressive showing. Fast-forward to 2019
and he is the leading runner on the fastest
team the school has put together. Verfaillie
continued his remarkable season with an
eighth place finish and another school record
(15:29) at the CIF finals.
The team set another time record on the
Riverside course and finished sixth to advance
to the state finals. Besides Verfaillie the Eagles
got a total team effort top to bottom. Will
Garrell, just a junior, ran a PR (16:02) with
a top 25 finish. Juniors Cole Sterba (16:28)
and Lucky Schwarz (16:39) had two of the
biggest races in school history. They finished
third and fourth respectively for the Eagles,
proving how much depth El Segundo has.
At the mile and two-mile mars, Bolanos
screamed encouragement and coaching techniques
at his runners. Three runners were
battling through adversity, but persevered.
Cole Sterba had been nursing a bruised hip
and Schwartz had a bad cold, but neither
flinched when asked to pick up the slack.
Senior Niall Glynn ran a methodical race
with a 16:42 and wrapped up the scoring with
his PR. Ryu Iguchi and Lukas Lux rounded
out the roster. Lux, who usually battles Garrell
for the number two runner on the team,
came down with flu-like symptoms the day
before the race and ended up at the back of
the pack by mile one.
In 2017, the Eagles finished ninth at the
State XC finals. With the depth of this team,
Bolanos believes it has the talent to make
a jump and crack the top five and a place
on the podium.
Bolanos believes this season was a special
one to watch unfold with all of the talent
on both teams. It all came together with
From left Sophia Zago, James Matlosz and Tyler Matlosz pace
their team early during the CIF-SS Division 4 Cross Country Finals
(photo provided by Marcos Bolanos).
Sports Shorts
The AYSCO B14 soccer team had a
chance to take a group shot after completing
a championship regular season. Pictured
from left to right: B14U Champions Team
“Green”: Dylan Kelly, Caleb Halpine, Blake
Steinbacher, Grady Lubs, Yash Chowdhury,
Fynn Lavelle, Julian Fajardo, Evan Nichols,
Tyler Kazen, and Arya Ahadzadeh. Coaches
Zachary Franco and Patrick Kelly. Not Pictured:
Caleb Caruso, Oliver Childs, Abhay
Korlapati, and Mina Yousef.
– Photo Provided by Patrick Kelly •
ESHS Girls Tennis Finds Success!
See Sports, page 10
Eagles varsity girls tennis team at semifinal of CIF-SS final on Nov. 13. Front from left: Roz Ahadzadeh , Rahma Sudaramadji and
Shelby McDonald . Second Row from left: Alli Armijo, Zoe Zechar, Mina Kreski , Katrina Smith , Sierra Ahrablou and Vanessa Strutz.
Third Row from left: Daniella Garcia, Sam Kim, Kylie Wheeler , Sam Robert, Jillian Farris, and Nika Masuzawa. Photo: Team Parent
Like
Share
Comment
See the
Complete
Picture
@esherald @esherald