EL SEGUNDO HERALD December 31, 2015 Page 3 It’s a Wrap for 2015 Sports By Gregg McMullin With 2015 officially in the books its time to take one last look in the rear view mirror at a wonderful second half of the year in sports in El Segundo. We felt the pain of losing an icon, helped an impoverished community overseas and welcomed some very special athletes. There were tears of joy during triumphs and heartbreak during defeats that made us cry. Through it all it was a another year in sports we won’t soon forget. Having already revisited the first six months lets stroll along memory lane and look back at the remainder of the calendar. The track and field teams did well this past season. At the Mt SAC Invitational the girls’ varsity 4x400 relay team took second place in their heat and won a silver medal. More importantly the future looks bright for these sprinters since they broke the high school record for their relay. The old record was 4:09.34 and this year’s team did it in 4:08.50. On the boy’s side Gavin Glenn, just a junior, was impressive all season long and he lowered his own school record he set last year in the 1600 to 4:36.78. Later on in the year Glenn will once again be featured for his cross country record setting season. The boys lacrosse program entered its second season as a CIF sanctioned team and went undefeated in league play and won its first ever Ocean League title. Coach Brooks Roscoe welcomed assistant coach Phil Bonney as the program continued to grow in both numbers and popularity. In June the community was saddened with the passing of Bob Flynn. When you run down the list of some of El Segundo’s greatest athletes Bob Flynn certainly is near the top of that list. As good as Pete Beathard (NFL), Keith Erickson (NBA) and Kemer Brett (Major League Baseball) were in the 1960s, Flynn may have been the best. George Brett may be in the Hall of Fame but there are those who say Flynn would have been waiting for him at the front door had an injury not derailed his career. A large gathering of friends and family said goodbye at a memorial service at the place he helped make famous; Stevenson Field. We’ll miss you Bob. The El Segundo AYSO partnered up with Scott Katskee who volunteers for Pipeline Worldwide. Together they helped out orphanages and schools in Kampala, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda by distributing soccer uniforms and much needed equipment for children in these poor countries. Pipeline Worldwide built dormitories for these girls and Katskee was there helping put together bunk beds, deliver mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows and mosquito nets. El Segundo Little League’s 9-10 year old All-Stars are the defending District 36 and Section 4 champions. This year the team easily advanced out of the District 36 playoff tournament and advanced to the Sectional tournament hosted by Rolling Hills Little League. And, for the second consecutive year the El Segundo Little League 9-10 year old All-Stars have won the Section 4 playoffs after holding on to defeat North Torrance Little League 13-11. The American Legion Blues, the defending Pacific League champions and reached the semi-finals of the state tournament in Yountville a year ago. They were eliminated in the District Playoffs after defeats to Edison and Paramount. See Eagles, page 6 Nahla Hendricks gets out of the blocks in the girls’ 400m relay at the CIF-SS Track Finals. The Moments That Mattered: 2015 By Adam Serrao Sports, as we know them, are athletic events that we all watch to cheer on our favorite teams, our favorite people, or quite simply, our favorite organizations. Not all of sports is about just that, though. Sports is about the moments that last in our memories. The moments that make us cheer. The one’s that make us laugh, scream at the television, or even cry to ourselves at night. It’s incredible the toll that sports can take on us. A simple game can trigger emotions inside of us that will have our significant others looking at us like we’re crazy or that will scare the house pet right out of the room. Yes, without sports, this world would certainly be a different place. With that being said, let’s take a look back at the moments in sports this year that mattered to all of us the most. Above all else, this year in sports was a year where women excelled in practically every arena; even on the worlds stage. There was no better testament to that than when the United States women’s national soccer team conquered the world and the World Cup in 2015. Everyone remembers the time when Brandi Chastain sunk in the winning goal as the U.S. won their last World Cup in 1999. Fast forward more than 15 years later and this time, it was Carli Lloyd as the hero. After surviving a punishing semifinal matchup with Germany, Lloyd came to the rescue against Japan in the finals and scored. Then she scored again. Then she scored again! It took the U.S. hero just three minutes to find her first goal en-route to what would be a 5-2 demolishment of their opponents and a World Cup championship. Yes, the U.S. women had truly conquered the world. Another female who conquered the world in 2015 was Serena Williams. For a while there, it seemed like the 33 year-old was simply unbeatable. Williams has proven herself to be one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time and proved as much by winning the Australian Open, French Open, and subsequently Wimbeldon putting her on the doorstep of capturing a “Grand Slam” title for the first time for a female tennis player since Steffi Graf did it in 1988. Unfortunately for Williams, Roberta Vinci came out of nowhere to take the title away in the semifinals of the US Open. Despite her loss, however, Williams not only went on to win the Sports Illustrated’s 2015 Sportsperson of the Year award, but also exemplified the greatness and the strength that female athletes contain not only in America, but also all across the world. While Serena put up a good fight in her chase for a Grand Slam, there remained one fight that must have been in the making for years and years before it finally happened. Hopefully you didn’t pay to see it, though. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally got together last May to fight, but instead, danced around the ring for 12-rounds to earn nearly $200 million and $120 million, respectively. Nothing of substance happened in a bout that looked like a money-grab from the start, but Mayweather won to remain undefeated and eventually re-proclaim himself as the greatest boxer of all time. Just don’t pay to see the inevitable rematch. Ronda Rousey, who hasn’t been shy about letting her hatred for Mayweather become known, was involved in a few fights of her own this past year. Most notably was her recent bout with kick-boxing world champ, Holly Holm. Rousey dominated the sport of MMA and won her first 12 fights - most of them within literal seconds of the start of the match. In all, her first 12 matches averaged out to just one minute and 18 seconds of actual fight time apiece. That is, until she met Holm. Not only did Holm last the entire first round against Rousey, but she dominated it. So much so that in the second round she had Rousey right where she wanted her. One kick to Rousey’s face not only ended the fight, but also ended Rousey’s reign on top of the sport. There has already been a rematch discussed, but first Rousey needs to pick herself back up from off the mat, both literally and figuratively. A trio of championships, including one that was extremely unexpected, round out the most memorable moments of 2015. The Golden State Warriors brought home an NBA championship See Moments, page 6
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