Without a doubt, the 2016 regular season was one of the greatest in the Cal High women’s lacrosse team history.

The Grizzlies were ranked as a top five team in the country throughout the entire season, in addition to being ranked third top in the state of California.

The team dominated the competition in the regular season to the tune of a 19-0 record, with seven of those wins coming against league opponents.

A seemingly unstoppable offense led the way for Cal, scoring an average of 16 goals per game. The most amazing statistic the Grizzlies boasted was their ridiculous +194 goal differential.

In a season packed with extraordinary accomplishments and memorable moments, the Grizzlies won the EBAL title for only the second time in school history. Victories over Amador Valley, St. Ignatius, and Carondelet were among the other highlights of the year.

“I’d say one of the greatest moments was our win over St. Ignatius,” said head coach Rachael Martinez. “It was a huge display of the strength, determination, and depth of our team.”

Added junior Ashley Ward, “I think our top performance was the Carondelet game because that’s when we won the league, and we haven’t done that in many years.”

Once the NCS Division 1 playoffs began, it appeared as if the Grizzlies were going to continue their roll. Seeded second, Cal won its first round game 19-4 over No. 15 Rancho Cotate. Unfortunately, this storybook season came to a close on May 13 when the Grizzlies dropped a tight 13-12 game to No. 7 Granite Bay in the quarterfinals.

Cal held a 10-8 lead with 12 minutes to go in the second half, but Granite Bay shot ahead with five consecutive goals in the ensuing three minutes to make it 13-10. The Grizzlies clawed back to within one goal, but the valiant comeback effort came up just short.

“In the moment, we were disappointed with the loss,” said Ward. “But when you look back on all that we’ve accomplished, I think any of us would say we’re grateful for going undefeated for 20 games and winning league.”

This amazing run was fostered by the leadership of the team’s seniors and chemistry they created among teammates.

“The number one reason why we were so successful was because we were always supporting each other and holding each other accountable to play our best,” said senior captain Ally Kroeckel.

Added Martinez, “Interpersonal and on field relationships are huge for our sport. A big theme with us was hard work and always giving your best. There’s a lot more incentive to do this when you’re not playing for yourself, or for your coaches, but for each other.”

As a result, Cal is poised to build on this magnificent campaign next year, with a young, up-and-coming roster that has gained invaluable experience all season long.

“I think having the amount of underclassmen that we did this year on the team really set us up so that people got the experience of playing a varsity sport,” said Ward. “Next year, we’ll only have three or four girls coming up from JV, so we’ll be in good shape.”

By all means, every member of this team will not soon forget the marvelous run that they made in the spring of 2016 for years to come.

“These 18 girls really showed what commitment, teamwork, and confidence can accomplish,” said Martinez. “There’s no group of human beings I’d rather have made history with.”

Men’s Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team had quite a remarkable season this year, winning the EBAL title with only one loss and making it to the NCS semifinals.

The team entered NCS seeded second and beat San Leandro and Pittsburgh in the first and second round, respectively.  Unfortunately, Dougherty Valley came out on top in the semifinals, beating Cal in five games.

“It was a disappointing finish to the season,” said senior Cesar Aguilera. “ But I am very proud of our league title and winning the Dougherty Valley tournament. We have come a long way since freshmen year.”

One of the biggest victories for the team this year was beating De La Salle in five games on Spartan territory. Over the past three years, the home team has won this match-up.

“Beating De La Salle was electric,” said senior captain Jason Kurtz. “We went into their house and beat them which is something we have never done.”

– Sydney Finkle

Baseball

The postseason got off to an exciting start for the baseball squad with an intense 4-3 walk-off win over Liberty in the first round of NCS. Senior Mitchell Briggs delivered a game winning single in the bottom of the seventh, his second hit and RBI of the day.

Unfortunately, the team fell to top seeded De La Salle by a final score of  7-0 in the quarterfinals. The Grizzlies’ bullpen fired 2 2/3 shutout innings in the season ending defeat.

Overall, the boys had a solid season, finishing with a record of 16-9 overall and 7-7 in league play. This was good enough for a fifth place finish in the EBAL and a No. 8 seed in NCS.

“This season has been great,” said senior shortstop Matt Ramirez. “The team chemistry we have is something special, as were always playing around and cracking jokes.”

Leading the team in batting average were seniors Nick Friedel (.380 batting average), Mitch Briggs (.298) and junior Michael Peter (.284).

Junior Zach Chalmers and senior Liam Steigerwald were Cal’s aces, leading the team in innings pitched, strikeouts, and wins.

The class of 2016 will leave quite a legacy behind, as  four players from this year’s team will be playing baseball in college.  Matt Sartwell will play at Cal State East Bay,  Ramirez at George Fox University, Briggs at Chapman University, and Steigerwald at University of California, Santa Barbara.

– Kyle Tucker

Track and Field

With an EBAL title and many individual successes under their belts, the Cal High track team’s season has come to a satisfying end.

The boys team went undefeated, winning the league championship, while the girls squad featured many great individual performances. Coach Mark Karbo was very proud of both teams.

“The team’s biggest strength,” Karbo said, “is our unity and the camaraderie among the athletes on the team.”

Karbo said some of the boys top performers included senior Jzelun Johnson (200, 400, relays), junior Cameron Barr (pole vault), senior Josh Frazier (high jump), and senior Travis Fleming (800). Sophomore Alyssa Brewer (400, 800, relays), senior Jennifer Kurtz (high jump), junior Kate Emerson (pole vault), and junior Kaitlin Groleau (jumps) had impressive seasons for the girls squad.

Six individual athletes advanced to NCS Championships, along with the boys 4×100 relay team.

Brewer won the girls 800 meters and placed fourth in the 400 meters, advancing to the CIF State Finals in both events last weekend. Frazier won the high jump at NCS, while the boys 4×400 relay team placed third.

The CIF state finals took place at Buchanan High School in Clovis, near Fresno, on Saturday and Sunday. Results were not available when The Californian went to press.

“I think both the boys and girls teams should be solid next year,” Karbo said. “Although we will be graduating some strong seniors, there are other athletes who will be ready to step up and contribute.”

– Josh Iversen

Swim/Dive

Yet another excellent season of swimming has come to a close for both the boys and girls teams.

The Grizzlies had six swimmers qualify for the CIF State Championships on May 20-21 at Clovis West High School. The participants included senior Vincent Huang, juniors Paige Lampron, Laura Lampron, Taylor Hammill, and Sherlyn Devadason, and freshman Daniella Hawkins.

At the state championships, Hawkins placed 13th in the 200 yard freestyle and seventh in the 500 yard freestyle. Hawkins, Devadason, and the Lampron twins together placed 11th overall in the 400 yard relay.

For the boys, Huang placed 12th in the 100 breaststroke. Overall, the girls placed 24th in the state and the boys 70th.

A grand total of 18 swimmers competed at the NCS championship meet from May 12-14. Hawkins and Paige Lampron placed second and sixth, respectively, in the 500 meter freestyle event. Huang finished in sixth place in the 100 meter breaststroke event. The girls freestyle relay team finished in eighth place.

In all, the 2016 swim and dive season was a very successful one.

– Brendan Ogburn

Men’s Tennis

Another successful season for the Cal High men’s tennis team has come to a close.

The squad made it to the NCS tournament after a 7-7 regular season, but unfortunately Cal’s season came to an end after a first round loss to Redwood High by the final score of 5-2.

On the bright side, however, senior Austin Fan and junior Roger Wen placed second in EBALs in doubles. Fan, one of the team captains, was chosen as Cal’s Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Fan said the team made history in another way as well.

“One of the greatest moments of the season was beating Monta Vista,” Fan said. “This was our first time beating them after losing to them the last 10 years in a row.”

Wen was pleased with how the season went.

“Because we lost a couple key members this year, this season was much more tough than previous years,” said Wen. “The team had a rough start to the first half of the season, but we worked hard and managed to pull enough wins to make NCS, which made me extremely proud of the team.”

Fellow team captain and senior Harrison Jow was hesitant to say too much about the future of the team, however.

“Dougherty, who is ranked number one, will be entering the league next year,” said Jow. “So that will be very difficult. But I’m sure they’ll still do fine.”

– Josh Iversen

Men’s Golf

The men’s golf team had another solid season after going 6-8 in league and reaching the NCS Tournament of Champions yet again.

Some highlights include tying for fifth at the NCS Qualifier with a team score of 402. Freshman Alex Zhu, who made first-team All-EBAL, placed in the top 10 with a round of  2 -over 74 at San Ramon GC.

The team also beat Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley at home for the first time in years.

Men’s Lacrosse

The men’s lacrosse season came to a close on May 6, after a loss to De La Salle 13-2.

The Grizzlies did not qualify for NCS after a disappointing 4-12 season. The team was led by Coach Andrew Ertola and captains Tristan Ferryera, Ryan Proctor and Logan Agawa.

“My favorite part was just playing with the guys. I love the game and having a team full of good guys who have fun playing together is great,” said Ferryera.

The highlight of their season was an intense away game at St. Mary’s of Stockton, where the Grizzlies came away with a huge 13-12 win.

There are 12 graduating seniors this year, which will be hard to replace, but Ertola is confident the junior class is committed to improving.

“The thing the guys did the best this year was fight,” he said. “They gave everything they had until the end of each game regardless of the score was.”

– Paige Zilinskas

Women’s Softball

The women’s softball team   struggled a bit this season, finishing with a 3-11 league record and 7-15 record overall.

Junior JoAna Mullins was one of the team’s bright spots, hitting .470 and leading the squad in most offensive categories, including RBI (21) and hits (31).

Despite a lackluster year, the team did finish strong, winning two of their last four games, including beating rival Monte Vista on the road. Their final game was a narrow 4-3 loss to fourth place Carondalet.

– Josh Iversen