Thousand Oaks Flyers at Camarillo Cosmos Track Meet

Saturday, March 30, 2024

It had rained hard in Camarillo during the night, just as the weather people predicted.

The second half of their meteorological forecast called for no more rain in the area until 8:00 p.m. tonight which would be perfect for the Mary and Jacob's Camarillo Cosmos track meet today at Camarillo H.S. against the Thousand Oaks Flyers.

For once, the experts were 100%

CORRECT about what turned out to

be a BEAUTIFUL day for a track meet

Our day started at 9:00 a.m. with both grandkids running in the 4 x 100 Meters Relays.

Mary ran the Anchor Leg today, while being

admired by another Cosmos runner

Driving to the finish line

Mary's team clocked in at 1:20.65 which was an all-time Personal Record (PR) for her in this event by 3.56 seconds.

WOW!

Jacob ran the Second Leg for his

4 x 100 Meters team

Two athletes STRAINING!

Still trying to make up the stagger

He caught him and had a smooth exchange

His team ran a solid 1:01.98 today.

Next up for Mary was the Long Jump

Does her hair raise any wind drag issues?

Mary was a happy jumper today

Her best leap today measured 8'-6 1/2" which in improvement of nine inches.

That was PR #2 today for our favorite granddaughter.

DOUBLE WOW!!

Jacob getting ready for his 400 Meters race

The tall Flyer in green is the #1 ranked runner at this distance. It would be Jacob's first race this season against someone faster than him. It should be interesting.

Meanwhile, Mary was was warming

up for her 100 Meters race . . .

. . . as Michael sat and watched the

world run and jump by

Here they come down the home

stretch in the 400 Meters

Hanging in

It was a good race and, though Jacob finished in second place, he ran a PR.

His time of 1:06.27 was 2.29 seconds better than his previous best and qualified him for the Varsity Finals at the end of the season.

WOW!

Competition is a great thing!

Mary got off to a good start

in the 100 Meters Dash

Finish STRONG!

Her blistering time of 18.87 was an improvement of 0.71 seconds.

That was PR #3 today for our favorite granddaughter.

TRIPLE WOW!!!

The weather was still crisp but perfect

for track as the meet was winding down

nearing high noon

 Michael helping Jacob put on

his new Long Jump shoes

A good looking takeoff

Unfortunately, he fouled on

all three of his attempts

The officials did a courtesy measure of one of his aborted flights that measured a whopping two feet better than his all-time best.

The new Nike shoes are apparently worth the investment. Now if he can just get his steps down . . .

Still, Jacob was happy with the

general course of the day's events

Mary LOVES the social aspects of

the sport of track more than anything

Mary's final event of the day

was the 200 Meters Dash

Her hair was flying and so was she

Mary tore up the track again, finishing the race in 41.93 seconds which was PR #4 on the day by a whopping 5.70 seconds!

QUADRUPLE WOW!!!!

One of the really good things about track and field is that you are in constant competition with yourself, the stop watch and/or the measuring tape as much if not more than other human beings.

Regardless of where one finishes in an event, PRs mean that you had a great event at the highest level of performance you have ever summoned.

Mary was on top of the world today!

Here comes Jacob in his 200 Meters Dash

Striding out in style

Accelerating into the home stretch

Again, a solid time of 30.64 seconds for Jacob today.

The norm at these meets allows for athletes to participate in a maximum of four events.

If an athlete and his or her family wishes to participate in the final event of the day, the 4 x 400 Meters Relay, they are allowed to run in five events. 

Jacob LOVES running the Anchor leg

of the 4 x 400 Meters Relay

He and his teammates were scintillating in winning this event unchallenged with a time of 4:52.32.

This was Jacob's PR #2 of the day by an incredible 11.99 seconds!

DOUBLE WOW!!

While we were at Camarillo H.S.,

a USA team beat the Italian National

team in a U19 game played in Milan

After the track meet, the kids came over to

our home for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt

They will all celebrate Easter Sunday at Vanessa's parents' home, so we had our little get together tonight.

Nine year old Mary with a picture

of  her then nine year old dad, Michael

This was one of many photographic treasures that my sister Linda dropped off at our home yesterday after cleaning out our mother's home.

Saturday was a GREAT day for all of us!

Solitude and a Day at the Ballpark

Thurs. & Fri., March 28-29, 2024

Thursday was a quiet, stay at home day for us which was much needed.

The new University of Washington

Men's Baskeball Coach, Danny Sprinkle,

had his first Press Conference

Coach Sprinkle, holding the basketball, was a popular choice for the job after the splendid job he had done as the Head Coach at Montana State and Utah State in recent years.

He was an extremely popular choice among a group of old UW alumni who had played football for the Huskies in the late 1960s because one of our teammates was Coach Sprinkle's dad, Bill.

Bill Sprinkle, seen here holding a football, was a fun loving, Husky Defensive Back in the glory days of yore.

All of us who are UW alums wish both Danny and Bill a great experience on the hardwoods of the UW's Clarence S. "Hec" Edmundson Pavilion in the years to come.

I liked this photo that Michael sent

us of Jacob with his soccer coach at

the Cabrillo M.S. game on Wednesday

The European League of Football

will get tons of media coverage this

Summer in year four of operation

On Friday, son Michael did not have school, so we headed to Thousand Oaks to watch an NCAA DIII, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) baseball game.

Occidental College Tigers

8 Wins - 17 Losses Overall

4 Wins - 6 Losses in SCIAC Games

Seventh Place in the SCIAC

at

California Lutheran University Kingsmen

13 Wins - 6 Losses Overall

5 Wins - 5 Losses in SCIAC Games

Tied for Fourth Place in the SCIAC

 

The Tigers and Kingsmen were scheduled to play a doubleheader today but we were only going to attend the opening game that had the first pitch set for 11:00 a.m. 

Carpenter Pagett

Occidental Assistant Baseball Coach

and Recruiting Coordinator

One of the reasons that Michael wanted to go to today's game was to see Coach Pagett. He was one of Michael's former students at Newbury Park H.S. and was also a member of the NPHS Panthers C.I.F. Division I Championship baseball team that Michael helped coach back in 2012.

We thought that the weather might be an issue as it had rained a bit overnight, but it turned out to be a splendid day.

The La Verne University Leopards

Softball team was warming up for

their game vs. CLU just behind our

third base dugout

As I have stated in the past about CLU sports, there is no, zero, zip, nada entry fee for any sporting event, male or female, on their campus.

This created the possibility of easily catching a few innings of both games but we were having too much fun at the baseball game.

The softball game was all CLU's, beating the Leopards by a comfortable margin, 5-0.

The CLU Kingsmen own a

rich baseball tradition

The Umpires and Head Coaches

going over the ground rules at

George "Sparky" Anderson Field

A truly gorgeous day for a game

The Kingsmen were sharp from the

get-go in building a 5-0 lead after

 four innings of play

A huge four run, seventh inning gave CLU a commanding 9-0 lead.

 

The Sun was shining over the

City of Thousand Oaks

It was now the top of the ninth inning with CLU still leading 9-0 just needing three more easy outs to win the contest.

NOT SO FAST!

The Tigers, seen here batting with a runner on third base, were certainly down but decidedly not out!

Rally caps firmly in place, Oxy mounted a massive, last ditch effort as they strung together one Hit by Pitch, three Walks, a Wild Pitch, three singles, two Doubles and a three run Home Run blast to score eight runs in their final at bat.

Close but No Cigar for Oxy!

Well, that last inning certainly made for an interesting finish to what had been, up to then, an absolute drubbing.

It was a good start to our day to be sure.

We left after the game but later found out that CLU also one the nightcap in less dramatic fashion, 13-5.

The all-time baseball record between these two fine small colleges now has CLU way in front with 82 wins vs. only 16 Occidental victories.

I said that CLU has a rich baseball tradition as this dominance against SCIAC rival Occidental indicates.

We were both happy to have attended

another great DIII sporting even at CLU

A Day Just Made for Middle School Soccer in the Western States

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Both of our grandsons had middle school soccer games today but, obviously, we could only attend one of them.

Kevin's Canarelli M.S. Colts played two games this week.

The Colts, who play a 14 game schedule in Las Vegas, are still getting their bearings in Week #2 of their season.

Kevin wearing #4 in white

On Monday, the Colts were on the road where they battled the Cashman M.S. Cougars to a 7-7 tie. The Canarelli squad was now sporting a record of 2-0-1 after the Cashman game.

Today, the Colts were traveling again to face another the tough team, the Garside Junior High School Gladiators. The Colts fought hard but the Gladiators were simply too much as they handed Canarelli a 7-4 loss. Going into the Easter Week break, the Colts are now 2-1-1.

Word had it that Kevin was still having a lot of fun playing for the Colts this week.

Instead of driving to Las Vegas, Laurie and I opted to stay a bit closer to home as we headed to Ventura for Jacob's game.

First though, we just had to stop

on "The Avenue" for a late lunch

 

Vanessa had highly recommended the

Taqueria Ventura Doña Raquel located

near her elementary school

She is the Principal of that school on "The Avenue" which is located just a few blocks from the Taqueria Venura Doña Raquel. Vanessa has had food brought in from this fine dining/hole-in-the-wall spot this school year with delicious results.

The Torta Cubana, Shrimp Taco and horchatas that we ordered were all OUTSTANDING!

Great call Vanessa, GRACIAS!

On to the game . . .

Ventura's Cabrillo Middle School,

the Home of the Mariners, was

only five minutes from the taqueria

Jacob's Las Colinas M.S. Mustangs (3-2) were playing their last game of the regular season. They had defeated the Mariners, 2-0 at home just last week.

The Ventura schools all seem to

have colorful murals sprucing

up their various campuses . . .

. . . Cabrillo M.S. was no exception

I especially liked the columns decorated as good, old fashioned yellow school pencils.

The Mustangs opened the game in a hole. Neither of their two goalies made the trip to Ventura. It was time to improvise as our always calm coach just plugged in an emergency replacement to guard the net.

Jacob, #51, chasing down a loose ball . . .

. . . he got to it first

This Mariner ricocheted Jacob's pass

Two players strolling up the pitch

with the ball far away . . .

. . . but it would soon become

a bone of contention for them

Jacob prevailed and . . .

. . . drove the ball . . .

. . . far up . . .

. . . our sideline

At the Half, it was 1-0 in favor of our Mustangs thanks to a goal in the first two minutes of the game.

Another chance for conflict

This Mariner got the ball past

Jacob's ballet-like attempted

"Skate Save"

Las Colinas' relief goalie played a whale of a game. His teammates assisted him on Defense magnificently throughout the contest.

The Mustangs held on to beat the Mariners, 1-0. 

The Mustangs finished the regular season with a 4-2 record, good for second place in their four school circuit.

Las Colinas Middle School Soccer

2024 Regular Season Results

4 Wins - 2 Losses

vs. De Anza Navigators Lost 0-1

at Nordhoff Rangers Won 4-0

vs. Cabrillo Mariners Won 2-0

at De Anza Navigators Lost 0-2

vs. Nordhoff Rangers Won 3-1

at Cabrillo Mariners Won 1-0

After the Easter Week break, there will be a Championship Game between the league's two best teams as well as a Third Place game between the conference's last two clubs.

The date for these two contests has been set for Thursday, April 11th but the times and sites have yet to be announced.

Cabrillo and Nordhoff will square off in the Third Place game.

That means that the Mustangs will play the De Anza Navigators again, this time in the Championship Game, and most likely in Ventura.

Third time's the charm, right?