Winter sports are in full swing and Spring sports are just around the corner. First off, I would like to announce the date for our 3rd Annual Spring Swing Golf Tournament will be on Friday June 2nd, 2017 at 1 pm at Spring Hills Golf Course. The events over the last two years were a financial success and were great community builders for St. Francis. We will be getting the “save-the-date” postcards and sign-up forms out shortly to our St. Francis families.
On March 2, 2017, two of our student-athletes, Zachary Estrada and Jerome Lumicao, will be honored with a football scholar-athlete award at the Santa Cruz Lions Club. The award comes with a scholarship, so please congratulate the two young men for representing our school in a positive way on and off the field.
Winter sports are going very well at St. Francis. Our boys basketball team is currently undefeated and in sole possession of first place after our big home wins vs. Aptos and SLV. The Borina Athletic Center was filled to capacity for both games and the Sharks put on a show led by Senior Sandor Rodriguez. The boys still have the 2nd half of the league schedule before the week of February 13-18th with the SCCAL Tournament. On February 25th --here at St. Francis-- we will host the quarterfinal round of CCS Division V Boys Tournament. Also, our boys basketball are back from the Cactus Jam Tournament in Arizona. The team played well and finished 4th place. Junior Jason Gallo was named to the All Tournament Team.
Our Girls Basketball team is enjoying a good season as they continue league play and are fresh off a home win over SLV. The SCCAL Tournament will be from February 13-18th and the girls will then wait to see what day they begin the CCS tournament. The girls had a great showing at the Cactus Jam with a 2nd place finish and Janiya Sevilla was named to the All Tournament Team. Both boys and girls teams were able to visit Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University on their trip.
Our Wrestling team is having a very good launch to the program in our first year. Our team won our first ever dual meet in school history vs. Soquel. Also Felipe Padia-Noriega and Hunter Blinkenberg became the first Sharks to ever medal at a varsity tournament at the Bert Mar Tournament in Gilroy.
The Boys Soccer team is off to a 3-6-1 start to the season as we go through league play in the SCCAL. The Sharks are a young team this year with many underclassmen starting on varsity so the future looks bright. Senior David Vasquez is leading the way as Goalkeeper for the Sharks and fellow Senior Chris Copriviza is playing at an all time high level.
The Girls Soccer team is still riding the wave from their 5-0 win over Cristo Rey at Avaya Stadium. Junior Katie Farley is leading the team and the girls are getting better every game out. Coach Kristian Flores is doing a great job in his first year on the job and the future looks bright.
Another sport that is having a successful first season is Cheer. The girls have done some great halftime performances at our basketball games and Head Coach Amanda Martinez is doing a great job with the girls.
With Spring sports around the corner, we look forward to a successful spring season. Coach Kenny Nakagawa returns as our baseball coach in hopes of putting up a SCCAL League Championship banner for the 3rd year in a row. The Sharks have two young men who are signed to play Division 1 Baseball in Ruben Ibarra to San Jose State and Andrew Ciandro at Cal State Bakersfield. The Sharks will have plenty of firepower to compete for the league and CCS title. There are 25 boys signed up, so we will have a varsity and a JV team this spring.
Art Doten returns as our softball coach with a great senior class led by Alyssa Soto, Miranda Janisch, and Jocelyn Torres. These girls have been on varsity since their freshman year and look to cap off their senior season with a great year and to compete in the SCCAL. The girls have 22 signed up, so there is a chance to grow our program in having JV and varsity teams this year.
In Track & Field, we are happy to have Ramona Young lead our Sharks. Track & Field had a great year last year, and with Senior Braxton Rico, Junior James Young and Sophomore Justin Parker returning, the Sharks boys team looks to have another solid year. Freshman Paul Kane is looking to continue his great Fall in Cross Country. The girls’ team returns Junior Olivia Burke and Junior Emma Ryan who both have shown they have more than what it takes to compete in the SCCAL. Currently, we have 25 Sharks signed up and are ready to go for the Track & Field season.
Swimming is looking to have another strong year as Coach Darlene Friedly returns. The Sharks return sophomore Jesse Robinett for the boys and Juniors Maya Talavera and Madison Orradre for the girls. We currently have 10 boys and 11 girls signed up for the swim team.
Our Golf team looks to have another great year with Coach Michael Doherty returning. The Sharks return Senior Jason Kane. Jason competed in the SCCAL Tournament last year and looks to be back in the mix to compete in the SCCAL. We also will have freshman Isabella Mendez joining the team this spring.
Last, but not least, we are happy to announce John Ausman has taken over as our Head Football Coach. I, Adam Hazel, want to thank you all for a wonderful five seasons leading the Sharks football team. With our 2nd child on the way for Eva and I, and Coach Ausman being more than ready to take on more responsibility, this is the right time to make the move. Coach Ausman has been teaching at St. Francis and acting as the Defensive Coordinator for the varsity football team the past two seasons. He is a graduate of Asotin High School in Washington and a graduate of the University of LaVerne. Ausman spent three seasons coaching at LaVerna and another three at Claremont McKenna College before joining the Sharks. We are excited to see the program continue to grow under Coach Ausman. His first game as coach will be August 25th vs Pajaro Valley under the lights at Watsonville High School. There will also be a football parent meeting February 13th at 5:15 pm here on campus at St. Francis. All parents of football student/athletes should be there to hear head Coach Ausman’s vision for the program and expectations for student/athletes.
Go Sharks!
Adam Hazel
Athletic Director | Associate Dean