Stockdale haters, turn away: This is another Mustang-heavy post. Can't help it when the same school keeps coming up with the goods.

The Central Section golf champion will be decided right here in Kern County on Thursday at Seven Oaks. That also happens to be the home course of Stockdale junior Pete Fernandez, who was fifth in the tournament last year before he moved on through the Southern Cal regional and on to state, where he placed second.

Pete should have a good advantage on the course over the out-of-area contenders, like Clovis West's Michael Weaver, Clovis East's Bryson Dechambeau and Porterville's Nate Jessup, but the Central Section does have a remedy for that — if the course is private (like Seven Oaks), no players, even if they're members, can play the course for two weeks leading up to the high school tournament. That ought to level the playing field a little bit, though I'd still be silly not to consider Fernandez among the favorites.

Besides determining the championship, the other dramatic thing to do at these section golf events is count to 12. The low 12 rounds — not including golfers from Clovis West and Porterville, who have already qualified as teams — move on to the SoCal regional, which is in Murrieta next Wednesday. That means you've got to shoot low, and you've got to finish well — if there's a tie, scorecard playoffs favor golfers who had lower back-nine scores.

Other locals to keep an eye on (last year eight of the 12 qualifiers were from Bakersfield: Stockdale's Alex Marina and Bryce Keene; Bakersfield's Conner Huser; Centennial's Manav Shah; Frontier's Chase Goodvin; Liberty's Richard Gilkey, Rufie Fessler and Max Schmidt; and Garces' Stephen Harmer, Riley Scott and Gunner Kirschenmann.

— On another note, Stockdale had a pretty successful showing on its Super Tuesday that I posted about earlier this week. The Mustangs' boys tennis team lost its section championship 6-3 to Clovis West, but the diamond sports made up for it with semifinal wins at home. The softball team blanked Tri-River Athletic Conference champion Fresno-Central 4-0 and the baseball team scored four times in the sixth inning to stun Fresno-Bullard 4-3. Both move on to championship games Thursday (softball at home) and Friday (baseball on the road, either at Clovis or Clovis West) at 4:30 p.m.

— After these two days of championship action, though, the spring sports season really starts to wind down. Section competition finishes Friday night with that baseball game, then there's the regional golf, state track next weekend (which I promise we'll discuss plenty in the coming week) and then state golf the following week. That's it, folks. Enjoy the next couple of weeks, because it'll be a long wait for more prep action.

Those of you who feel like The Californian ought to cover local high school sports more evenly, regardless of what teams are the best, might want to stop reading at this point.

That's because local high school sports news is just about synonymous with Stockdale sports news today. The Mustangs are the headliners in three different spring sports today.

We'll start with the team going for the championship. That's the Stockdale boys tennis team, which will head up to Clovis West this afternoon for the Division I Central Section team championship dual. The Mustangs girls already have won a D-I title, and Stockdale's No. 1 boys player, Jeremy Quiroz, will head up as the two-time section singles champ after his victory over El Diamante's Josh Lorentzen, who retired with an injury after the players split the first two sets.

The Mustangs and Golden Eagles appear to be pretty evenly matched, with Stockdale stronger at No. 1 and probably a bit deeper but CW much better in the middle. The teams  haven't played yet this year, but both own close victories over Bullard and close losses to the same Southern Section teams in the Clovis tournament earlier this year. Should be a good one.

Meanwhile, back in Bakersfield, things will be busy at Stockdale itself. The softball team plays its Division I semifinal against Fresno-Central at 4:30, and just behind the softball diamond, the baseball team plays its D-I semifinal against Fresno-Bullard — a game moved up a day because Stockdale's graduation is Wednesday. What a couple of days for some of these seniors.

If the softball team wins (it'll probably be behind sophomore pitcher Justine Vela, who no-hit Clovis West in the quarterfinals), the Mustangs play Thursday at home against either 9-seed Clovis, which upset top seed Bullard, or 4-seed Clovis-Buchanan.

If the baseball team wins, the final will be on the road Friday — either at No. 2 Clovis West or No. 3 Clovis.

Couple of other notes to pass along, since I was gone this weekend:

— Congratulations to a bunch of section champions crowned up in Fresno: Quiroz we mentioned. Bakersfield Christian's Alex Nichols was third in the singles tournament. Quiroz's teammates, Blaine Davenport and Pierre Tamer, teamed to finish second in the doubles tournament, and Tehachapi's Tyler Thoms and David Croy were third.

On the track, here's the list of champs, mostly expected by athletes who've dominated their events all year long, but also a couple of big upsets:

BOYS
Marty Affentranger, Liberty (long jump)
Johnny Carter, Ridgeview (triple jump)
Centennial's 1,600 relay team (huge upset by .01 of a second over Ridgeview, which had the state's fifth-best time)
Matt Darr, Frontier (shot put and discus)
Jerrid Lewis, Ridgeview (800)
Isiah Purvis, Ridgeview (200)
George Robbins, West (high jump)
Chris Schwartz, Foothill (1,600 and 3,200)

GIRLS
Taylor Jackson, Frontier (300 hurdles)
Anna Jelmini, Shafter (shot put and discus)

— It's also a big week for Ridgeview, which hosts a Division III softball semifinal against Hanford. The Wolf Pack are happy to have the arm of Carly Hummel, who had been sidelined with a biceps injury, to join freshman Nisa Ontiveros to form one of the section's most formidable 1-2 punches.

This after the Wolf Pack's boys track team was second to favored Buchanan at the section track meet. Ridgeview has several events — the 1,600 relay and Johnny Carter in the triple jump the foremost — where they'll be in contention at the state meet June 5-6.

For those who have to work tomorrow and Friday, take solace: The Central Section, at least, is starting its Memorial Day weekend a couple of days early.

That's tomorrow and Friday, a couple of days' worth of softball and baseball quarterfinal goodness. Here's a rundown of the local games to watch:

First to softball, with all games at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. In Division I, second-seeded Stockdale gets a chance to welcome No. 7 Clovis West and get some revenge for — well, for pretty much the rest of the section. The Golden Eagles have won all three section titles decided thus far in the spring (boys swimming, girls swimming and boys golf) and they're alive in softball, baseball, boys volleyball and in the tennis championship. Stockdale could make the softball CW team the first one to go home without a title this spring. At the same time, Liberty and Centennial will travel to first-round sites Fresno-Central and Clovis-Buchanan. Centennial, of course, is the defending champion but stumbled a bit down the stretch and fell to a No. 5 seed. Fresno-Bullard, the top seed, hosts Clovis in the other quarterfinal of a wide-open D-I bracket.

In Division II, Frontier tries to keep its great sports year going when the No. 5 Titans go to No. 4 Visalia-El Diamante with a spot in the semis on the line. The top three seeds in D-III are all locals, and they all open at home Thursday — No. 1 Golden Valley and its high-powered offense, No. 2 Ridgeview and newly healthy Carly Hummel and No. 3 Tehachapi. No. 1 Wasco is also at home in Div. IV, and in D-V, Bakersfield Christian visits the No. 1, Riverdale. In case you care about D-VI softball, McFarland is in the championship at Laton.

Friday will be baseball quarterfinal day, and the goodness starts with Centennial vs. Stockdale, part III. The Mustangs have won the rivals' first two meetings rather easily, 14-1 and 6-0, and they're favored in this one at home. But the Golden Hawks will be dangerous in a meeting of the past two section champions. Liberty finally ended its TRAC hex by beating Madera on Wednesday, 4-1 in the first round. But the Patriots could wind up eliminated by a TRAC team for the fifth straight year if they can't spring a quarterfinal upset at No. 3 Clovis. The other D-I semis are No. 8 Bullard at No. 1 Buchanan and No. 7 Fresno-Central at No. 2 Clovis West (yep, them again.)

A great local game in Division II is Frontier at North, with the survivor the only Kern team in the D-II semis. There's already only one local team left in the three lower divisions — No. 9 Tehachapi, which is at top seed Clovis North in D-III; No. 6 Taft, at No. 3 CVC in D-IV; and No. 2 Bakersfield Christian, which opens its run at home Friday against Lindsay. McFarland baseball is also making noise; it's in the semifinals against Mendota.

But, sports fan, the baseball and softball is not the only way to celebrate the holiday weekend. On Saturday, I'd encourage a trip up to Clovis to see some terrific tennis and track action. Conveniently, both are at Buchanan High School, so you could go up and make a day out of it. I won't be able to (curses again), but you certainly can. Here's a map.

The singles and doubles tennis championships will be decided in the morning, and singles play will be a doozy no matter who makes the final four. The favorites include defending champion Jeremy Quiroz of Stockdale, 2007 champion Alex Nichols of Bakersfield Christian and last year's runner-up, Josh Lorentzen from El Diamante.

Then, starting at 4 p.m., head over to the track stadium. All eyes in the track and field world (really, probably the world) will be on Shafter's Anna Jelmini, who set a national discus record last week and is six inches away from the national shot put record. It's not about whether she wins or not, because she's going to; it's about how far she can hurl that metal. That's metal, not medal — get it? (rimshot, please)

Of course, there are other athletes to watch: Frontier junior Matt Darr is tops in the section in both throwing events on the boys side. Stockdale's Alex Collatz has a chance to win the section triple jump and will almost certainly come in second to Jelmini in the discus. Ridgeview sprinter Isiah Purvis and middle-distance guy Jerrid Lewis are among the favorites in the 200 and 800, and defending state triple-jump champion Johnny Carter will compete for the Wolf Pack too. Ridgeview, also the favorite in the event's signature event, the 1,600 relay, needs all the help it can get if it's to upset heavily favored Buchanan in the team standings. There are also good Fresno-area athletes to see, starting with Clovis sprinter/long jumper Jenna Prandini and Central sprinter Brendon Bigelow.

It shouldn't be too hard to have a good holiday weekend, everybody. Go make it happen.

I presented the case of each finalist last week (and I have to apologize to Centennial's Jessica Crowe, an extraordinary soccer player, cross country runner, track athlete and, get this, football player, who was left off the original finalists list given to me but was indeed a finalist for the award) for the Jim Tyack Award, given annually to Kern County's top male and female athletes.

I appreciate everyone contributed some good arguments in the comments section last week. There really weren't very many wrong choices with the Tyack. So who was ultimately right?

The girls winner was Anna Jelmini of Shafter. I can't say this one's a big surprise — in fact, Jelmini probably is one of the best Tyack candidates ever. She's won two state championships (and, barring injury, she'll win two more June 7 in Clovis without breaking a sweat) and owns a national discus record and is close to another in the shot put. And lest we forget, she was the SSL's basketball MVP as a junior and carries a 3.94 GPA.

The boys winners (yep, we had a tie) were Seth Hicks of Centennial and Chris Schwartz of Foothill. I can see where the tie came from — it was a loaded group of finalists, and it's pretty difficult to separate which state championship is better — Hicks in wrestling or Schwartz in cross country. Maybe if Schwartz adds a track title in the 3,200 meters at the state meet, you could break this tie? For now, and for good, let's just say these guys are worthy winners. Hicks was 48-0 in wrestling in his senior season and carries a 4.5 GPA and Schwartz was cross-country champion as a junior, two-time section cross country champion and second in state in the two-mile in track last year. He's also the top-rated chess player in Kern County.

Congratulations, boys and girl.

Monday at Cataldo's Pizza on Stockdale Highway, the winners of the Jim Tyack Award will be unveiled, celebrating the best male and female senior athlete in Kern County over the past four years.

I've got a list of finalists here, so read up and then make your call at the bottom — who deserves the Tyack Award this year. Choose one boy and one girl. Your criteria are athletic achievement first — with extra credit for excelling in multiple sports — and academic and extra-curricular accomplishments second.

BOYS FINALISTS
Stephon Carter, Garces (basketball) — Carter has been the omnipresent star for the Rams for three years running, and he cemented his local-legend status by committing to Cal State Bakersfield and then going for 33 points and 19 rebounds in the Division II section championship against Liberty this year.

Seth Hicks, Centennial (wrestling) — Like Carter, Hicks is a one-sport guy. But my, oh my, it'd be hard to perform better in one sport than Hicks did this year. Forty-eight wins against zero losses and a little thing we like to call a state championship at 135 pounds. Guy's also a 4.4 student.

Alex Mitchell, Bakersfield (football, soccer, baseball, golf) — The true multi-sport athlete, Mitchell was good in about everything he tried, including half a dozen different positions on the football team. He was one of the best players on the Drillers' soccer team and is a captain, catcher and .400 hitter for the baseball team. He's also dabbled in golf throughout his four years. Not surprisingly, Mitchell's also got a good GPA (3.8) and a long list of extra-curricular activities. His brother won the Tyack last year.

Byron Newman, Golden Valley (football, basketball, track) — Anybody who saw Newman explode for two kickoff return TDs in the Arena Bowl a couple weeks back knows how great of an athlete he is. But he's been doing that stuff for four years. He ran for over 1,700 yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior.

Chris Schwartz, Foothill (cross country, track) — Like Hicks, here's a guy who can call himself a state champion. Schwartz won the Division I cross country title as a junior, and though he slipped to seventh at this year's D-III meet, he's got a chance to win a state title in the distance track events June 5-6 at Buchanan. Schwartz was second in the 3,200 last year. And get this — Schwartz is Kern County's top-ranked chess player as well.

GIRLS
Shanesha Epps, Golden Valley (volleyball, basketball, track) — Sometimes multi-sporters will give one or more up during their careers, but not Epps. She's been her team MVP four times in basketball, three times in track (with this year likely to be No. 4) and three times in volleyball. That's pretty darn good right there, and a 3.33 GPA backs it up in the classroom.

Karlee Grundeis, East (swimming) — East High has been around a long time, and no one has ever swam the 500 freestyle or 100 backstroke faster than Grundeis, who owns four top-10 finishes in the Central Section through three years. She can add to that total — or even add a championship or two — at Saturday's section finals in Porterville. And her list of accomplishments in the classroom is long too, starting with a sky-high 4.5 GPA.

Anna Jelmini, Shafter (basketball, track) — Jelmini, of course, needs no introduction after winning two state championships last year in the shot put and discus and after the spring she's had this year, setting a national discus record and coming close to the same honor in the shot. But people forget that she was the SSL's basketball MVP as a junior, and people might not know that she has a cumulative 3.94 GPA. When she's winning national championships at Arizona State or medals at the 2012 London Olympics, you might say you knew her when.

Darci Smith, Liberty (tennis, soccer, track) — An impressive soccer player who was named first-team All-Area three times, Smith also won the section doubles title in tennis as a junior. She's a role model for any multi-sport athlete — she also holds the Liberty record in the triple jump — and has a 4.3 GPA with plenty of extra-curricular involvement.

So what's your call? Do you go with the multi-sporters, Mitchell and Smith? The state champs Hicks and/or Schwartz and Jelmini? Or for the academic and athletic leaders, Hicks and Grundeis? Or some other combination?

I'm privy to selection, so I won't give away any hints here. But I'm curious to know what others think. Who deserves the Tyack? Make your case.

I try to avoid superlatives as much as possible — how often is one really the "greatest ever" or a game the "most dramatic of all time?" Well, exactly once. There can only be one greatest ever at any given time, all around the world.

But I'm not exaggerating when I say that the greatest high school girls thrower of all time resides in Kern County. Anna Jelmini, a senior at Shafter, is staking her claim on that title more and more clearly every week.

This week, it was the Sierra/Sequoia section championships at Oakhurst-Yosemite on Wednesday. I was at the South Area finals at Liberty when I got a text message from Anna's throwing coach, Matt Godbehere, telling me she'd jumped to No. 2 on the all-time high school list in the shot put with a great series that culminated with a monster 54 feet, 4.75 inches. That's just six inches behind Michelle Carter of Red Oak (Texas) High, who threw 54-10.75 back in 2003. Carter is an Olympian, like Jelmini will be one day unless injuries derail her.

That was good enough for me, because Jelmini already owned a share of the all-time high school mark in the discus, a 188-4 from two weeks ago at a meet in San Diego. She's the only athlete in the top 10 on both lists. So I was already ready to proclaim her the current "greatest thrower ever."

Then I got the second text.

Actually, I had already heard about Jelmini's new discus mark, because I wandered over to the discus ring at Liberty, where Stockdale sophomore Alex Collatz (who will be hot on Anna's heels in that event in a couple of years, if she stays healthy) was putting on a show and completing a unique triple title — the shot put, discus and triple jump. And so I was talking to Cal State Bakersfield coach Alan Collatz about his daughter and various throwing topics when HE got a call from Godbehere.

One hundred NINETY feet, three inches.

A new national record. First high school girl ever to hit the big one-nine-oh. No. 1 in the discus, No. 2 in the shot, and don't be surprised if she tops both lists by the time the CIF State Championships end June 6 in Clovis.

Here's the other part of the equation: According to DyeStatCal, the authority on such things, no high school athlete has ever been as high as No. 2 in two different events. Check out the box in the top right corner on the site's front page — is Jelmini the best track and field athlete ever in any event? That's not hyperbole; that's a fair question.

I called Anna to get a few quotes for a quick story I put together. She was happy, but modest and unassuming as usual. So was Godbehere. But they shouldn't be. This is really big stuff we're talking about here, and it's being done by one of Kern County's own.

I don't think this exactly qualifies as a beacon of the coming high school football season, but the Kern High School District sent me some tentative schedules for fall sports today, and I thought I'd pass along some tidbits from the football portion.

Keep in mind, these could change slightly by the time official schedules are released because of stadium or scheduling conflicts.

Most of the schedules are on two-year cycles, next fall being the second year, so there's nothing earth-shattering here:

— In the marquee Week 0 matchup (Sept. 4), Liberty will travel to Clovis West in a rematch of a great Division I playoff game from last year.

— Both of the new Bakersfield schools, Independence and Mira Monte, will field full varsity teams for the first time, and both have Week 0 games — Independence, in an intriguing game at Ridgeview and new coach Dennis Manning, and Mira Monte, playng a home game at East High against Chavez. IHS and MMHS fill the rest of their schedule with games against each other (Week 7, Oct. 23, at Independence, and again Week 10, Nov. 13, at Foothill), Delano-Robert F. Kennedy, Clovis North and Tulare-Mission Oak — the section's other new schools — plus an odd game here or there against other area teams.

— Other Week 0 tilts, same as last year: Arvin at Highland and North at Shafter in Ben Ansolabehere's first game as the Generals' coach

— Bakersfield opens up in Week 1 (Sept. 11) with a return trip from traditional Southern Section power Canyon. Once again, the schtick for the Drillers (or any Central Section power): you'd better win your out-of-section games if you want any respect at all from the CIF. The Drillers also have non-league games at home against Stockdale and at Clovis-Buchanan, both games they lost last year.

— That Stockdale-at-Bakersfield game in Week 2 (Sept. 18) is going to be one of the area's marquee games early on. I'm really high on the Mustangs' chances after a successful first year under Mike Snow. They were young on the lines and on defense and bring back two of their top three backs, always a good thing in the Wing T. Bakersfield, meanwhile, should be powerful again with Brian Burrell, who'll then be a junior, under center.

— Foothill's first game under Mike Gregg also will be Week 1, at Arvin.

— Other non-league games of note: Week 1, Centennial at Visalia-Redwood (are the Golden Hawks going to be improved in Cody Kessler's junior year?); Week 1, Tehachapi at Garces; Week 1, Visalia-El Diamante at West; Week 2, Liberty at Centennial; Week 2, Ridgeview at Foothill (the Dennis Manning Bowl!); Week 2, Frontier at Tehachapi; Week 3, Independence at Highland (a couple of former BHS guys going at it); Week 5 (Oct. 9), Bakersfield at Centennial; Week 6 (Oct. 16) and Stockdale at Liberty (another marquee matchup).

— Sorry, don't have most SSL schedules yet, including that for Bakersfield Christian — though I do know the Eagles dropped their game with powerhouse Westlake Village-Oaks Christian at Oaks Christian's request. The Nick Montana-led team went 14-0 last year but couldn't get into a CIF bowl game because of an underwhelming strength of schedule, and they're trying to correct that this year.

— Keep in mind, this is the last season with the current Yosemite league format. That means it'll be the last time in a while (I'm guessing) that Bakersfield will play East (Week 9, Nov. 6 at East) and the last time North and South will play for the Civil War Sword as league rivals (Week 7 at South), though they'll continue to play that series as a non-league game. The new leagues also will presumably give the better teams in town a chance to challenge themselves against more out-of-town opponents, though budget cuts might have something to say about that.

— One of the few beefs I have with the schedule-maker (that's an incredibly difficult job) is the timing of some big league matchups. Why play Bakersfield at Liberty and Centennial at Stockdale in Week 4 (Oct. 2), the first day of league play? In many years, those games are going to have a huge say in who wins the SEYL and SWYL, and we're going to play them in Week 4? Why not wait till Week 10, when the standings might give us a true league championship at the end of the year? Then again, maybe the coaches like it better this way, with a tough game out of the way early and not right before playoffs start.

— I have, of course, left a lot out. Never fear; this is something we'll be discussing all summer.

To end, I need to dole out a few School House Zach congratulations.

First of all, to a few league champions crowned since the championship-week post of last week. Stockdale out-dueled Centennial in the final league meet of the year to win the SWYL in boys golf; the Mustangs did it again Monday to win the area meet and now advance to the section meet in Fresno next week as one of the favorites. Defending state runner-up Pete Fernandez was your individual area champ.

Also, Bakersfield won the SEYL in boys and girls track (Liberty won the league meet in girls, but BHS had more overall points when you included the regular season). Ridgeview was the boys SWYL champion and split the girls title with Frontier (RHS won the regular season, Frontier the postseason meet). The Taft girls won their fourth straight SSL title, and Tehachapi took the boys title. Shafter's Anna Jelmini's name was in the news again; she PRed in the shot put with a 52-3, extending her national lead and giving her the 10th-best high school mark in the nation ever. She's the first high schooler to be in the all-time top 10 in the shot and the discus at the same time. Wow.

Young Stockdale has stormed to the SWYL title in softball, finishing a league sweep of Centennial with a 3-2 win last week and then clinching the title outright by beating North today. Surprising result, and methinks the Mustangs and Golden Hawks might tangle again in the playoffs. Still a three-way race in the SEYL between Golden Valley, Liberty and Garces, and Wasco and Tehachapi are both 8-1 with a game to play in the SSL.

Stockdale lost to North, 7-6 in eight innings, Tuesday for the Mustangs' first league loss, but they've still got the SWYL sewed up. That late loss can't help their playoff seeding, though. Bakersfield Christian also lost in eight innings Tuesday, 10-9 to Tehachapi, meaning the SSL is knotted up with a game to play between BCHS and Taft, both 11-3.

And last, but certainly not least, comes Liberty baseball. The Patriots pummeled East 19-2 on Tuesday to clinch the SEYL again. This isn't surprising, of course, but it is notable: Liberty has now won 37 league games in a row. 37! Not to mention 54 of the Pats' past 55. I know the SEYL is weak sauce compared with the SWYL in baseball, but that's still phenomenal. The handy-dandy state record book that CalHiSports sent me last week (thanks guys) proclaims that Quincy High School holds the state record with 100 straight league victories. Liberty will have a hard time reaching that number because it'll go into a league with Stockdale, Centennial and Frontier in a couple of years, but No. 37 ties the Patriots for ninth on the all-time list. A win Friday would tie them for eighth, and they could jump into a tie for fourth with another 12-0 slate next year.

Wow, that was a monster blog post. That's enough for today, don't you think?

Before I get into my latest rant, let me explain a quick back story: I'm getting married to my lovely fiancée Ellen in August in her parents' town, which happens to be outside of London (yeah, I know, it's cool. Expensive, but very cool). My parents, feeling some of the wedding-planning vibes, have decided to throw Ellen a bridal shower at their Illinois home. At the same time, we're having kind of a family get-together, celebrating my sister's graduation, yada yada yada you don't care about all this. Point is that Memorial Day weekend, I'm in Illinois. Period. No way around it, don't want to find a way around it.

That's all well and good. But here's what stinks: Before my parents planned this whole shindig, I checked the high school playoff calendar to make sure nothing crucial would be going on while I was away. The only thing going on the entire holiday weekend was the Central Section individual tennis finals. I'm a big tennis fan, and I hate to miss those, but I thought it was pretty lucky to get away for a May weekend and not miss any baseball, softball or track or more than one event at all. Book that flight, I said, and it was good.

So yesterday, I was finally getting around to planning the rest of the month — what writers would go to which event, what we would cover, what we ask our fine photo staff to attend, etc. And I find that the section track and field championships — which I swear were scheduled to be Wednesday, May 20 — have been moved to Saturday, May 23. Same day as the tennis, same day I'll be chilling in the Land of Lincoln.

What?? So now I'm missing some great tennis matchups between guys like Stockdale's Jeremy Quiroz, Bakersfield Christian's Alex Nichols, East's D.J. Johnson and El Diamante's Josh Loretzen, AND I'm missing the section track and field finals?!?

That's Anna Jelmini of Shafter going for possible national records in the throwing events. That's Johnny Carter of Ridgeview, who's been nursing a groin injury, trying to stun the field in the triple jump again. That's the Garces duo of sprinter Matt Sumlin and high jumper Phillip McCullum defending their lofty positions in the section rankings. Same with Liberty pole vaulter Amanda Klinchuch and Frontier thrower Matt Darr. How bout another triple-jump duel between Centennial's Alana Alexander and Stockdale's Alex Collatz, plus throw in Clovis phenom Jenna Prandini. Aargh.

Don't worry sports fans; this is a selfish complaint. We'll still have capable writers and photographers there to document the goings-on at Buchanan High School. It's just that I wish the section would get its schedule straight beforehand so that I could have picked another weekend to visit the heartland.

But you know what? I shouldn't complain. I'm going to enjoy the time with family, and then I'm going to come back to the great athletes of the Central Valley a few days later. I can live with that. I feel better already. Thanks for listening.

It's that time of year again.

League championships are being decided left and right in many spring sports, and baseball and softball are busy deciding their league races as the regular season wraps up in the next two weeks.

Check out what's on the docket for tomorrow alone:

SSL tennis championships, final rounds, 9 a.m. at Taft
SEYL tennis championships, opening rounds, 10 a.m. at Bakersfield High/Racquet Club
SEYL/SWYL golf, final mini-tournament, noon at Kern River
SWYL tennis championships, opening rounds, 12:30 p.m. at Laurel Glen
SSL track and field championships, 1 p.m. at CSUB
SEYL/SWYL track and field championships at Liberty, 4
Centennial at Stockdale baseball, 4
Centennial at Stockdale softball, 4

Pretty full day, and that's just the prelude to the next month, which will culminate with the state track and field championships in Clovis on June 5-6.

Section play officially begins next week, with area golf on Monday and team tennis playoffs beginning Wednesday, the same day of area track.

To set the table, let's look at the major Kern County league champs we know so far:

BOYS GOLF
SEYL: Highland
SWYL: Stockdale or Centennial, will be decided Thursday
SSL: Bakersfield Christian

BOYS TENNIS
SEYL: Bakersfield
SWYL: Stockdale
SSL: Tehachapi

BOYS SWIMMING
SEYL: Liberty
SWYL: Stockdale
SSL: Tehachapi

GIRLS SWIMMING
SEYL: Liberty and Garces
SWYL: Stockdale
SSL: Bakersfield Christian

BOYS AND GIRLS TRACK — all decided Thursday

SOFTBALL
SEYL: Three-way race (Golden Valley is 9-1, Liberty 8-1, Garces 7-2, all teams play 12 games)
SWYL: Three-way race (Stockdale is 8-1, Centennial 8-2, Frontier 6-3; play 12 each)
SSL: Two-way race (Wasco and Tehachapi are 6-1, play 10 games each)

BASEBALL
SEYL: Three-way race (Liberty in control at 9-0, East 7-2, Bakersfield 7-3)
SWYL: One-way race (Stockdale 9-0, can clinch outright with a win over 6-3 Centennial)
SSL: Two-way race (Bakersfield Christian 10-2, Taft 9-3; each play 15)