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A couple of quick notes to pass along:
— The Californian's winter sports All-Area teams have arrived. The boys and girls soccer teams are unveiled in Friday's paper, the wrestling team on Saturday and the boys and girls basketball teams on Sunday. A bonus for my blog readers is the Players...
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I am going to make no attempt to explain away the scarcity of my posts, other than to say this is a slow time of year anyway and I've been hammering out All-Area teams for winter sports (for whatever reason, it seems like they're taking a lot longer this year than last).
OK, so I actually...
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UPDATE, 10:59 a.m. Tuesday: I've just been corrected on this post, so if you saw it last night when it first went up, here's the correction: Bakersfield has been awarded the CIF State Basketball Championships for 2010 only. The finals return to Sacramento in 2011 and then will be...
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Things have been slow at the School House in the past week as we recover from the hectic last few weeks of winter sports season. But spring is in the air, folks, and that means a whole other slew of sports to talk about.
I'm working on winter All-Area teams — they'll be released April 3...
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UPDATE, 9:25 p.m.: Zach back here with you. Here are the rest of the final results, after Foothill's Angel Posadas gives Roger McCovey his first takedown of the season but eventually succumbed to the Del Norte wrestler and was pinned in 5:05.
135—Seth Hicks, Bakersfield-Centennial,...
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UPDATE, 11:31 a.m. Saturday: Be sure to check out the Day 2 live blog at this link: http://people.bakersfield.c...
UPDATE, 11:27 p.m.: So, it's been five hours, and I haven't blogged. I'm disgusted with myself. I promise I'll do better tomorrow. The problem...
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We've taken to calling this upcoming Friday and Saturday the Hell Weekend around the sports desk at The Californian. To wit: The Central Section boys and girls basketball championships will be contested those days in Fresno, the March Meet drag-racing extravaganza at Famoso Speedway...
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Grand Masters championships (updates below)
103—Alex Cisneros, Selma, dec. Daniel Gaytan, Clovis, 4-3 2OT
112—Zach Zimmer, Clovis West, dec. Vince Rodriguez, Clovis North, 2-1 2OT
119—Chris Martinez, Clovis West, pinned Stephen Meredith, Buchanan, 3:53
125—Brandon...
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The Chinese are calling this the Year of the Ox, and that's fine and dandy. Oxen are strong, formidable animals with a good reputation, I guess, though I don't know the first two things about them.
But strong, formidable teams in Kern County aren't the story of the year so far in high...
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UPDATE, 8:32 p.m.: And that'll do it. A 3-1 final in favor of Golden Valley. Hope you've enjoyed the live blogging. I'll update scores throughout the night, so continue to check back. One update I just received: Garces' girls went to overtime with 11th-seeded Reedley in Division...
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Instead of doing a paragraph on each team in the basketball rankings this week, I'm going to do a quick 'n' dirty version, then do some playoff predictions for each division in boys and girls hoops. Girls start tonight with first-round games in all divisions except the big one, which starts...
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Well, that was a lost weekend. Sorry I wasn't able to post more updates from Lemoore and the wrestling, but at first I had computer problems, and then I just got too busy. But I'll make up for it with an exquisite post tonight. Or at least an average one, right?
All three winter sports are...
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It's no secret I'm a wrestling fan. If you've followed the blog for long, you've seen my fervor.
So this, then, is the best time of year for those of us former wrestlers lucky enough to stay in the sport in some capacity. The state meet is in two weeks at Rabobank Arena. It's a spectacle worth...
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UPDATE, 10:15 p.m.: So, make it dejå vu all over again. Liberty falls behind Garces in the third quarter, stays with it and nips the Rams at the end. This one was a good bit more exciting, given the way Westin Hill banked home a 3 in the final seconds ("lucky shot," he...
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Girls rankings below or at this link.
One more week of rankings next week, then we'll let the playoff results speak for themselves.
BOYS
1. Clovis East (23-4, 8-0 TRAC, Division I, last week: 1) — For all the talk about how wide-open boys hoops was in the section this year, and...
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Welcome to the last week of the regular season, which in girls basketball is going to decide very little in the respective Kern County league races: Stockdale and Garces have clinched the two big leagues (and really, we knew that was coming a month or more ago) and Arvin has control over the...
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Had a fun day yesterday, running around to surprise my fiancée with some gifts and then checking out a couple of league wrestling tournaments. There weren't many surprises — Bakersfield High dominated, as did some spectacular individual wrestlers like Centennial's Seth Hicks,...
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The Kern High School District needs to leave sports alone. There will be many angry parents and fans (I'm a Centennial fan myself) if sports are cut thanks to Sacramento's problems. It's time we hold our legislature accountable for this, not the student athletes. Many other...
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League champions are rolling in left and right, with soccer season over tonight and basketball just a week behind.
Here's what we know so far:
Boys soccer
SEYL — Golden Valley (9-2-1 in league)
SWYL — West (11-0-1)
SSL — Wasco (8-2-0)
Girls soccer
SEYL — Liberty...
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So with the regular season in soccer wrapping up in the next two days and basketball just a week behind and wrestling's league tournaments starting tomorrow with the SSL meet at Bakersfield Christian, is it too early to hand out awards for winter sports?
Well, yes. Yes it is. I always...
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Girls rankings below or at this link.
1. Fresno-Bullard (16-3-2, 6-0-1 CMAC, Division I) — After a head-scratcher of an opening loss to Visalia-Redwood, the Knights haven't lost to Central Section competition. Are they vulnerable? A bunch of close games says yes.
2....
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If you ever want to tire yourself out, just try to make as many National Signing Day ceremonies as you can in one day around Kern County.
I left home this morning around 11:30, went to Highland to watch Patrick Su'a sign his national letter of intent with Fresno State, then raced over to...
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I knew from the moment, I researched the subject of "pay-to-play" I was in for fight. Two years ago, I had this conversation with my dad on eliminating sports from high schools entirely, and I fought against his argument. Now, I agree with his stance. Maybe it's time to make students...
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Girls rankings below or at this link. Again, I promise some soccer rankings by the end of the week.
BOYS
1. Clovis East (19-4, 4-0 TRAC, Division I, last week: 1) — Who would have thought the Timberwolves would be tested more by Buchanan than Clovis West? Goes to show...
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Three quick items to note before I get to work on this week's basketball rankings.
— Had an interesting time at the Kern County Invitational this afternoon, a new tournament hosted by Centennial that coach Mike Hicks is trying to grow into a late-season local must-see like East's Coyote...
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Last week I laid out a sort-of planner of big events for the rest of the regular season in the winter sports. This week I'm going to do some actual analysis, which, I'm told, is where I try to tell you what I think about some of those games.
Eh, at least I'll try. Let's go with a big...
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Here are thoughts on Bakersfield's new league structure, from myself and copy editors Ron Stapp and Todd Camps in audio form. Also a few minutes of basketball and wrestling discussion are included.
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We've got an entire gaggle of news items to get through, and then I want to talk big hoops dates the rest of the season.
— First off, the city of Bakersfield is getting proactive about raising its high school sports profile. Bako's Convention and Visitors Bureau has placed a bid with the...
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It's no secret that there are some problems with the way things are organized in the Central Section. Some of these problems are the section's own fault — seriously, do we need six watered-down playoff divisions and a universal open invitation to the playoffs?
But that is (and was) an...
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I love predictive text. You know, like when your phone interprets you typing in two letters and tries to guess what word you're writing? Like "dating" turns to "eating," or "Smirnoff" turns to "smashed." (No kids, we don't condone alcohol use at...
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It was kind of an up-and-down weekend for Kern County up at the Doc Buchanan Invitational in Clovis.
There is a lot to look forward to from local wrestlers — Greg Kapler was downright dominant through four rounds — as he had been all season — before being tripped up in the...
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Yesterday, we opened 2009 at School House Zach with an off-the-top-of-my-head list of the top 10 girls and boys athletes in Kern County high school sports in 2008. Today I'm going to do the same with coaches.
To me, this list can get really subjective. Is the best coach one who takes a talented...
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A heat-related illness seems to be the most likely cause of Patrick Allen's death.
Allen, who played on Bakersfield Christian High School's football team, died Aug. 16, two days after suffering leg cramps, vomiting and loss of consciousness following practice in 104-degree heat.
(Read...
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I've just found out some interesting information regarding movement of athletic directors in the Kern High School District. I'll share.
The district's budget constraints that were much bally-hooed earlier this year didn't seem to affect much of anything as far as coaches and sports were...
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There are 33 high school football teams in Kern County, at different levels, and every last one of them has fans.
That's why, over the next four weeks, we'll be previewing each and every high school team in the area here at School House Zach. I'll run a smaller bare-bones preview on some of the...
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Here's something I've been wondering about for a while, and because I'm nerdy and all, have kind of taken a keen interest in.
Take a look at this page, scroll down past the first image and download the .pdf file for the current Kern High School District Boundaries (the link says "Current...
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— CalPreps has high school football rankings out. You can sort them by section or division or just look at the overall rankings, which seem a bit off to me (Bakersfield Christian over Centennial, Liberty and Clovis East? West and North so low? I guess it's somewhat believable, but there are...
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I get tired of hearing stupid clichés like "Last but not least" or "Saving the best for last" on these types of lists, so I'm not going to bite and do it.
But if I did — and believe me, despite my reaction, I too am strongly drawn to the cliché — it...
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If you weren't a tennis fan after the Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer a couple of weeks ago, you'll never be. But I'll bet if you saw Nadal's epic win, you're starting to like the game more and more. And if you like tennis, you'll like today's Year in Review segment....
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For today's Year in Review, I'm bringing out Kern's Sunday best — Emily Irvin, Stockdale's swimming extraordinaire, to be exact. Actually, she was good on any day of the week, especially on Saturdays in May.
2007-08 Kern County GIRLS SWIMMING
Overview: Emily Irvin dominated the...
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So, about that one-post-per-day thing ...
True story — I'm laying in bed last night, just turned off the light trying to decide if I'm going to be too hot (who isn't these days) and then it hits me: I didn't do a boys swimming Year in Review! This might not keep many awake at night, but I...
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These 100 degree days don't quit very easily, do they? I've always said I prefer extreme hot to extreme cold (I guess that's one reason I live here), but I could use an 85-degree respite or something. Eh. Guess I'll have to wait a month.
Anyway, another summer day means another sports' Year in...
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Those of you still awake after staying up late last night to watch the All-Star Game go to 15 innings (and just imagine what it would have been like on the East Coast) are in for a treat.
Track and field might have been Kern County's best sport in 2007-08. Better than football, where the area...
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As I'm starting this entry, the Major League Baseball All-Star game is resembling a softball game — domination from pitchers, lots of strikeouts, some aggressive baserunning, and some baserunning errors.
So maybe it's appropriate that for today's Year in Review segment, we head to...
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Happy Bastille Day to everyone (French independence day, for the uninformed). Greetings from Las Vegas, perhaps one of the least French places (yeah, yeah, fake Eiffel Tower and all) on Earth but a city that actually has something to do with our baseball year in review segment today. It was...
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This is a taped blog entry, so to speak.
I wanted to make sure to get one Year in Review out each day, but I'm heading to Las Vegas for a couple of days to visit a friend. So what to do? Store a couple up and send 'em from the road!
So, live from the Rio Hotel, it's ....
2007-08 Kern...
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It's already been an exciting year for soccer fans, with Euro 2008 one of the better-played international tournaments I've ever seen, an all-English Champions League final and World Cup qualifying beginning in earnest on Aug. 20 (the U.S. takes on Guatemala that day).
It wasn't the...
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A couple of interesting tidbits, one football and one track-related, to pass along before we to get to the Wrestling Year in Review.
Derek Carr is the cover boy for Bakersfield football this coming year, between his older brother's legacy in the Valley and his status as a top-notch recruit...
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Ahhh. Finally feeling back to normal, after a week or so back from Europe, my body's clock is finally back on good ol' Pacific Daylight Time. And you can tell that from how my Year in Review blog entries have slipped later and later into each day. Pretty soon, I'll be posting around midnight like...
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It might not seem appropriate to talk basketball in the summer, what with it 110 degrees outside and all, but that's not entirely the case. Shoot, the NBA plays till the summer solstice, why can't we take things into July? And the Summer Breeze tournament will give you an early glimpse of next...
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