Sports

WATSONVILLE—St. Francis High girls’ basketball coach Randy Braga has a motto that goes “progress, not perfection.” It’s a saying that has stuck with him throughout his coaching career, which has seen success from league championships to Central Coast Section titles. “I don’t expect perfection but I...

APTOS—The Aptos High girls’ cross country team is back in training and looking to rebuild after the loss of a few of last season's influential teammates.  With a good amount of returning talent and a large number of newcomers, the defending Central Coast Section Division...

Best friends since preschool and softball teammates since they were 8, Watsonville’s star batterymates shared another special moment on Friday, signing their respective letters of intent to play NCAA Division I softball in front of more than a hundred friends, family, teammates and coaches.

Aptos High junior Elizabeth Churchill will compete in three events—100-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump—at Saturday’s Central Coast Section finals at Soquel High School.   Churchill qualified for the 100 hurdles with the seventh-fastest time of 16.62 seconds at the CCS semifinals last week. She...

APTOS—It was only a matter of time for Gina Castañeda to become the new head coach of the Aptos High girls soccer program.    But there was always that burning question of when she would take the helm. The wait is over.      The school recently announced that Castañeda...

After an impressive Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League championship run, Aptos earned the top seed in this year’s Central Coast Section Division II playoffs.  The Mariners (15-2-1)—winners of five straight—will host No. 8 Homestead (8-7-4) in the teams’ quarterfinals match on Saturday at 11am.  “The girls,...

SOQUEL—Aptos High’s Elizabeth Churchill was literally running all over the Central Coast Section Track and Field Championships, setting personal records in three events and standing atop of the podium for two.   The junior standout competed in the long jump, the 100-meter hurdles and took home...

Aptos High will close out its preseason at a place head coach Randy Blankenship once called home. The Mariners (1-1) will travel to Auburn to play the Placer High Hillmen on Friday night. Blankenship, the Mariners coach for the last seven seasons, was born and raised in Auburn and attended Placer as a freshman.

High School Athletes of the Week for the week of Jan. 7-13.

Watsonville senior Mathew Silva had one touchdown and one interception to help lift the Wildcatz football team past North Monterey County, 25-13, in Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division-North action Friday evening. Junior quarterback Edwin Cornejo had a 2-yard rushing touchdown, and he connected with...