Sports

Natalia Ackerman is a two-sport athlete at Aptos High and will try to top a stellar junior year with an even better senior campaign.

Christian Quintero is Pajaro Valley’s star point guard on the basketball team and part of a boys volleyball team that should compete for a league title this season.

Watsonville High's star distance runner, Layla Ruiz, broke a school record that stood for nearly 30 years. She will be one of the favorites to win nearly every race — 1,600 and 3,200 meters — she will participate this season.

Pajaro Valley will return to the Pacific Coast Athletic League and have a solid chance to win a league title in a league that features six other teams with losing records from last season.

The Santa Cruz Warriors announced Thursday that assistant coach Kris Weems was named the team’s new head coach for the upcoming season.

Pajaro Valley High senior Carlos Hernandez will attempt to compete in two sports this season, beginning with football in the fall and then on the track and field team in the spring.

A star on the soccer team in the winter and the track and field squad in the spring, Brynn Mitchell is one of Aptos High’s rising athletes poised to become a leader this school year.

Aptos’ Nikki Hiltz won the gold medal in the 1,500-meters after she finished in first place on Saturday at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

The 32nd annual Nordic Naturals Challenger finals are all set in stone for championship Sunday at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos.

Rob Gallaher and Justin Sanders each won their respective main event races on Friday night at Ocean Speedway.