Sports

A CIF state qualifier each of the last three seasons, Kelly will return for his senior year as the leader of St. Francis High’s cross country team and a bigger contributor for the school’s basketball team.

Pajaro Valley High softball coach Shelley Chavez has been busy this season with her first task of building a full roster from scratch. It’s something that can be very daunting for a first-year coach of a program that’s struggled to find success in recent years. But she’s also been...

The Cabrillo College Seahawks were given the No. 11 seed in the upcoming California Community College Athletic Association Northern California Regional and are set to play No. 7 Merced College in a best-of-three series.

Watsonville star freshman cross country runner Layla Ruiz is now on the track, and is bolstering the Wildcatz’ chances of returning to the top of the Monterey Bay League Pacific division. Watsonville has finished second each of the last two seasons, but head coach Rob Cornett hopes the dynamic duo will be enough to get his squad over the hump.

Watsonville impressively has 63 players on its roster and a majority of them have packed on the muscle and trimmed off the fat in hopes of building on last year’s winning season, the program’s first since 2009.

Watsonville sophomore Layla Ruiz reset her school record in the 3,200-meters while racing against some of the best high school distance runners in the state at the Stanford Invitational on March 29.

With that infectious love for the game as her guiding light, Hernandez Marquez was the driving force behind Aptos High’s success over the last four seasons. An All-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League First Team selection as a freshman, the league’s forward of the year her sophomore year and the SCCAL’s Most Valuable Player each of the last two seasons, Hernandez Marquez can now add another accomplishment to her long list.

The Seahawks (4-3, 1-2) will play the Jaguars (1-6, 0-4) in San Jose at 1 p.m.

WATSONVILLE—Monte Vista Christian junior Bryce Brogan and his teammates wanted to end the non-league portion of its schedule on a high note before jumping into next month’s important league schedule.  However, the Mustangs discovered they still need to iron out the kinks following a 76-48...