Sports

Top-seeded Santa Catalina repeated as the CCS Division V champion, sweeping No. 2 Mt. Madonna 25-21, 25-14, 25-14 on Friday night at Watsonville High but the powerhouse Cougars we’re not backflipping over the victory.

Aptos once again used its depth to continue its season-long dominance on Saturday morning, placing its five scoring runners within the top 18 of the Division III race and capturing the program’s first Central Coast Section title since 2013.

Watsonville High’s star freshman runner took third in the CCS Division I race with a time of 19 minutes, 6 seconds to not only solidify herself as one of the top young runners in the section but also become the first female Wildcat to advance to the California Interscholastic Federation state meet since Consuelo Mata did so in 2000.

Watsonville lost 41-14 to the undefeated Monterey Bay League Pacific division champion Gilroy High Mustangs on Thursday night at Emmett M. Geiser Field.

The former head coach of the Warriors will return to K.P. Arena for the first time as the opposition. Now the leader of the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, Hill will play his former team in a Pacific division battle at 7 p.m.

Aptos High and Soquel High will play for the Central Coast Section Division III championship on Saturday at Palo Alto High after each team won its section semifinal match on Wednesday night at Aptos.

The Santa Cruz Warriors could not hold on to a 20-point lead in a 127-123 Wednesday night loss to the South Bay Lakers in El Segundo.

Early, now in his second season with the Warriors, converted to a vegan diet before the start of the summer and has said goodbye to all food containing animal products, including meat, eggs and diary.