A historic weekend for Point Loma High athletics saw two teams win CIF titles while others competed in state regional playoffs.
Saturday, Nov. 16 saw the girls cross country run to a Div. III CIF championship and later in the afternoon the boys water polo team swam to a Div. I CIF title. A look at each team’s win:
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
This group of underclass girls, under veteran head coach Keith DeLong, was ranked in the top 10 all season and displayed their skills on a 2.96-mile course at Morley Field in the Div. III finals that included 88 entrants.
Team scoring was based on the sum of the top five finishers’ place of seven entries from each school.
Top team scores:
1. Point Loma, 56
2. Cathedral Catholic, 62
3. Sage Creek, 73
4. La Costa Canyon, 132
First to finish in the race was Harper Diaz of Santana with a time of 17:30.9. For the seven Pointer runners, their places, and times were:
4el Kelly McIntire, 18:06.3
7el Sara Geiszler, 18:43.6
11el Isabella Ramos, 19:04.4
12el Nicole Witt, 19:06.2
23rd Corrine Santoro, 19:59.7
29el Zoe Boes, 20:37.2
34el Paige Eudy, 20:49.6
McIntire, Santoro, and Eudy are sophomores while Geiszler, Ramos, Witt, and Boes are juniors. All seven girls qualify for the state meet set for Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
In the boys finals, Ethan Levine and Jack Loomis finished in the top 20.
BOYS WATER POLO
Under head coach Brandon Huff and assistant Andrew Wright, the team posted an impressive record of 21-9 overall, 6-0 in the Eastern League, winning their final seven matches. They were seeded No. 5 in Div. I. Their path to the championship included wins over No. 12 Rancho Bernardo (22-14), a reversal of a previous loss to No. 4 Classical Academy (14-10), and an upset win over No. 1 seed Valhalla (12-11) in the semifinals.
for letterman jackets. The Pointers, a No. 5 seed in Div. I, defeated No. 1 seed Valhalla High before edging No. 10 seed Vista High 10-8 for the title. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
In the final match played at the Coggan Aquatic Complex on the campus of La Jolla High, the Pointers faced No. 10 seeded Vista who entered the match with a record of 11-19 overall, 1-4 in Coastal (NCC) Water Polo. The Pointers have been led by senior attacker Andrew Bockstahler who recently signed a college letter of intent to continue playing at UC Irvine. He often teams with his sophomore brother, fellow attacker A.J. Bockstahler.
The title match was no different. The Pointers found themselves trailing 5-4 at halftime but three of the five total goals by Andrew Bockstahler in the third quarter gave the Pointers their first lead of the game (7-6) less than three minutes into the third quarter.
In the final quarter’s first minute, a goal by A.J. with an assist by Andrew broke a tie leading to the final goal by the pair with only 40 seconds showing on the poolside scoreboard that secured the title, the school’s first since 2018.
For the match, Andrew Bochstahler had 5 goals and 3 assists, A.J. Bockstahler (2G, 1A), Tyler Mahabir (3G, 1A), Hunter Hemstreet and Bryce Fuller one assist each, and goalkeeper Beckett Cahill had two assists and 14 saves.
The Pointers have received a No. 5 seed in the Div. II state regional championship. They played at No. 4 Brea Olinda with the winner playing the winner between No. 1 Mira Costa and No. 8 La Costa Canyon. The state finals are set for Nov. 20-23.
