Senior goes the distance

Laura Hollander capped a stellar career at Marina High Saturday by finishing in third-place in the girls’ 3,200 meter run at the 2012 CIF State Track and Field Championships Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis.

The senior showed her tenacity and fortitude by overcoming being tripped at around the 100-meters mark at the outset of the race, Marina distance coach David Sanford said. Hollander got back into the competition and worked her way into second-place, behind eventual winner, sophomore Sara Baxter of Simi Valley. She was eclipsed near the finish line by Colony senior Xochitl Navarrete who finished second.

Hollander, the CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion in the girls’ 3,200, finished the event in 10 minutes, 26.02 seconds. Navarrete ran 10:25.85, and Baxter won in 10:12.00.

Kylie Nishisaka of Marina finished 20th, overall, in the girls’ 1,600 meters. The junior ran 5:08.19 during Friday’s prelims and finished 11th in the second of two prelims races. Nishisaka did not advance to Saturday’s finals.

“It’s really a great accomplishment for these kids,” Marina Coach Dick Degen said of Hollander and Nishisaka reaching the state meet. “It’s an individual achievement that not too many get to experience. It’s just awesome and I’m proud of them.”

Edison senior Karen Snapper was one of three vaulters to clear 11-feet-3 in the girls’ pole vault during Friday’s prelims. Snapper finished in a three-way tie for 17th-place but did not qualify for Saturday’s final. Eight vaulters cleared 12-2.75 and tied for first-place, eight others, cleared 11-9, and tied for ninth-place.

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Baseball

Brett Urabe of Huntington Beach hit a two-run single in the third inning and Timmy Robinson of Ocean View scored a run in the fourth Tuesday to help lead the South to a 10-4 victory over the North in the Orange County All-Star Baseball Game at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.

Christian Abe of Huntington Beach, Kevin Isa of Marina, and Timmy Lopes of Edison also made the South roster. Lopes did not play in Tuesday’s game.

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Softball

In an Orange County Coaches All-Star Game Tuesday at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Edison’s Maddy Hickman hit a home run in the second inning, Chargers teammates Casey Africano had an RBI single in the fourth and Jessica Plaza hit a two-run homer in the fifth, and Fountain Valley’s Brenda Bott had a sacrifice RBI in the second, to help power the Blue Socks to a 15-2 rout of the Belles.

The Blue Socks roster included players from the Sunset, Golden West and Freeway leagues. Cerissa Rivera and Tara Robinson of Fountain Valley, Sandy Simmons of Marina, and Kristin Nance of Ocean View, also played for the Blue Socks.

The Belles roster included players from the Empire and Trinity leagues.

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Water Polo

Senior Alys Williams and sophomore Justin Harrison of Edison, have been named to the USA Water Polo Women’s National Youth Team and Men’s Cadet National Team, respectively, Edison water polo and swim head coach Diggy Riley said. Williams, who will play next year at UCLA, also played last year on the Youth National Team.

“Both Justin and Alys have earned their respective selections to the USA National training teams,” Riley said. “They have trained extremely hard and understand the commitments needed to be part of this very elite group of athletes. I am so proud of them and I know that this will make Alys even stronger as she prepares for UCLA and as well for Justin as he returns for his junior year with us at Edison.”