High School Sports

Skyler Turiello always thought if she would ever have the opportunity to play a sport in college, it would be soccer. After all, it’s the sport she’s been playing the longest, having first taken the pitch at age 4.  So, when it came time to...

Despite suffering a torn meniscus last October during football season, Kingsley Okoronkwo is having his best track and field season yet.  That’s saying a lot considering the Christopher High senior was one of the top triple jumpers in the Central Coast Section last year. Okoronkwo...

WATSONVILLE — It took the Christopher High girls basketball team a little more than three minutes into regulation to snap from its offensive funk. Monte Vista Christian School never seemed to find a way out of its, however.

GILROY — The Christopher girls basketball team is spreading the love this Valentine’s Day.

Don't get too close to the Christopher girls soccer team or you might get burned.  The red hot Cougars maintained their perfect record with a 7-1 win over Soledad Wednesday at home. Christopher has now outscored its opponents 32-2 through six games.  Zidant Okere led the way with two goals and two assists in the game. Paulina Llamas scored her eighth goal of the season and also picked up an assist. Jamie Boutee, Jasmine Contreras and Summer Rodriguez each added a goal.  The Cougars have one game left before breaking for the holidays. They will play Pinewood at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Burlingame Tournament.  BOYS SOCCER Mustangs throttle Soquel If the game ended at halftime, Gilroy still would've beaten Soquel by a long shot. But the Mustangs went on to score seven second-half goals to beat Soquel 10-0 at home Thursday. Andres Jimenez picked up a hat trick in an assist in the game to lead Gilroy. Jimenez now has 13 goals this season. Emmanuel Cruz, Carlos Jimenez, Gaspar Figueroa, David Solorzano, Marc Rivera, Sean Kauffman and Tony Barredas each added a goal.  The Mustangs maintained their blemish-free record to improve to 5-0-1 on the season and will take on Mountain View in the 2013 Oak Grove Gold Cup Finals Saturday. Cougars fall to The King's Academy The King's Academy scored its lone goal in the first half, but that was all it took to top Christopher. The Cougars lost 1-0 at home Thursday to drop to 1-4-1 on the season.  Christopher will have a long break to heal up and regroup before returning to action at 1 p.m. Jan. 3 when it hosts Monta Vista — the team's last game before league play begins.  BOYS BASKETBALL Bob Hagen Tournament continues today The 34th Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament continues today at Gilroy High School.  Christopher will play Harbor after losing to Aptos Thursday. The Cougars will play at 5 p.m. today and win will propel them into the Consolation Championship game.  Gilroy, who beat Anzar 66-34 Thursday, will face Oakwood — who beat Live Oak in a 58-55 overtime thriller — at 6:30 p.m. today.  Anzar and Live Oak will play at 3:30 p.m., while Aptos will play Gunderson at 8 p.m.

Once Gilroy’s shots began falling the third quarter, Live Oak’s window for stealing an early win in the Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament was all but shut. Charles Walker scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, and three Gilroy players finished with seven points Thursday as the Mustangs pulled away to a 48-39 victory on opening night of their 32nd annual boys basketball tournament in Bob Hagen Gymnasium.

As Gabriela Baxter kept on clearing the bar in the girls high jump event, coaches and fellow competitors marveled in the ease in how she did it. This is basically Baxter’s first full season in the event, as her freshman year on Christopher High’s...