Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Crespi Carmelite Athletics Spring and Winter Round-Up

With spring just around the corner, Crespi Carmelite's winter sports are still hot heading into March. Head Coach Russell White and the Crespi basketball team have secured another bid in the state tournament. Crespi will open the first round of the CIF State Playoffs at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, March 7, at the Crespi Alumni Memorial Gym against Kingsburg.

In soccer news, Crespi seniors Kai Imazu and Marino Bianchi were selected to play in the CIF Division I Senior All-Star Game on Saturday, March 4, at Basset High School in La Puente. The pair represented the East Team and pitted their skills against other top players from Southern California. Bianchi finished the game with MVP honors. After junior Blayne Briceno led his team to a Mission League title in wrestling, he added two great individual performances to finish the season. After winning the individual Mission League title, on Friday, March 3, he earned the first medal for a Crespi wrestler at state since 2006.

As the winter sports draw their seasons to a close, Crespi’s spring athletic programs were back into full swing at the end of February. Crespi swimming began the seasons with wins over Birmingham and Valencia. Crespi volleyball opened the season with a loss to Loyola and followed with a win against St. Francis. Ashton King finished the St. Francis game with eighteen kills.

After a rough team start in the Easton Showdown Tournament, Head Coach Scott Muckey and the Celts the Crespi baseball are trying to put things in place. Crespi handily defeated Thousand Oaks 7-2 and Burroughs 9-0 but lost in heartbreaking fashion to Calabasas 6-5, Valencia 6-5, and Oaks Christian 4-2. In Crespi’s loss to Oaks Christian, the Celts left seven runners in scoring position. Crespi has a few days to regroup before they play a double-header on Wednesday, March 7. They will face Saugus at 3:15 P.M. on Hartunian Field and the second game will be at 7:00 P.M. at Birmingham High School.

Crespi lacrosse celebrated the opening of the season with a special Celt Day to showcase the talents of each player in scrimmage games for Junior Varsity and Varsity on Saturday, February 25. The day was filled with fun, food, music, prizes, and plenty of activities for families and fans of the Crespi lacrosse program. Crespi Taiko participated in opening ceremonies and led the players to field for the scrimmages. The fans participated on to the field in the “fastest shooter contest” between the scrimmages.

The event definitely showed how Head Coach Brock Livingston has the Celts on the right track as he begins his second season at the helm. This year’s Junior Varsity team introduced its largest group in the seven year history of the program with forty-two players. All of these activities helped the Celts to victory on Wednesday, February 29, over Palos Verdes Peninsula. The Junior Varsity won 5-3 and the Varsity followed up with a 15-6 victory. The next game is at Crespi on Tuesday, March 6, at 5 P.M. against local rival Harvard-Westlake.